Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Male and Female Cultures

Even among primates, some groups are led by females and some by males. Depending on geographical situations some groups find survival strategies different from other humans.

Zapatista members treat women as equals, more than other indigenous groups in Mexico. Tehuanas in Tehuantepec, now flooded, are more in charge of the day to day issues than in other Mexican groups.

Desert people seem to me more oriented towards the male element. Taliban in Afghanistan comes to mind.

The Enlightment is the beginning of a Western tradition. Some people in the world did not go that way.

I am sorry to report that nowadays a strain of machismo, in the form of a Neo-Cristero movement is engulfing Mexico. La Familia Mafia in Michoacán is the example that comes to mind.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! Long Live Christ King! was their battle cry.

I hope Mexico survives this nightmare.

Taking the Plunge

I am teaching a Classical Mechanics class and chose mit sicm. It is written in Scheme. I had avoided Emacs. Finally I plunged in. I hope I don't drown.

I also have plain Emacs:

Remember I AM NOT A HACKER.

Latest on Wikileaks


From Wired magazine.

I hope Assange's job can continue.

Childish?

In my old Ubuntu 9.04 I got a new Chrome. I feel well.

Political Predictions

Today I talked with a Cuban friend here in Chilpancingo. I asked him about the layoffs in his country. Yes he said, many people are going to be left out of the government payroll.

What is going on? Cuba was supposed to take care of ALL its citizens no matter what. These layingoff business is an American sport, but I cannot see my brothers and sisters in Cuba treated this way.

Today I read in the NYT that Cuba is ready to drill for oil. Americans are not allowed to profit!

This is nuts. Please Republican Cuban Americans show some sanity or just join the Tea Party, or should we call it the Cigar Party?

My prediction then, is that in less than the time it takes Mexicans to say Mañana, Americans will be all over Cuban beaches.

Hurry up, guys!

A Tale of Two Planets

Below you can read on the momentous discovery by Butler et al. of an Earth like planet.


In The Economist you can read about the mysteries of water.

As far as I can tell, part of the brouhaha  is the possible existence of liquid water in Gliese 581g.

We do not understand water on Earth, that is the point of The Economist article linked above, and we give an extreme value to the possible existence of water on Gliese 581g. What gives?

I write a ``Tale of Two Planets'' here.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there were two planets twenty light years apart. One was called Earth, the other Gliese 581g. Water on both was almost magical, when close to hydrophilic surfaces it got organized with their respective star's light. The red dwarf Gliese 581, did not have that much infrared light around 3 $\mu$m, the Earth did. This lucky break for Earth made life in the oceans possible; Gliese 581g remained lifeless; providing the people of Earth ``One Hundred Years of Solitude.''

Will a New Planet Help?

Time magazine reports on the Holy Grail of planetary science:

Earth Like Planet Found.

Hope is great, but we have to save this planet first, before we start packing.

NYT

Politicians Responsibility

Here in Chilpancingo, the State capital of Guerrero in Mexico, people in power taking decisions are ignorant of the environmental consequences of their acts. As much as I can ascertain, their thinking goes something like this. Mh, nobody claims that hill, with the right permit and capital I can start a settlement there. How much is there for me? If the answer is a lot, then I run for office.

In Warrenville, Illinois the situation is not that much different. Some people like Maury Goodman from Fermilab and Argonne, National Labs, runs for city council because scientists have to have a good neighborly relationship with the city, just outside Fermilab. I feel though, that some characters are there, to see how much money can go their way to ``develop'' the area.

Not all politicians are created equal.

The thing is, I believe we are running out of time for business as usual.

Will politicians be responsible to face what I think is a life threat to all humanity?

I don't think so.

Tlahui and David Riker

Why was this town in the news all over the world?

Watch DN!.

Initially the government feared one thousand dead Mixes.

Happily Tlahui has only eleven missing, nobody has been found dead. Why were these news all over the world?

My guess is that the Mexican Government is hosting in Cancún a World Environmental meeting at the end of the year, and they need the exposure. This sad incident provided the excuse.

Initially nobody could go to the town, not even in helicopters, and a thousand people were feared dead.

The story had legs because the situation is dire in Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico and the world.

We are in deep trouble.

Great work David Riker!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hilbert Matrix

UCSB on Top

``Using information from key indexes presented in the study results, 10 departments and programs across the disciplines at UC Santa Barbara were given ranking ranges that extended into the top five. Leading these programs was the Materials Department, which was ranked number one over its entire range, and was the only department in the country to be ranked so highly in any field of engineering. Other campus graduate programs with ranking ranges in the top five included Chemical Engineering, Communication, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Geography, Marine Science, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Theater and Dance. Of these, Theater and Dance, Marine Science, and Communication were not evaluated previously by the NRC.''

Taken from UCSB

Fernando Cajas and Stephen Wolfram

I am older than these two men. Recently I have being struck by their contribution to our collective well being.

So many things are happening around me that I feel my head spinning. One way I have to ground my thoughts is thinking about these men.

Fernando you already know (below), Stephen has been in my mind for close to thirty years now.

Wolfram organized a meeting on computation of the huge amount of data we are getting right now. More than anytime in the history of humanity. Read about the Data Summit here.

Here I write inspired by these men.

What do they have in common? Both know calculus, and have powerful minds. Their talents are offered to the rest of us to use. We can use them or not. It will be to our peril not to. Unfortunately there are leaders bent on destroying us not on saving us. We have to show courage like these men and confront authority. We are at peril.

My proposal is this:

  • Follow Albert Einstein
  • Imagine a better world
  • Construct a better world
  • Fight as if our lives depended on this, because they do
 ``Tropical Storm Matthew caused heavy flooding in much of Oaxaca last week, but Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, in the Mixe region north of Oaxaca city, the state capital, receives heavy rainfall for much of the year. Under ordinary circumstances, the town is a four-hour drive from the capital.


The northern mountains of Oaxaca are some of the most deforested areas in Mexico, heightening the risk of mudslides. A local newspaper, Oaxaca Hoy, reported that a mudslide in Santa María Tlahuitoltepec two weeks ago had opened up a big crack along the town’s borders.

Santa María Tlahuitoltepec is a center of the Mixe Indian culture. Most of its inhabitants speak Mixe, and the town is well known for its musical tradition, including raucous brass bands. It is in an area of great poverty, with homes of dirt floors and tin roofs. Many residents in the region have moved to the state capital in search of work.''

NYT 

Taken from La Jornada

    Monday, September 27, 2010

    Fernando Cajas


    This Guatemalan scholar is proposing a solution to the student protests engulfing his workplace. In Spanish you can read his solution here.

    I write here some thoughts on the general state of Latin American universities.

    The oldest universities in this American continent were established by the Spanish Empire in Peru and Mexico. The first printing press of the Americas was brought to Mexico from Europe.

    In Mexico, and I  assume in Guatemala the race composition of our countries paints the nature of conflicts. In 1968, the Mexican government ordered the violent suppression of a student protest for basic human rights and a civilized treatment by the Mexico City police department towards students, in theory, not too different from the Kent State University massacre a few years later. If in Ohio less than five deaths caused a national outrage, in Mexico, the sixty or so acknowledged  victims were not equally perceived as outrageous by the Mexican public. Why? Because of class distinctions, since most of those killed were from the lower classes, sometimes even Indians. In Guatemala the proportion of Mayans is even bigger than the equivalent one in Mexico.



    My first point then is that Guatemala, and Mexico, are more like South Africa, than the US, or for that matter France, or Czechoslovakia.

    I hope that the good proposal of professor Cajas is taken into account to solve the present emergency situation.

    In conclusion, Mexico and Peru never ``solved'' their Indian problem, in my view that fact goes a long way in explaining the slow academic development of our countries. So Americans understand my point, imagine ten or more Wounded Knee incidents through US history during the same time span.

    I am hopeful, as the great Mexican philosopher, José Vasconcelos stated almost a hundred years ago: ``The spirit shall speak for my race.'' I do not quarrel with this translation in Wikipedia, nevertheless due to my knowledge of Vasconcelos' philosophy I'll rather translate it as : ``Through my Race the Spirit will Speak''. Down here we believe we are making a real New Race, a mestizo brown race: La Raza de Bronce. The Bronze Race.

    When some Americans quote this thought they accuse us of racism, they completely fail to understand that we mean a new race, which will be the combination of all races. That is not racism. If anything, it is Panracism.

    ``Por mi raza hablará el espiritú.''

    More on Kent State.

    Would I be a Security Chief?

    If my grandpa was mayor of Huitzuco today, would I want to be his security officer?

    No.

    Things are getting out of hand down here. Today you can read about more attacks on Mexican mayors.

    Read more.

    Huitzuco Mayors

    I met both the current and the first mayor in this list. My grandpa, and my aunt's nephew. He is not my cousin though, this is an in law relationship.

    Taken from Wikipedia.

    Sunday, September 26, 2010

    Software Warfare?

    What is Stuxnet?

    NYT

    Brown and Boxer Winning

    I hope the clowns lose.

    Go Jerry, go!

    Mara Salvatrucha, Revolution, and a Fragile Environment

    When Christopher Columbus set foot on La Epañola well over five hundred years ago, Mayans were no more.

    These skillful men and women knew how to store water for up to eighteen months, but their bad luck sent them a longer drought and by the time the Spaniards landed, nobody knew about the number zero they had invented, at least nobody wanted to tell that to Europeans. It took close to four hundred years for Russian scientists to uncover that prodigious act of invention.

    Central America has never been a great place to live. Between British pirates and tropical storms, you really have to be strong to live there.

    In the 1980s the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) gave the Central American people hope.

    One thing we have to show for it, is the youth band of criminals called Mara Salvatrucha which may be behind the recent killings of 76 innocent people right across the border from Texas USA.

     This is the largest mass killing in modern Mexican history, not even the 2nd of October massacre of 1968 was as large. According to official reports 62 people died then.

    Tropical storm Matthew is bringing havoc again, and I expect more and more disasters in the coming decades.

    Are we ready, I hope so, but I am sorry to say I am not optimistic with kookoos like John McCain running the country, I do not have hope.

    He was for the DREAM Act, and now stopped it an procedural grounds. I do not respect war heroes, that lie to get elected.

    At this rate I see ourselves going down in dirt, unless Machete (below) comes on saves us!

    Machete

    Friday, September 24, 2010

    We Can Do It!

    If these kids (below) were able to fly on the energy of their own body. We can do anything!

    Human Powered Flight

    HPO Flight from U of T Engineering on Vimeo.

    Thursday, September 23, 2010

    Plácido Domingo sings Agustín Lara's Veracruz

    Dora E. Acosta Pardiñas

    My dear middle school friend, Dora, sent us a poem by Manuel Maples Arce. Here I put a screen shot of a modernism art book:

    Taken from Amazon.

    Veracruz is suffering at this moment. Our middle school principal was an Stridentist, Arqueles Vela, like Manuel Maples Arce. Prof. Vela signed my congratulation letter, three years in a row, because I was either the third, or the second best GPA student.

    It brakes my heart to think that the land of Maples, and so many intelligent Veracruzanos is suffering now.

    Veracruz Needs You

    First Haiti, then Chile, then Pakistan, now Veracruz.

    What is next; Guerrero?

    Which one do I Believe?

    Paul Krugman:

    ``So the clear and present danger isn’t that the G.O.P. will be able to achieve its long-run goals. It is, rather, that Republicans will gain just enough power to make the country ungovernable, unable to address its fiscal problems or anything else in a serious way. As I said, banana republic, here we come. ''

    Meg Whitman:

    ``Ms. Whitman, surrounded by a crowd of some 350 well-dressed supporters, began by saying she enjoyed “being here in my hometown” and was “delighted to see so many friends,” many of whom seemed enthusiastic about her pledge to “turn the Golden State golden again.”

    “We will make California a place where your children, your grandchildren and nieces and nephews can stay,” she said. “And prosper much as you have.” ''


    I believe the former.

    Who Do I Believe, Fox News or DN!?

    Fox

    If you click the link above all is hunky dory, if you listen to Jorge Castañeda in DN!, the sky is falling in Mexico.

    Which one is right?

    President Calderón announced a ``new plan'' to protect journalists, when over 28,000 Mexicans have died in his dumb war on drugs.

    Fox, says rah, rah, we are winning. Let's smoke them out. Jorge Castañeda says, this war has failed.

    I go for Castañeda's take.

    Barbie's People in Acapulco

    From Yahoo

    I Understand Now

    I have Blogger Buzz in my blog list, therefore on that blog they have me in the category of ``Links to this post,'' if somebody is there, they may like what is at the bottom of their page and come here.

    I guess that is the ``You scratch my back, I scratch yours,'' practice; which  must be hundreds of thousands of years old!

    Blogger Buzz

    These guys got me some clients. How did that happen?

    US Grants Asylum to Mexican Journalist

    NYT

    ``"I think there is a flaw in the system," Beckett said, "where we're basically saying that if you're not a famous person and a nobody, don't ask." ''

    I am not seeking asylum, but it hurts to know this.

    Did DN! Pay Jorge Castañeda?

    Today you can hear this articulate Mexican intellectual with Amy and Juan in DN!.

    Given that DN! is becoming more and more well known in the American news world, I know they have more money. A friend of mine knows Jorge, from what we've talked, I don't put it pass Castañeda to request fees for his knowledge.

    So, did DN! pay Jorge?

    How Did it Get this Bad?

    Corruption, at almost all levels of Government in Mexico led us to this undeclared Mexican war.

    Anybody Can be the Next Victim!


    Julian Cardona, Mexican journalist in DN! today.

    The best recount of the nightmare going on in Ciudad Juárez is Bolaño's 2666. Read it.

    Wednesday, September 22, 2010

    The Other Side of the Coin

    ``In a time of widespread joblessness, Mexicans in New York have proved unusually adept at finding and keeping work. Of the city’s 10 largest immigrant groups, they have the highest rate of employment and are more likely to hold a job than New York’s native-born population, according to an analysis of the most recently available census data. They are even employed at a greater rate than Mexicans nationwide.''

    ``Agustín, 45, who lives in Apartment 1A with four other men, left his wife and children behind in Mexico when he came to the United States in 2006 to find work. He spent most of the first few years picking up construction work around Brooklyn. But with the downturn in housing construction, he looked elsewhere, finding a job this year at a supermarket in Bensonhurst.

    He now works 12 hours a day, seven days a week, he said, and is paid $4 an hour, more than $3 below the minimum wage. He sends whatever he can back to Mexico.

    “I have a family, so I have to work,” he said late on a recent Sunday as he returned from his shift. He looked ragged.

    “If I don’t work,” he said, “they don’t eat.” ''

    NYT

    For every crooked politician of Mexican descent (below) there are ten hard working Mexicans. The US ends up winning.

    Hartley Comet

    From Puebla Mexico you can see comet 103P/Hartley. Picture provided by Sociedad Astronómica de Puebla, A.C.

    Manfred Max-Neef

    Today I heard this economist at DN!. He works on ``Barefoot Economics.'' He lived with poor people in Latin America, thus understanding poor people's economic knowledge.

    Two persons come to mind: Ubiratan D'Ambrosio, and Ricardo Cantoral. Both of them are looking into what Latin American people know of mathematics.

    I hope both of them make it to DN!, for me that is more important than ABC, NBC, or any other such.

    Thanks Amy!

    Tuesday, September 21, 2010

    Corrupt Hispanic Politicians

    NYT

    Mr. Hernández seems to think that he is in Mexico. Shame on you!

    The Witch is Dead, The Witch is Dead

    Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?

    I'm not a witch at all!

    Larry Summers will leave at the end of the year!

    NYT

    Unfortunately I do not think that Professor Krugman is interested. I remember reading on his column that he is not a Larry Summers ``type.'' It will be good to have him there though.

    My second nomination is another Nobelist: Joe Stiglitz

    If they followed my advice with Elizabeth Warren, maybe they will, at least consider these two gentlemen to substitute Summers.

    Friends, Family and One's Life

    Again in one of those pensive moods.

    A beautiful student, let's call her Betsy, told me I do not take care of my facebook site, that I prefer my blog.

    I do have several blogs, I do not know which one she referred to. A good friend told me I should stay here, at our age, he said, we do not have many opportunities. I am reading a piece on a recently deceased historian, a member of my family disagrees with. Interesting fellow and interesting family member.

    The important decision is mine; so I think.

    Some people here do not know why the heck did I come back if I was not willing to play ball. Somehow I thought it was going to be easier; those are familiar words for me. Always feeling unsettled, and mainly a wasted talent.

    I am doing some things I like; but the money is not good and I do not see a clear path ahead.

    It is up to me.

    $\LaTeX$

    $\LaTeX$

    Twitter Hacked

    Today.

     Twitter

    Distress Signs

    Recently I have not written on serious signs of collapse. Today I read the news from my father's homeland, Guatemala. The National Public University there, the ``Universidad de San Carlos,'' has been in distress for several months now.

    You can check where the different Professional Schools and Research Centers can go for their salaries, because the official installations are taken by students.

    Taken from USAC

    Sad :(

    $\LaTeX$

    My adventure with Ubuntu 10.04 left me $\LaTeX$less. I have the Monkey Again!

    Taken from GreaseSpot

    Roots

    Granma Tayde (his brothers below) and Granpa Manuel in their 50th wedding anniversary and a bunch of us in Huitzuco.

    Roots

    This is my grandma's family. These four brothers were courageous men that fought for our rights in Mexico. On February 28, 1911; these brave men with others from Huitzuco Guerrero, started a battle that put dictator Porfirio Díaz in Paris, where he died.

    It is almost one hundred years since they fought for me, my siblings, and all Mexicans.

    I salute, and remember them!



    Here lie the rests of the Dictator: From Wikipedia.

    Monday, September 20, 2010

    Neighbors Can't Talk: Trouble

    NYT

    US and Mexican Governors of border states are not in good terms.

    What do you want: incivility?

    Come on people; you know what I think.

    Pass the Dream Act

    NYT has an editorial about the sorry state of close to a million Latino kids who deserve the right to go to college.

    Fortunately my wife is American and my son is at the University of Iowa. Let all the children in! They are good; please forget about their origin. Remember we all come from Africa, stand up for what is right!

    Photo taken from here.

    Democracy Matters

    ``“For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest he: and therefore truly, sir, I think it’s clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government.”

    From that utterance in 1647 to Lincoln at Gettysburg in 1863 — “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” — is a natural progression. And democracy is still an idea worth the fight. ''

    Roger Cohen NYT.

    Elizabeth Warren: You Read it Here First

    This smart woman was proposed by President Obama as the defender of the middle class. Read here.

    I feel better now.

    Go Elizabeth, go!

    Today in NYT, Krugman writes:

    ``But when they say “we,” they mean “you.” Sacrifice is for the little people. ''

    Looting in Veracruz

    La Jornada

    Frankenweenie Part III

    Frankenweenie Part II

    Frankenweenie part I

    YouTube Instant

    Kopani-Canto Cri

    gets you the beautiful voice of Kopani Rojas Ríos Canto Criollo.

    YouTube Instant is here.

    Magnets: Richard Feynman

    Reggae, Anyone?

    DN! has Benjamin Zephanaia today. Great man. Learn about  Reggae here.

    Machete

    There was a battle near Mexico City a few years back with Mexicans wielding machetes in Atenco. I felt goose bumps when the new Mexican-American Superhero, Machete, stands on top of a car wielding his powerful weapon. I could see the little faces of so many little Mexican boys terrorized by the ``The White Devil,'' that wants to kill them before their mother wants to birth illegally in the US.

    There are no Illegal Human Beings!

    Now Machete will defend us!

    John le Carré

    DN! interviewed this writer today.

    I wonder if England is giving this man a chance to speak. I assume not. It is only because Amy Goodman has fought so hard to have the voices of the oppressed heard, that we have this opportunity. Difficult times require courageous people like Ms. Goodman.

    The world is changing, that is why we can know what Democracy Now! decides to broadcast. This is good change. Truth will set us free.

    Friday, September 17, 2010

    Miguel E. Schultz 52

    Miguel E. Schultz was a high school teacher in Mexico City.

    Now there is a street behind the one I had lived at most of my life with that name. This morning I woke up to watch the news; they reported that a chunk of a building fell there. They interviewed a woman on a wheel chair, she was explaining how at dawn they heard noices, a younger woman went to check and saw a wall falling!

    Hey man, this is next block!

    I just went to check myself. There are three apartment buildings, Miguel E. Schultz numbers 48, 50, and 52.

    The police were already there, with their crowd control tools. During the time I was there a man from next building came to talk with the people in charge. If we start the machines, they will move the ground, he said!

    Before the man from next door came, I was wondering why that particular part of the structure was the one that gave in. The north part of the building is next door, I kid you not,   where I sat when I was in kindergarten close to sixty years ago!

    Now I know, and I came fast to write it here, because the machines belong to a very powerful and reactionary paper. El Sol de Mexico.

    The Mexican Sun; they should pay, for at least fifty years they have been moving that building around, until at dawn today it fell apart!

    El Sol de Mexico should pay.

    Tuesday, September 14, 2010

    ¡Viva México!

    Enrique Krauze in NYT

    ``All the plazas across Mexico will be filled with light and music and color. And in the historic center of Mexico City, we will watch the fireworks and the parades and we will hear President Calderón ring the church bell once sounded by Miguel Hidalgo and then we will shout, jubilantly, with genuine feeling: “Viva México!” ''

    Tonight I'm going to Mexico City, and for the first time, I'll be in the Zócalo, the main plaza.

    With hundreds of thousands of my countrymen and women, I will shout (grito) ¡Viva México!

    Trejo, José Luis not Danny

    Taken from Terra

    I played soccer with this man, when we were young. We both played middle fielder. Now he is technical director of the professional soccer team in Puebla, where I spent almost twenty years of my life.

    So it goes.

    Ominous Signs; Like in 1919 a Populist Party is Born

    Less than a hundred years ago, a populist movement took over Europe, it ended in the nightmare of WWII.

    New Populists won in Delaware.

    Get ready for a wild ride.

    FDR and BHO

    I believe Franklin D. Roosevelt did not choose to be radical, the situation demanded it. Barack H. Obama, has to do the same. Kaiser Permante workers are leading the way. Watch in DN!.

    Street Sweeper Social Club

    SSSC is a music group, Tom Morello and Boots Riley, lead it.

    Diego Fernández de Cevallos

    La Jornada

    Sad, the family says good riddance.

    ``La versión de las fuentes consultadas refiere que Lozano y el hijo de Diego Fernández han recomendado a la familia del ex candidato a la Presidencia de la República dilatar el pago de los 50 millones de dólares en efectivo que solicitan los captores a cambio de la libertad del Jefe Diego, supuestamente para desesperar a los delincuentes y reduzcan sus exigencias.''

    Sources indicate that Lozano and Diego's son have recommended the family to delay the 50 million dollar cash asked by captors for Jefe Diego's freedom, supposedly to tire the kidnappers and thus  reduce their demands.

    Old piece on Diego.

    Monday, September 13, 2010

    Paquita la del Barrio and Marilyn Mensón

    Pictures of Nuclear Explosions

    NYT

    ``Mr. Yoshitake, the atomic cameraman, said the release and restoration of the images were healthy developments because their disclosure improved public understanding of the nuclear threat.

    “It’s a good thing to show the horror,” he said.

    And he wondered — now that the cold war is over — why advanced nations still retain more than 20,000 of the deadliest of all weapons.

    “Do we need all these bombs?” Mr. Yoshitake asked. “It’s scary.” ''

    Fighting for Food in Pakistan

    NYT

    ``Flood victims scrambled for food Monday. A relief effort has opened a new front against militants for the nation’s army. ''

    ``Taliban insurgents, meanwhile, are intent on continuing their campaign of violence, yet they seem to be aiming at soft targets, using sleeper cells to set off car bombs and suicide attacks rather than instigating direct military clashes with the army, General Abbas said. There have been several serious suicide bomb attacks in the cities, he said, but no significant ground action by militants since the onset of the floods. ''

    ¡Viva España!

    Rafael Nadal!

    ``Nadal, the relentless left-handed competitor from Spain, did so by wearing down the third-seeded Djokovic with his phenomenal defense, consistent returns and improved serve, particularly the sliced serve to the ad court that forced Djokovic to release the second hand from his backhand and lunge in desperation on multiple occasions. ''

    ``“Right now he’s the best player in the world, and he absolutely deserves this title,” Djokovic said after Monday’s match. ''

    WTF: The Cacique Looks Drunk

    From La Jornada Guerrero.

    San Judas Tadeo

    ``San Judas Tadeo, a quien se le relaciona con las “causas difíciles”.''

    From La Jornada de Oriente.

    Jude the Apostle, related to ``hard tasks.''

    I have seen this Jude all over the place, I didn't know drug dealers worship him.

    I guess in Taliban country, they have equivalent holy men, the Afghan drug dealers get justification and succor from.

    If this is so, then Mexico is getting into a new ``Cristero War.''

    PRI falls in Puebla: They Capture El Grande

    I wonder if some higher up in the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI, Institutionalized Revolutionary Party) in Puebla was defending ``El Grande.'' After they lose the governor's post to a coalition of parties from right (PAN) and left (PRD), this drug dealer is miraculously caught.

    Even the Rector of the main public university there, BUAP, has  been accused lately of links with drug cartels.

    Just, saying. (Digo, no?)

    GoogleEarth on Linux

    Finally: I had trouble, now I have it.

    Sergio Villarreal Barragán aka El Grande

    Read the Guardian information on El Grande's capture, and watch a video, here.

    Pictures and Spanish version of La Jornada de Oriente, here.

    Ma & Pa Kettle

    Back to Ubuntu 9.04 :(

    I am very sorry to report that this morning my Ubuntu 10.04 started to freeze, :(

    Back to the old reliable Jaunty jackalope :(

    Saturday, September 11, 2010

    Son Having a Great Time at University of Iowa!

    So far so good. A good start is crucial. Way to go son.

    Tom Friedman on Values

    ``In a flat world where everyone has access to everything, values matter more than ever. Right now the Hindus and Confucians have more Protestant ethics than we do, and as long as that is the case we’ll be No. 11! ''

    NYT

    I Am With Obama, Not The Tea Party

    Elizabeth Warren

    ``For Obama to make Americans believe he does understand their problems and close the enthusiasm gap, he cannot merely make changes of campaign style. Sporadic photo ops in shirtsleeves or factory settings persuade no one; a few terrific speeches can’t always ride to the rescue. Nor would there be much point in firing Summers and Geithner — a political nonstarter anyway, now that it’s been opportunistically proposed by the G.O.P. leader John Boehner (his one good idea). Certainly Obama can add powerful new hands who might actually fight to protect ordinary Americans from the sharks; the star consumer advocate, Elizabeth Warren, should have been front and center, even in a Senate confirmation battle, long ago. But in the short term between now and Election Day, Obama may have the most to gain by sharpening his attack on those “powerful interests” who liken him to a dog. A top dog bites back (with a smile). ''

    Amandititita

    No embed, get it here.

    Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

    I was not able to  run 9.10, my PC froze EVERYTIME. Now I have the Long Term Support current at this point and it runs!

    Problem Solving

    Friday, September 10, 2010

    Quite a Time Span

    Taken from arXiv

    From 1609 to 2008. That is 399 years!

    Marc Andreesen or Larry Ellison?

    Those are some of the principals in the HP brawl. Saga on clowns, is my collection of items on this.

    I go for Andreesen hands down. But evil doers like the Oracle honcho, are more adept at these chicaneries.

    Oh well.

    Elizabeth Warren for Consumer Protection

    NYT.

    President Obama appoint Elizabeth Warren; we need her.

    Julio César Abraján

    Parties in Chilpancingo

    Since I moved here two years ago, one thing I saw was how eager people are to have a party down here.

    Our welcome party for the freshman class yesterday had loud music, drinks, and of course dance. Nevertheless late at nigh I got worried because a party of four or so were there. I didn't know them, I thought the students had rented the dancing room, just outside campus, just for the math crowd.

    I asked the bartenders, if anybody could come in. They answered in the affirmative. Whoever pays can come in. Then I proceeded to talk to these party goers. In a friendly way, one of them told me that they were relatives of the late Armando Chavarría Barrera (Wikipedia note on him in Spanish here). The orphan son of this member of Guerrero House of Representatives, was having a good time with his buddies. I felt everything was cool, after getting a free drink from them, I went back to my seat.

    I left before the party was over, because I had asked a student to come early in the morning today.

    Coming today I felt relieved, since no ugly incident happened, our girls took care of themselves with these drunken suitors, and their fellow students were all ok.

    Nevertheless the weird feeling remains, sure this representative from the left was good, but he was assassinated a year ago, and the government has not solved the murder. Maybe I should be worried that now I know the son of the late representative.

    And life goes on.

    Birthday!

    This is how I spent it!

    Perfect Spiral in the Sky

    National Geographics

    They're Reading Relevant Science at the White House

    Rahm Emanuel in the news.

    Thursday, September 09, 2010

    d. The Epdochal Camouflage of Ideas in Leibniz' Notation

    The designation of antiderivatives as indefinite integrals and of derivatives as differential quotients has had two important consequences.

    On the one hand, that notation camouflages the fundamental result of calculus and ( as will be seen in Chapter VIII) some difficult operations on derivatives as truisms. In past centuries, undoubtedly, this very camouflage secured the basic ideas of calculus acceptance by many who would have shunned a method obviously surpassing their understanding. Without the protection of a plausible appearance, those great ideas might not even have survived - just as some bright butterflies would perish if, with folded wings, they did not assume the appearance of inconspicuous leaves.

    On the other hand, the traditional notation has made it difficult to understand calculus. The symbol $\int_a^b f(x) dx$, while objectionable on account of its dummy part, is at least reminiscent of the sums  of products as whose limit the integral is defined. The symbol $\int f(x) dx$, however, not only fails to remind one of the inverse of derivation - the operation he has to perform - but strongly suggests sums of products (the same sums of which the integral is reminiscent) with which the antiderivative concept has absolutely nothing to do.

    The traditional symbols, introduced essentially by Leibniz, make it hard to distinguish definitions from theorems, technical difficulties from profound problems, and minor results from tremendous discoveries.

    All in all, Leibniz' notation accounts for what, from a sociological point of view, are the two most striking facts in the history of calculus: that for centuries the use  of that great theory has been enormously wide, and that even today its use is often mechanical.''

    Taken from Calculus.

    9/10

    This is a happier occasion than the next day. This is my birthday.

    Nikita is a Spy!

    Anna Ardin September 9, 2010

    After so many days, she is is still number 1.

    Daley Not Running


    NYT

    I am running: Vote for Me!

    Platform:

    Jobs for Hispanic Kids. I will teach them Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics of Course.

    Start EcoBusinesses, that they will run, and ask our black, Muslim, and other poor neglected children to join. Think of the Pied Piper, I won't steal your children, though, they will all have RFID tags, you will all know where they are at all moments. I will put them to work for the benefit of all the people of Chicago.

    Vote for ME!.

    ``The nonpartisan primary election, on Feb. 22, is likely to be a free-for-all, said Larry Bennett, a political science professor at DePaul University. “This is new ground,” he said. “We have not had an election like this in any of our experience.” ''

    From the NYT link above.

    Who else is running?

    Emanuel.

    If I want to run, though; I have to hurry.

    ``Here in Washington, even before Mr. Emanuel made a decision on whether he intended to leave the White House, a guessing game quickly began over who would succeed him. The potential replacements were divided into categories of temporary and permanent, depending on how quickly he would return to Chicago if he decided to run. Nomination papers must be filed by Nov. 22 for the Feb. 22 election. ''

    Who will endorse me? That is easy, from the Mayor's mouth:

    ``“It can be the people of the city of Chicago that will make that decision,” Mr. Daley told reporters, explaining his decision to stay out of the race. “The people of Chicago can make that recommendation.” ''

    From NYT's Bob Herbert:

    ``Well, that’s the drum the Democrats should have been pounding in the earliest days of the Obama administration, and they should have backed it up with a dramatic rebuild America infrastructure campaign and every other job-creation measure they could think of, including public works projects for the young and the poor and the hard-core unemployed.''

    RFID on Kids

    DN! addresses the issue today. These radio frequency identifiers are getting cheaper, and cheaper. They are getting to the one cent per ID threshold; when that happens, we will see them everywhere. Now, not cheaply!, they are getting in our little tots.

    This should be debated; good work DN!

    Raw Meat

    Wednesday, September 08, 2010

    What a Way to Go

    ``New York City just had its hottest June-to-August stretch on record. Moscow, suffering from a once-in-a-millennium heat wave, tallied thousands of deaths, a toll that included hundreds of inebriated, overheated citizens who stumbled into rivers and lakes and didn’t come out. Pakistan is reeling from flooding that inundated close to a fifth of the country. ''

    Andrew Revkin from the NYT.

    "Che liked animals very much," Antonio Castro said.

    Fidel Castro at the Aquarium.
    From the Atlantic Monthly article I'm reading. I do not think even Gabriel García Márquez would've come up with a line like that. Reality is ...

    Antonio Castro is Fidel's son, and they are talking to Celia Guevara, Che's daughter that takes care of the dolphins at the aquarium.

    Wow.

    Jeffrey Goldberg

    From the Atlantic Monthly we get:


    ``Julia pointed out that one effect of such a sentiment might be to create space for his brother, Raul, who is now president, to enact the necessary reforms in the face of what will surely be push-back from orthodox communists within the Party and the bureaucracy. Raul Castro is already loosening the state's hold on the economy. He recently announced, in fact, that small businesses can now operate and that foreign investors could now buy Cuban real estate. (The joke of this new announcement, of course, is that Americans are not allowed to invest in Cuba, not because of Cuban policy, but because of American policy. In other words, Cuba is beginning to adopt the sort of economic ideas that America has long-demanded it adopt, but Americans are not allowed to participate in this free-market experiment because of our government's hypocritical and stupidly self-defeating embargo policy. We'll regret this, of course, when Cubans partner with Europeans and Brazilians to buy up all the best hotels).''

    This policy is enforced from Miami; the Cubans have people in high places in the US government. Stupid Minds, Stupid!

    A Few Crazy People

    Gail Collins writes today about the 5% of the US population that is making the country look evil to 1.5 billion people on Earth: The Muslims.

    I am sorry to say that whoever proposes to burn the Koran, and whoever goes on a rampage because that book was burned, qualifies as a bit nutty in my book.

    Just saying.

    La Barbie

    In the NYT version of life. The good American kid was defending Mexicans from the bad guys: The Zetas.

    I guess a secret identity will be given to Edgar Valdez, once he spills the beans on his Mexican ``enemies,'' the Zetas.

    One could not make better stories, if one wanted. Life is more interesting than fiction.

    Billions of dollars are behind these plots. I guess we'll be hearing about them for a long, long, time. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut. Maybe La Barbie is reading my blog.

    ``La Barbie'' in the NYT

    Published: September 8, 2010

    Machete

    Google Scribe Bookmark

    Google Scribe is enabled and now I can use it here. Now I toggled it off and it is gone!

    Great!

    La Llorona



    ``Si por que te quiero quieres, llorona, quieres que te quiera mas. Si ya te he dado la vida, llorona, que mas quieres? Quieres mas!!! --Esa parte me mata cada vez!!''

    If because I love you, Llorona, you want me to love you more. If I'd given you my life, Llorona, what else do you want? You want more!!! -- That is the part that kills me each time!!

    Taken from YouTube

    First you Come for Muslims, Then ...

    Gainesville Florida is the center of a National remembrance of 9/11. Pastor Terry Jones will burn the Quran.

    What next; burn Virgin Guadalupe?

    Tuesday, September 07, 2010

    Obama for the Middle Class

    ``It is not clear that Mr. Obama can prevail given his own diminished popularity, the tepid economic recovery and the divisions within his party. But by proposing to extend the rates for the 98 percent of households with income below $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals — and insisting that federal income tax rates in 2011 go back to their pre-2001 levels for income above those cutoffs — he intends to cast the issue as a choice between supporting the middle class or giving breaks to the wealthy. ''

    ``Republicans’ early reactions were hostile, especially to Mr. Obama’s proposals to close corporate tax loopholes to offset any costs. ''

    NYT

    In the same article there is a comment on Peter Orzag NYT piece I commented on earlier:

    ``Martin Feldstein, who was economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan, said all the Bush tax cuts should be extended for two years because even letting those for the wealthy lapse would be “a blow to a very fragile economy.”

    To the chagrin of the White House, Mr. Obama’s recently departed budget director, Peter R. Orszag, took the same stance on Tuesday in a column in The New York Times. ''

    I hope we support him. Because Wall Street won't.

    Jordan Curve Theorem

    I find interesting the fact that Camille Jordan thought he had a proof of the simple theorem that, on a plane, a closed non-intersecting curve, divides it in inside and outside.

    Later on he realized his proof was wanting and finally provided the first elementary proof of this seemingly obvious fact.

    The picture shows part of the problem, how many turns are allowed?

    I am fascinated by the fact that intuitive ideas, sometimes require a lot of thought to prove.

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