Crisis and eye-contact in the subway

Crisis and eye-contact in the subway

Lately, news are getting worse. Everyday you wake up to a different atrocity, calamity, disaster… Some people say it’s better not to read the news in order not to get depressed. Some people turn off their TVs and radios, and decide to forget about the rest of the world. It sounds really comfortable, doesn’t it? 

On the one hand, I can understand that, we all feel like doing that some time, but not forever. I guess we must know what happens around us. We are part of a society, a huge society called “world”. Whatever happens to others has consequences on us. And that works the other way round too… Have you heard about the “butterfly effect”? It is amazing, and it is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before. How important can a tiny butterfly be!

While on the subway, having a look at random people, you realize something is going on. People try to go on with their lives as if nothing happened. As if the world wasn’t a mess. Which is fascinating. How can human beings pretend everything is OK nowadays? The huge majority of people that I meet during the day avoid direct eye-contact. They are constantly playing with the latest fashionable technological device and don’t give a damn about what happens around them. A man is fainting in front of them: but they couldn’t care less about it, and keep playing their videogames, checking their favorite youtube videos or sending a WhatsApp sms… Without eye contact, we are nothing. Without eye-contact, we lose our humanity. Think of it. Eye-contact rules the world! Be part of it!

You shouldn't be afraid of others. Otherwise, you will feel like this poor whale amongst whale hunters...

China: squares and kites

China: squares and kites

Globalization has made us believe we were closer to other countries. By tasting the local delicacies, wearing their clothes, listening to their music, seeing so many different nationalities on the streets, we came to think we knew them. But we don’t.

By travelling to China, you realize how different our Western culture is from theirs. From the moment you land in that country until the moment your plane takes off, you’ve been visiting another planet.

The Chinese way of life is a complete mystery for us Europeans: they wake up by 5 am, they work all day and, at night, they gather in public squares for some distraction. Which is, basically, dancing. No matter the dance. Or the skills of the dancer. They dance tango, salsa, disco songs, traditional music… They sometimes sing karaoke, practice karate, tai-chi, they play ancient instruments or the drums. When the sun goes down, squares come to life. And the atmosphere is incredible, so lively!

It is amazing to the eyes of a foreigner: the sense of community they have, the love they share for having fun and disconnect from daily problems. This sounds really idyllic, and it is. From the North of the country to the South. Chinese of every age meet and share some time together. Nobody is shy, nobody cares about what the other might be thinking. They just want to have fun. 

Apart from their love towards squares, they share a devotion for kites. They can fly them so high that you can see a small dot in the sky, and you can’t really believe they are directing it. Most of the time, middle-aged men meet in parks. They compare their kites, repair them if necessary and fly them. They are magicians to any Western eyes.

So, all those anecdotes are only a few, but I guess, despite globalization and getting closer to other cultures, some things can’t be exported. They belong to their countries. 

"White teeth": a novel worth discovering.

Have you ever heard of Zadie Smith? No? Well, now you have.

Many people from different parts of the world had recommended me some of her works. For ten years. I had even bought one of her books. 

However, I would never give it a chance. "White teeth" had been waiting for then years on a shelf in my bedroom. Suddenly, two weeks ago I decided it was time to give it a go. I kept thinking to myself: “if so many people who don’t know each other have been recommended this book to you, why are you so stubborn not to read it?” So, there I was, in one of my sleepless nights, starting this book: “White Teeth”. 

While I went through the first pages, I was trying to understand why everyone kept repeating it was a masterpiece… I must confess that after ten intense pages (with the impression of having read too many descriptions and feeling I would give it up any minute) I realized why this writer is gifted. Her writing is sincere, spontaneous, funny yet ironic, natural and surprising. She can make any person of any age, origin and status speak naturally under her magic pen. 

While you are reading her book, you can picture the plot just like a movie. And you get to know her characters so well that you feel part of the creative process. This sounds really intense, doesn’t it? Well, it is. And that there lays its magic. It casts a spell on you and it is weird. It is like a drug, I assure you.

Apart from her hypnotic writing, Zadie Smith puts many interesting topics on the table: multiculturalism, identity or ethics of science.

Smith tries to establish a narrative thread, knitting an interwoven story of three London-based families with very diverse backgrounds: the Johnses from Jamaica, the Iqbals from India and the Chalfens, belonging to the English middle-class. Fate will make them meet and will make them evolve. Specially striking is the story of the Iqbal twins, who are separated by their parents at the age of 9: one sent back to India in the hope he becomes a righteous Muslim, while the other stays in London with his parents. Only time will tell if their father's decision was right…

Something really catchy as well is the evolution of characters, who become more and more involved in their beliefs. Smith deals with the topic of fundamentalism, both religious and social. And, what is really interesting: daily life of immigrants in London with their hopes and fears.

Now I know why many friends had recommended this book for years…

Now it’s up to you to take the risk and discover it!          

The most impressive deserts

                                               Lencois Maranhenses (Brazil)

In northeastern Brazil, in the Maranhao region is located the Maranhenses National Park an area about 1500 sq. km.  Is a wonderful and unique landscape where thousands of tourists visit every day, this place is famous for the blinding white sand dunes and the blue lakes. This amazing and rare phenomenon creates because of rainfall falling on the dunes, creating lakes with crystal clean blue waters. In this region it rains 300 times more than in the Sahara desert. In the lakes also hosts many species of fish, turtles and shellfish.

                                               Farafra Desert (Egypt) 

One of the most famous places at the region of potholes, Farafra,is the white Desert. You can find it 45 Km north of the city Farafra. The desert has a creamy white color and has huge chalk rocks that have been created as a result of the sandstorms in the area. Is the largest depression in the Libyan Desert, measuring around 200km long and 90km wide, this oasis currently has the lowest number of inhabitants in the New Valley, but ambitious plans by the Egyptian government for dozens of new communities in Farafra will signify the end of this remote and peaceful oasis.

                                                Simpson Desert (Australia) 

Is one of the largest deserts in Australia and is called Simpson but is  known as «The Big Red» because of the large red dunes that has. Located in central Australia and has an area 176,500 km².This desert contains the longest parallel sand dunes all over the world and due to the vegetation that exists in this land the sand dunes are static. The dunes have a height of 3 meters to 40 meters and the most famous sand hill is the Nappanerica with 40 meters tall.

                                               Namib Desert (Namibia)

The oldest desert of the world is located in southern Africa, its called Namib, which is less than the Sahara, but equally impressive. It is part of the National Park Namib-Naukluft with neighboring Angola. Namib spreads beyond the borders of Namibia and flows into southern Angola and the northern Cape Province of South Africa. In this 43 million years old desert, the “Sossusvlei” dunes are the highest in the world-some as high as 300 feet. What makes extraordinary this desert is that you can find elephants which are living under the hot sun. In this inhospitable environment you can find also thousand of species of plants and animals. Beyond the coast are also usual, strong southern winds that mislead the sailors, while the north coast has been named «Skeleton Coast», because of wrecks found there.

                                               Sahara (north Africa)

The Sahara is the largest desert in the world with an area of 8.6 million sq. km and covers more than ¼ of the African continent. The Sahara  stretches in the countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Western Sahara .The 99% of the territory of Libya and the 98% of the land of Egypt covered by the desert. Approximately 3 million people live in this huge desert. At the same time has the biggest amount of sunlight in the world around of 4300 hours per year while in the area rarely rains

Can hackers have access to NASA's confidential software?

The agency inspector of the NASA   Paul K Martin has told to the American Congreso that hackers obtained the full operational control of essential NASA Computers in 2011.

Also has told that hackers occupied the Jet Propusion Labrotary (JPL) computers as a result to be in danger the accounts of the most important JPL users. As well he mentioned that in the attack probably participated Chinese hackers because after investigation NASA found Chinese IP addresses.

The witness of Mr Martin for   NASA´S cyber security was presented to the American Parliamentary Committee about the Science, the Space and the Technology and decided to create a sub Commission to examine the matter thoroughly. In his testimony he described detail how the researchers concurred that in the attack had participated Chinese hackers. Also emphasized that the attackers had complete access into the main system and it would be easy for them to copy, to steal, to change or even destroy important and confidential files of NASA

 

From 2010 to date software NASA received approximately 7000 attacks in which the most of them were neutralized from the safety system. Likewise   between 2009 and 2011 indicated that 48 Agency mobile computing devices were lost or stolen making it easier for data breach. For example in one occurrence, an unencrypted notebook computer was lost where contained details of the algorithms and the mathematical models used to monitor the International Space Station.

Is believed that NASA is the focus of cyber attacks worldwide because it has many important and confidential information. It is considered that the incentive of the hackers varied. there are hackers that only wants to test their skill by attacking to NASA but there are also hackers that cooperate with criminal enterprises or  foreign intelligence services. After investigations of CIA   arrested and sentenced   many hackers all over the world (in China, Great Britain, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, and Estonia).

Finally before some days in an announcement NASA said that had made major development for the protection of the agency's IT systems. Something that is encouraging   but not enough because the security progams  should evolve continuously.

Nokia strikes back with Android

After loosing market positions in favor of Apple, Samsung and HTC Nokia decided that it’s about time to get back what it deserves. This Phoenix like strategy was introduced in a big way on this year’s MWC in Barcelona.

Firstly Nokia astonished us with 41 megapixel phone camera that made any competitor’s effort to research for anything better irrelevant. Would you really care if somebody offered you a cellphone with 41, or 62 megapixel camera? I guess not since you don’t use cellphone solely for taking pictures.

A little later Microsoft presented Windows 8, the next day its consumer preview hit 1 million downloads before 24hours passed. This is not a “very good start” this is a call for revolution! It won’t take long for applications to be made – since there is still huge number of produces making software for previous versions of Windows and so dominance of IOS and Android is about to be hit hardly. Why am I saying this? Because only Nokia and RIM are going to have cellphones running on windows 8!

After introducing Lumia model to the market Nokia saw rise in sales that exceeded expectations – even in USA. Lumia 610 is set to be the first smart phone for masses and its intentions are about to be tested in global markets – but with low cost of this model the goal seems more then promising.

And now last reason to believe that Nokia is about to fight back so hard that every phone company should tremble in fear – Lumia models are going to run on Android too!

It’s hard to believe that with set up like this Nokia won’t be able to score. There is no doubt that the Phoenix will take over the sky.

Alcohol to double life span and boost your memory?

Not so long ago we’ve heard that marihuana is much less harmful then alcohol and tobacco – to the health. Just try to remember last time that you have heard about drunk person attacking random people. Now try to remember when was the last time you have heard about person high from marihuana doing the same thing – this is just one of possible examples, not the only.

Actually there is something good about the alcohol (I am not referring to the state of being drunk now). Scientists have recently tried to see how would C elegans worms respond to cholesterol levels in connection to their life span – the best idea of infusing the cholesterol with alcohol obviously comes as a next step with every research or at least it seems like.

We share half of our genome with these worms, therefore they are often used for such research.

These worms usually live for 10 to 15 days. What scientists found out astonished them – the life span of worms doubled! To be more specific, the alcohol was infused in already cholesterol flavored water (worm food). Don’t think that worms were drunk so much that they would be tipsy for their whole life – the amount of alcohol was about the same as one beer diluted into 100 gallons (380L) of water.

Other good news about actually being tipsy is that it helps memory! The catch is, it that it helps not the conscious memory we use to focus on certain subjects, but the uncoucious we use in every situation. It is due to fact that exposure to alcohol stimulates the certain area of brain responsible for our “animal” memory. Therefore even if we don’t remember what we were doing the other night, our body does and wants to do that again, because it was having fun.

And just by the way, next times you drink alcohol do so with strawberry drinks. Antioxidants in strawberries help your body decrease the amount of damage caused by free-radicals in alcoholic beverages.