Anes Weblog

I should have known that something was wrong when my travel plans where from Boston to Toronto, but my layover included Philadelphia (put them on a map). Not uncommon to get discounted tickets that include such awkward transfers. But for some reason I have always have had a bad feeling about them.

For starters, they waste more fuel than you would have needed to get from point A to point B – unless you think that the seat you occupy was cheap for a reason: it was going to fly empty anyways.

Then there is the waste of time: precious one, as I do not have too much of it. Nobody does. Everybody has a long list of things to do with two columns of priorities (the conscious and the unconscious one – and for some reason they tend to be opposite in order of importance). Fortunately my laptop was equally loaded with documents to finish and episodes to watch.

My Tuesday’s experience included sitting on the tarmac in Boston for two hours, on the Philly airport for 4 more, and an extra hour in the tarmac on Philly. Not to mention the extra two hours of flight that I would have saved on a direct flight.

It seems I have to stop engaging in these Contra-Natura activities.

The fact that you have landed 9 times on your feet doesn’t mean that you will land the 10th time on your feet. The idea of a cat landing on its feet is what I feel every time I face difficulties, yet somehow I get out of them…. or do I?

Could it be that we tend to think a problem resolved itself into a happy ending when in reality we ended up at a worse situation than the one that we would have had if we haven’t met misfortune? Could it be that as long as we get out of a situation alive (landing in our feet and still breathing) we consider it a victory? Could it be that we are more ’survivors’ than ‘winners’?

Cats are wise creatures, I believe. Although they do land on their feet, they do not like to throw themselves into the abyss voluntarily all that often. And if you throw them into the air, they clearly indicate you their discomfort after landing safely on their feet.

Hopefully I will land on my feet… this time. But the important question is not if I will land on my feet – but if I will be able to jump higher than the original position?

This Friday the 11th of June, Apple will release their 8 and 16GB 3G iPhones.  I will be traveling on Friday, so I will not have the opportunity to go and buy one.

Come Saturday morning I will go and check if there are still any available ones.  Apple has surely created more than they expect to sell on the first day — they probably want to sell a few more over the next few days.  Or… have they?  I have heard so many people talking about buying one this Friday that I wonder where are the people who struggle to make ends meet or to get gas money.  Can’t blame them, the iPhone is almost a dream come true:  I would probably go a month without food to buy one if I where economically struggling (talk about an iPhone diet — I can loose about 10 pounds).

• If Apple runs out of 3G iPhones, I propose raising the Gas Tax a few dollars per gallon!  Just to slow down consumption of both, iPhones and Gas: too much money on people’s pockets mean inflation, and inflation is bad.  I should also run and buy a few AAPL stocks, even after the beating they have taken lately.
• If they do not run out of iPhones, I still don’t know if I would buy one.  Waiting for the blackberry bold may be the wisest thing to do.  It is just that the iPhone seems so cool.  Then again… I can probably wait a bit longer with my almost destroyed phone…  After all, it makes calls about 50% of the time.

Seriously… should I buy an iPhone like the hoardes?  Or should I get one of those old, indestructibles Nokia 5160 and be done with the craziness of having the next cool gadget?

The iPhone is calling me…  Yes, I can hear you now….

Farmers have not received their fair treatment in the last few years.  Some have been called rednecks.  Sometimes the profession has been relegated to sectors of the population that can’t get a better paying job, like temporary immigrant workers. In general most haven’t received higher education degree.  Yet, they are some of the people I most respect.  Why?

They do and produce something that people really need.  People do not need ipods, luxury cars, flat screen tvs, or other luxuries.  But they do need food - most people consume it daily.

Lately it has been shown that farmers are more powerful than we used to think.  Recently they have started to hold the world hostage with food prices that are either paid or people suffer.  They hold the key to allowing world population to grow.  Their ability to succeed may prevent wars over resources — or their failure will cause bloodshed.  For a moment… they are not so simple any more.

Sometimes I reflect about my career.  Most of what I do is making people have a faster, better internet.  Although useful and revenue generating - it is not so simple to understand its impact on society.  Without food and/or energy all of what I do is useless.  And the world is starting to show me that cruel reality: food and energy are beginning to appreciate more than my information technology services.

It seems in the end, the invisible hand is bringing the farming and energy gathering profession to a level comparable to the value they offer.  Too bad I am not in them to benefit.

Elections do not seems to be about reason, but about sentiment.  And sentiment seems to be easily controlled by what someone expresses (be it on a speech, or on a more powerfull media advertisement campaign).  I think it has to do less with track record, or scientific/mathematical validity of the arguments and proposed changes.  (Note that social and economical theories are impossible/difficult to proove or disprove, and many politicians like to keep their debates on that level).

I think that from now on (or from many years ago and forward) we will always see the elections split right across the middle, with a winner that earns his title by just a very slight margin.

During the campaign, voters will express their opinion through polls, and campaigners/marketers will adjust their message and spending accordingly. Regarding the money? That is less of an issue nowadays. The same corporations that feed one party feed the other: you better keep both of them happy, just in case they win.

I try to avoid advertising. I try to keep informed by reading the news and entertained by watching movies on DVD - but mostly I avoid CableTV and/or broadcast TV. I think it is my only way of getting out of the marketing loop that creates this bizarre behavoir / theory. (And as any social / economic theory, it can’t be proven or disproven so for a brief moment in time, I am right).

Will Obama stop the madness?  Will McCain increase or decrease the madness? Today the Transportation Security Agency announced that they will be installing the body scan machines at 10 airports.  The 30 second delay and invasion of privacy will soon be on most airports according to the providers of the new equipment.

Since the 9/11 attack, travellers have lost liberties and the sense of humanity.  Some of it has been due to the economic devastation the 9/11 attack and the burst of the .com bubble caused: Airlines are still falling apart.  Some of it has been caused by ourselves: the citizens of what used to be the free-most nation in the world.  Our fear has made the terrorists win.  The pain inflicted by the terrorists has been felt all across the nation.  The excess of homeland security

I am not sure if the excess is mainly due to the Bush administration (as many blame) or because of the nature of terrorism: it makes people act in strange ways.  I am inclined to think is more of the later than the former (although both have contributed).

By default McCain has the vote (although he looses brownie points on Airport Security: he sponsored the bill that created TSA, as did Edwards and Kerry).  But I will give Obama the chance to gain my heart and my vote by looking straight into the eyes of the American people and telling them that Airport security will go back to pre-9/11 levels. If he tells me that I will be able to keep my shoes, my jacket, and my virtual clothes, carry a water bottle or morning coffee through security, he gets my vote.  For some reason I dobut he will take the chance - he only talks about increasing security.  Americans support the Fascist security policies.  The bulk ofAmerica like the security policies.  It makes them feel safer.  Terrorists won.

Now… who wants my vote?  Any takers?

Back when I was a kid, I read in a school textbook that we only had about 20 years more of oil. They where wrong. But at the same time, they pointed out one fact: Oil was getting scarcer, and scarce things tend to cost more — especially if people start using more of them.

We should open our history books and remember a few decisions we have taken, consciously, that have increased the likelihood of an oil price increase:

• SUVs - Nuff Said.
  
• Cozy Homes - The other day a bunch of people looked funny when I was telling them about how cold are the nights in Bogota, Colombia. They thought that everyone in the world had a heating system that kept their homes at a confy 72F degrees. No, this is not the case. Most areas in the world where the temperature do not fall below freezing do not have a heating system. You just use more blankets! Turn the thermostat down! [to 65F]– Jimmy Carter (BTW, Sweaters and Jackets can look nice.)
• Nuclear Plants - We haven’t built ‘em. In 1979 people got scared with the Three Mile Island incident. France has most of their power from them (those green, tree huggers know exactly how to produce green energy - they even make tons of Euros out of it).
• Artic Refuge Drilling - We haven’t done it. Clinton Vetoed. Bush couldn’t get Congress to pass anything he said (independent of the validity of it).
• E85 - Why don’t we have a tax credit for people buying flexible fuel vehicles? We had it for hybrids. BTW, why don’t we expand the one on hybrids as well - maybe increase it only for U.S. produced hybrids so that we can help the auto workers at the same time and please both parties.
• Stop Buying Trinkets - Every time you buy a trinket from China (or other country), you send money overseas. The trade balance gets against us — more dollars in circulation than the world needs — lowering our currency and increasing the price of oil.

Who knows what the future will hold? But following the1973 and 1979 oil crisis, we got the 1980’s Oil Glut - incredibly low prices that got ourselves comfortably seated in greenhouse gas emitting SUVs.

Back in the days of the controversial 2000 Presidential Election many people within and outside the United States complained about the harsh realities of an election process where every person does not have the same weight. Back in those days one Presidential candidate had won the popular vote, while he may or may not have won the Electoral College vote (a voting system that protects the interests of smaller states by reducing the power large states have on the election). Our Founding Fathers found that the Electoral College was the best way to secure a Union, even if an imperfect one (as shown by the Civil War, and the North’s imposition of the law as opposed to the willingness of the South to comply with the law). The fact is, that is the way people vote for President in this country (U.S.A), and until someone decides to amend the Constitution it is the way it will be.Today we are facing an interesting situation on the Democratic Party. Senators Clinton and Obama compete not only for the popular vote within their own political party but for the Super-Delegates that could make them the Democratic Party Candidate for the 2008 elections even if the popular vote decides they prefer the other person.

You see, the idea of Democracy, where each man is one vote and the government does the will of the majority is not as universal as people may think. Most of the time it just happens in exactly that way: but not every time. It seems there are openly legislated systems where some of us are more or less equal than others. I do not complaint about such situations: it is just a fact of life. I also understand that these electoral systems have been put in place to try to make things agreeable enough to get a government going – for anarchy would have been less desirable to the majority.

It is also important to note that these situations also happen in countries and governments we hold in very high esteem: like the European Union (they also assign different weights to their member states/countries), or the United Kingdom Commonwealth (like Australia), where the Queen may still have the ability to overrule a decision – even if such powers are seldom if ever invoked.

Sometimes the desire for peace, unity and/or economic advancement overrules the desire for the plain democratic principle of one man one vote, and majority rules.  It seems this world is not perfect, after all.

Almost everyone is doing Facebook nowadays.  High School classmates, college classmates, ex-workmates, partners, clients, friends, family (even my mom and my aunt) and a few others that I do not know how to classify.  I love the status bar in Facebook:  it lets me know the interesting things that people are doing or thinking.  I do not want to see taglines like: “TGIF (Thank God Is Friday)”. 

There are a few reasons I do not like to see such things:

• It doesn’t give me any more information.  I know it is Friday.  My calendar says so.  I have been trusting my calendar for years, why do I need 40 people to remind me of it?
• What is so special about Friday?  To me, it is like any other day of the week.  I play if I want to.  I work if I want to.  I can also waste it if I want to.  As a free person I choose what to do with it.  As free persons, most of the people who write TGIF have chosen to work it off (they could have taken a vacation day, taken a job that does not require them to work on fridays, or gone into their own business and declared Friday off). They should be happy they are doing exactly what they asked — or do something to change their reality.
• Was it really that bad?  The week, I mean.  Has it been like that for months, and months.  Do you feel so much stress?  Are you overworked?  Are you so devoid of fun?  You need a life!  You need a different job — maybe one with less pay (and less purchasing ability), but one that makes you happier.  Or maybe the picture of your kids and wife on the big house, nice car, and private education makes you so proud that the week wasn’t so bad after all:  was just a small price to pay for all the blessings you have got.  

I feel happy today.  Not because it is Friday.  It could have been Monday, or Sunday.  It is sunny out there.  Spring has finally come.  The flowers are blooming in my yard.  (Hopefully the overworked Landscaper will come on Saturday - someone who could not say TGIF because he still wanted to work on Saturday).  I may get to prepare my vegetable garden. 

Life is good!

I wish people had some Window or Aisle politeness.

• Window - You get to sleep better by resting your head on the wall.  You do not get bothered by people trying to get out, but you need to ask for the aisle person to let you out.  You probably choose this option if you do not anticipate getting out of your seat too many times in your flight.
• Aisle - You get up anytime you want, as long as the “fasten seat belt” sign is off.  You have to get up, out of courtesy, for the Window seat occupant when they ask for it. 
• Middle seat - Poor you!

I wish Aisle-rs didn’t got grumpy when you asked them to let you out, and Window-ers tried to stay in their seats — once or twice in a flight is fine, but five or six times is overkill.  Is that too much to ask as a simple rule of courtesy?