About Latin America

President-elect Barack Obama should not put off improving ties with Latin America. And given how bad relations are right now, it will not take much.

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Lest We Forget

The story of how we failed to see this coming has a clear policy implication — that financial market reform should be pressed quickly, and that it should not wait until the crisis is resolved.

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Retailers Offer Big Discounts, and Then Pray

Analysts expect retailers to offer more jaw-dropping deals during one of the toughest holiday seasons in decades.

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Shining City

"Give thanks on this day for the law. It’s what stands between the shining city on a hill and the dark side."

Roger Cohen (below) has spoken truth to power. I regret though, that he didn't do more to stop the dark side, when it was in full force.

A Command of the Law

I am thankful that the next commander in chief is a constitutional law expert, since what defines the United States is that it is a nation of laws.

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Count Those Blessings

Sure, this isn’t the absolutely best and brightest holiday season ever. But look at the pluses.

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All Fall Down

After a near total breakdown of responsibility at every link in our financial chain, we either bail out the people who brought us here or risk a systemic crash. These are the wages of our sins.

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What is that with all those adds in Google Reader?

I guess I must've been forewarned when I chose Google's Chrome browser. But whenever I use the Reader there I get all these adds in the items. I just used Safari, and when I didn't see the same, I realized that it is a Google thing. I guess they have to start making money for their investors. When Harvard is having a hard time keeping financial obligations, you can see that the ... hit the fan.

Oh, well.

Kiyoshi Ito Who Described Random Motion Dies

Mr. Ito’s mathematical models of random motion (Ito Calculus) are used today in fields as diverse as finance and biology.

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Bob Herbert on Obama's Saturday Speech

"Impossible, that is, until you realize that bandits don’t waste time repairing a building that they’re looting."

This is one of the best lines I've read in the NYT (below).

He is calling a spade a spade. Republicans looted the US. They are modern day pirates. Enough, is enough. It is time to rebuild.

Not a Moment Too Soon

We’re never going to get out of this economic fix if we can’t swing open the doors to millions of new jobs. At long last, we are about to have a president who gets that.

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A Whisper, Perhaps, From the Universe’s Dark Side

Recent results from a number of experiments have led some scientists to suspect that they are getting signals from a shadow universe of dark matter.

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Exclusive (Part 2): Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn on the

Weather Underground, the McCain Campaign Attacks, President-Elect Obama and the Antiwar Movement TodayUntil just a few weeks ago Ayers and his anti-war actions from nearly 40 years ago formed a central part of the Republican attack on Obama. In their first joint television interview education professor Bill Ayers and his wife law professor

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Black Hole "Hearts" Warm Galaxies, Control Growth

A colossal black hole nestled in the center of a distant galaxy controls its own growth and the growth of surrounding stars by pumping out energy at regular intervals, a new study says. "It looks like a beating heart," said study team member Mateusz Ruszkowski, an astronomer at the University of Michigan.

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Ontosemiotics

Ontology and Semiotics, are two categories of knowledge. Juan Godino from Spain has put them together.

I just started to study this approach. We are having a lecture by Professor Godino in Chilpancingo tomorrow.

Ramiro Humberto Cajas Cantoral (1918-1980)

“All of us braceros are dead,” he said, clutching a cane and staring out the big picture window of a house near here that he shares with his children. “It would be for my funeral.”

You can read about justice to "Braceros" in a note on the NYT below.

The article ends like this:

“I remember everything, the fields, the places, the crops,” he said afterward. “But they are not accepting my memories.”

My father did not get justice, he would've been 90 years old next Saturday; he died when he was 62. He went to the States as part of the "Bracero" Program, and I accept his memories.

He was a great man.

Owed Back Pay, Guest Workers Comb the Past

Guest farm workers can now collect a payment of wages, decades overdue, from the Mexican government.

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American Scientists for Mexico?

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russian scientists went to Mexico. Will any American scientist flee the catastrophe to Mexico?

I doubt it. This coming upheaval looks more like a Tsunami, taking everybody down.

I hope I am wrong in my prognostication.

Fisk in Afghanistan and 2012

This knowledgeable man is in Kabul.

If you read his piece in "The Independent" that I posted below, maybe you can see the similarities with my piece on the CETEG. The "Other World", does not want Progress. Are they right?

I see, like Fisk, similarities in the downfall of The West in Afghanistan, and Communism à la USSR, and in Guerrero the end of Neo Liberalism. "Deep Mexico" and "Deep Afghanistan", don't like this Modern World. This Modern World seems to be crumbling. The fall started in 1992, and maybe the falling cycle will end in 2012, with the end of Capitalism, the "End of the World", as some esoteric writers have claimed recently. Twenty years to end Progress. This stage lasted over three hundred years, counting from the Industrial Revolution in England.

I really wish this is not so.

But then you can read in today's NYT (below):

"Once the nation’s largest and mightiest financial company, Citigroup lost half its value in the stock market last week as the bank confronted a crisis of confidence. Although Citigroup executives maintain the bank is sound, investors worry that its finances are deteriorating. Citigroup has suffered staggering losses for a year now, and few analysts think the pain is over. Many investors worry that it needs more capital."

US Government saving Banks. Is that the way it ends?

Have We Learned Nothing? By Robert Fisk

November 22, 2008 "The Independent" -- -I sit on the rooftop of the old Central Hotel – pharaonic-decorated elevator, unspeakable apple juice, sublime green tea, and armed Tajik guards at the front door – and look out across the smoky red of the Kabul evening. The Bala Hissar fort glows in the dusk, massive portals, the great keep to which the..

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U.S. Approves Plan to Help Citigroup Weather Losses

Regulators approved a radical plan to stabilize the bank in an arrangement in which the government could soak up billions of dollars in losses.

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Report Calls for Fresh Approach to Latin America

A new report compiled by prominent former policy-makers recommends Washington overhaul its drug policies at home and pursue a rapprochement with Cuba.

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Rise of the Non-Threatening Black Man

I grew up in Jamaica Queens, New York ... however, I 'lived' in Floral Park, New York ... a predominately white neighborhood through the late 1970's to late 1980's. PS 191, Junior High School 172 and eventually Martin Van Buren High School.

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Ibrahim Ferrer My Space Page

Great Cuban Singer

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Ersi Arvizu in My Space

Great Mexican American Singer

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We Found the W.M.D.

The national economy is in a real code red and addressing this issue can’t be put off for two months.

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Marriage on the Rocks

Gays who supported Barack Obama had the bittersweet experience of seeing voters who surged to the polls to vote Democratic also vote for Proposition 8, which turned gay “I dos” into “You can’ts.”

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Ry Cooder and Easy Rider

John Winthrop's City upon a Hill, 1630

Now the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke and to provide for our posterity is to followe the Counsell of Micah, to doe Justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God, for this end, wee must be knitt together in this worke as one man, wee must entertaine each other in brotherly Affeccion, wee must be willing to abridge our selves of our superfluities, for the supply of others necessities, wee must uphold a familiar Commerce together in all meekenes, gentlenes, patience and liberallity, wee must delight in eache other, make others Condicions our owne rejoyce together, mourne together, labour, and suffer together, allwayes haveing before our eyes our Commission and Community in the worke, our Community as members of the same body, soe shall wee keepe the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace, the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us, as his owne people and will commaund a blessing upon us in all our wayes, soe that wee shall see much more of his wisdome power goodnes and truthe then formerly wee have beene acquainted with, wee shall finde that the God of Israell is among us, when tenn of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when hee shall make us a prayse and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantacions: the lord make it like that of New England: for wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us; soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our god in this worke wee have undertaken and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a byword through the world, wee shall open the mouthes of enemies to speake evill of the wayes of god and all professours for Gods sake; wee shall shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants, and cause theire prayers to be turned into Cursses upon us till wee be consumed out of the good land whether wee are going: And to shutt upp this discourse with that exhortacion of Moses that faithfull servant of the Lord in his last farewell to Israell Deut. 30. Beloved there is now sett before us life, and good, deathe and evill in that wee are Commaunded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another to walke in his wayes and to keepe his Commaundements and his Ordinance, and his lawes, and the Articles of our Covenant with him that wee may live and be multiplyed, and that the Lord our God may blesse us in the land whether wee goe to possesse it: But if our heartes shall turne away soe that wee will not obey, but shall be seduced and worshipp other Gods our pleasures, and proffitts, and serve them, it is propounded unto us this day, wee shall surely perishe out of the good Land whether wee passe over this vast Sea to possesse it;

Therefore lett us choose life,

that wee, and our Seede,

may live; by obeyeing his

voyce, and cleaveing to him,

for hee is our life, and

our prosperity.

Taken from:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/winthrop.htm

You can read about Ry Cooder below, there was a NYT piece today about him. He is from Santa Monica, and has seen the changes there for all of his almost sixty years.

Since I saw Ghost Rider in the bus in my way back from Mexico City after my cousin's death last week, I've been in a pensive mood. I wrote a note on Easy Rider and Ghost Rider, and run a poll during this week. Easy Rider won. I also liked it better, but I wanted to contrast.

John Winthrop epitomizes what Americans want to believe is their nature. This weekend I saw "Deep Mexico", as Guillermo Bonfil Batalla named it (CETEG note below). The Mexico that doesn't want to change as John Womack writes in his book: Zapata and the Mexican Revolution . Putting these things together I try to make sense of the world around me: Don't we all?

Guillermo Bonfil Batalla
Avándaro and Mexico City, 1985-1987


Thus ends the preface of "México Profundo" (Deep Mexico).


Ry Cooder is an anthropologist in his own way. He goes around his neighborhood, and finds Mexicans in East Los Angeles, then they are his people. Then he goes to Cuba and finds Ibrahim Ferrer, and he was his friend. Cooder keeps going around and finding all his lost brothers and sisters, because he is a man that belongs to the whole world.

John Winthrop's trip seems to end in Santa Monica, but as I write below in Easy Rider vs. Ghost Rider, it doesn't. All of this continent, yes in Mexico we only think of one continent, America, not two like American kids are taught, in all of this continent a New Man is being formed. And it is hard, I can tell you, it is hard.

My cousin died, and I feel vulnerable, maybe I'll be the next one. I feel the need to leave something good. Life will go on without me, but I don't want to leave without leaving something behind. 

Ry Cooder’s American West

El Mirage Dry Lake sounds like a place one step from nonexistence, but it’s a critical stop on a journey into the idiosyncratic world of this influential rock and blues artist.

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CETEG

"Coordinadora Estatal de Trabajadores de la Educación en Guerrero"

Guerrero State Education Workers Coordinating Committee.

This independent workers union finished yesterday a three month walkout. Just like the Zapatistas almost a hundred years ago, they went to protest, because they didn't want to change.

John Womack, a Harvard historian looked into the Zapatista Movement of 1910-1920. They were Mexicans that had lived here for over five thousand years. When Porfirio Díaz; another progress oriented indian from Oaxaca, took power for thirty years to change Mexico, he failed.

Now Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo, Governor of Guerrero, also conceded defeat yesterday. His plan to modernize education will have to wait at least seven months. In Mexico, wait seven months means: forget it.

I walked through the streets of Chilpancingo on Saturday, right there in front of the Chamber of Representatives, I could see hundreds of poor people literally living outdoors, to express their dissatisfaction, with the Government's plan. I could hear them talking in their own languages; there are several Mexicos and they don't talk to each other.

I ended up in a luxurious empty mall. I really don't know which way this country is taking. It is clear that the old rulers cannot make ALL Mexico change.

I'll keep you posted.

Breakdown of the Global Monetary System by summer 2009

Phase IV of the Global Systemic crisis --The G20-meeting held in Washington on November 14/15, 2008, is in its essence a historical indicator that the Western monopoly on global economic and financial governance, is coming to an end. Four key-factors are now pushing the Bretton Woods II (2) system to collapse in the course of the year 2009.

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Time for Him to Go

Can I see a show of hands? How many people want George W. Bush out and Barack Obama in right now?

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Help Is on the Way

A new advertising campaign may help troubled veterans come in from the cold and piercingly lonely environment of post-wartime stress.

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Roberto Bolaño's 2666

At one point in "2666," the enormous, posthumously published novel by Roberto Bolaño, a character complains about the meager ambitions of modern readers, accusing them of being "afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze paths into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters"—he cites Melvil..

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Notes on Perelman's papers

These are detailed notes on Perelman's papers "The entropy formula for the Ricci flow and its geometric applications" and "Ricci flow with surgery on three-manifolds".

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Ricci Flow and the Poincare Conjecture

This manuscript contains a detailed proof of the Poincare Conjecture. The arguments we present here are expanded versions of the ones given by Perelman in his three preprints posted in 2002 and 2003. This is a revised version taking in account the comments of the referees and others. It has been reformatted in the AMS book style.

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Terence Tao

Professor Tao is considered a good mathematician under 40.

I am reading his paper:

THE INVERSE CONJECTURE FOR THE GOWERS NORM OVER FINITE FIELDS VIA THE CORRESPONDENCE PRINCIPLE

Even though I teach an analysis class, and I am interested in Number Theory, I cannot understand his work well. Nevertheless it sounds true.

He has put order in the ergodic world of prime numbers. I am glad I finally started studying Measure Theory.

Obama Tilts to Center, Inviting a Clash of Ideas

President-elect Barack Obama’s reported selection for two major cabinet positions suggest that he is surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues.

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Linus Torvalds’ old company acquired and gone

Transmeta, once a sparkling startup that set out to beat Intel and AMD in mobile computing, announced that it will be acquired by Novafora. The company’s most famous employee, Linux inventor Linux Torvalds, kept the buzz and rumor mill about the company throughout its stealth phase alive and guaranteed a flashy technology announcement in early 2000

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Michael Moore: What We're Seeing is the End of Capitalism

"These guys, for all that stuff they've been telling us all these years about, 'Go capitalism! Free market! Free enterprise!' They don't believe in any of that. They don't believe in free enterprise or free market. They want socialism for themselves. They want a handout and a net for themselves. To hell with everybody else, but give it to t...

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20 Best Brains in Science Under 40

Young innovators are changing everything from theoretical mathematics to cancer therapy.

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Google may offer Chrome detailing on new PCs

Google has big plans for Chrome, and they don't involve keeping the browser in a perpetual beta twilight. The search giant intends to seize a significant chunk of the browser market in 2009, and could offer competition the likes of which Internet Explorer has never faced.

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Mexico Arrests Ex-Chief of Antidrug Agency

Noé Ramírez Mandujano is the highest-ranking official to come under suspicion in a purge of police and prosecutors for possible ties to drug traffickers.

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Stocks Soar on News of Choice for Treasury

Wall Street surged on Friday afternoon after news reports that Timothy F. Geithner would be chosen to be secretary of the Treasury.

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Clinton to Accept Offer of Secretary of State

Hillary Rodham Clinton will give up her Senate seat and accept the nomination for secretary of state after talks with President-elect Barack Obama about her role, two confidants said.

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Clinton accepts Secretary of State position

Hillary Clinton will agree to serve as secretary of state in the US President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet, the New York Times quotes sources as saying. As secretary of state, or foreign minister, she would succeed Condoleezza Rice, who has had the job for the past four years under President Bush.

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South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Election

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Election of Barack Obama, the Israeli Blockade of Gaza, US Foreign Policy under President Bush and More

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Scientists say Copernicus' remains found

WARSAW, Poland – Researchers believe they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton they have found with that of hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books.

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Once More Fear Stalks The Streets Of Kandahar

November 20, 2008 "The Independent" -- - There is a little girl in the Meir Wais hospital with livid scars and dead skin across her face, an obscene map of brown and pink tissue. Then there is another girl, a beautiful child, Khorea Horay, grimacing in pain, her leg amputated, her life destroyed after her foot was torn to pieces. In another ward,

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Economic Prospects

Scary, coming from Paul Krugman (below):

"The prospects for the economy look much grimmer now than they did as little as a week or two ago."

And he ends:

"And it’s scary to think how much more can go wrong before Inauguration Day."

Paul Krugman: The Lame-Duck Economy

The prospects for the economy look much grimmer now than they did a week or two ago. Yet economic policy, rather than responding to the threat, seems to have gone on vacation.

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Q & A with Joseph Stiglitz

We had an overwhelming response to the call for questions for Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-winning economist and author who joins us from Columbia University. I grouped your questions together so that Professor Stiglitz could get to the topics you asked about most - and he has indeed given some very thorough answers! If you want to read more, visit..

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Timothy Egan

The piece below sounds scary, and believable. I don't feel well.

Timothy Egan: Beggars Banquet

Where, exactly, do the bailouts stop?

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Talks Continue as Bill Clinton Is Said to Accept Terms of Ob

Mr. Clinton agreed to restrictions on his business and philanthropic activities if Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state, associates said.

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AOL Photos

Dear AOL Pictures User:

We are writing to remind you that, as of December 31, 2008, AOL will no longer provide the AOL Pictures online photo service. If you have not already done so, it is important that you choose from the options described below prior to December 31, 2008. After this date, you will no longer be able to access your images through AOL Pictures.

The good news is that AOL has partnered with American Greetings® PhotoWorks® to enable continued access to your pictures through the PhotoWorks service. PhotoWorks provides unlimited free storage, just like AOL Pictures, as well as a variety of options for making creations and sharing your photos. You can access your images on PhotoWorks simply by providing your screen name and password to register for a free American Greetings PhotoWorks account. Register for PhotoWorks now.

While we recommend the American Greetings PhotoWorks option, you may also:

Download your photos to your computer using a new tool that will enable you to quickly save multiple images and albums; or
Purchase a DVD archive of your images. Please note there is a charge for the DVD archive based on the number of images you select.
If you have not already done so, it is essential that you take action no later than December 31, 2008. After this date, you will no longer be able to access your images through AOL Pictures. Please go to AOL Pictures as soon as possible to register for American Greetings PhotoWorks or to save your images on your computer or to DVD. You may choose from or combine any of the options listed above, based on your needs, as long as you do so by December 31. At AOL Pictures, you can also find more information and step-by-step instructions on each of the available choices.

We sincerely appreciate your being an AOL Pictures user. It has been our pleasure to provide you with an enjoyable online photo experience.

Sincerely,

The AOL Pictures Team

No comments.

Indian Navy Sinks Pirate Ship

The Indian Navy said it battled would-be hijackers in the Gulf of Aden, sinking one vessel and forcing the pirates to abandon another.

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Rubén Uriza Cerda (1949-2008)

My cousin Rubén Uriza died last Friday.

I was with his family Saturday night, remembering him. We used to spend a lot of time together when we were children, I stopped seeing him when I was twenty, our lives went in different directions; he was a sportsman, and I was a university professor.

I miss him, he was a noble man, a great horse rider, with multiple recognitions for his skill, and dedication. He leaves a family, a wife, a son and a daughter; and all of us that remember him now.

I feel a sense of duty, to keep the good work that our family is known for.

Rest in peace, Rubén Uriza Jr.

Now (1/26/2012) I found him online [link]

Madam Secretary?

Is Barack Obama considering Hillary Clinton for secretary of state in order to get her off his back or as a prelude to protecting her back?

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Senate Democratic Caucus Tells Rest of Party to

Democratic Senators voted to grant immunity to Senator Joseph Lieberman, allowing him to continue chairing Homeland Security in spite of outrageous conduct on behalf of the McCain campaign. The voices of faithful Democrats around the country, whose hard work and hard-earned cash produced an historic victory, meant nothing in the clubby Senators.

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Mitt Romney

Below you can read an opinion piece by Mitt Romney in the NYT. Bob Herbert wrote a few days back that the US shouldn't let the big American automakers from Detroit go down. Both these men are much more knowledgeable about the American Auto Industry, than I am. I am not competing here with them; nevertheless I have an opinion.

Romney's father was an executive at American Motors when the GOP ex-presidential candidate was a kid. He believes his father would advise what he is proposing, let the executives feel the pain, and get a new bunch of more modern people to run the companies. To me that sounds cold hearted.

Bob Herbert on the other hand advises to help those companies, but not help the men at the helm that are guilty of mismanagement, but the men and women on the factory floor that actually make the cars.

What do I advise President Elect Obama?

A linear combination of both proposals. In math speak that means, change management with an eye on the welfare of those workers.

Think different, allow more worker's management responsibilities as Herbert proposes, and managers more time on the factory floor as Romney proposes.

This is not Marxism, nor Capitalism; we are entering a new stage in world economics. The stakeholders are not just investors, they are buyers, workers, salesmen, and management. Think different.

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt

A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the auto industry needs.

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Obama Taps Local Men for Transition Teams

Professor Mario Molina, who teaches chemistry and biochemistry at the university, was also tapped by the future president. Molina won the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work and research on CFC's and the ozone. Molina was asked to help lead the team examining the nation's plans for science and technology.

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Billions of Particles of Anti-Matter Created in Laboratory

Take a gold sample the size of the head of a push pin, shoot a laser through it, and suddenly more than 100 billion particles of anti-matter appear. The anti-matter, also known as positrons, shoots out of the target in a cone-shaped plasma “jet.”

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Amazon launches OLPC 'Give 1 Get 1' laptop drive

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) association launched its Give 1 Get 1 program for a second time, allowing people to buy one of their iconic green mini-laptops and donate one to a child in the developing world at the same time for just US$399.

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LHC start-up date pushed back again

The eagerly awaited start-up of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator, has been put off—again.

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Google SketchUp 7 Released

SketchUp is software you can use to build 3D models of anything: your house, killer robots, furniture, trees, abstract art — anything. Architects and engineers use it to design buildings and other structures. Woodworkers use it to plan their projects. And lots of people use it to figure out where to put their furniture.

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Why Does Paulson, Need to Apologize?

The Secretary of the Treasury of the Bush Administration just wrote an Apology in the NYT (below).

He has different ideas on Economic Theory than Paul Krugman, say. It seems to me that his Op-Ed piece in the NYT, is a self serving add. It is not a technical explanation of actions taken, that another economist like Krugman, would call professional. It is a sad defense of failed policies.

The plan is not working. Fasten your seat belts folks.

Fighting the Financial Crisis, One Challenge at a Time

Paulson's excuses for the bailout.

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Easy Rider vs. Ghost Rider

Peter Fonda had roles in Easy Rider, and Ghost Rider. He represents an American icon in both films; in the first he goes through the US searching for "freedom", and ends dead on a road in Louisiana. In the second he is the "Devil", starting his usual task of getting souls for his cause, and ends getting a completely new enemy that challenges him.

One could equally say that these icons are universal, at least in the Western World; but there is something particularly American I want to emphasize here.

Right away I say that Easy Rider is an "Art Film", and Ghost Rider a "Commercial Film", that is not what concerns me here. I'm more interested in the iconography around Peter Fonda.

First, in "Easy Rider", together with Dennis Hopper, he built the role for himself. A rebel outside of the Law searching for the American Freedom, the freedom that money can buy. He plays it easy, cool; building an image for himself, as the thoughtful detached outsider. A guy, the sixties generation is supposed to like. Then in a series of "bike" movies, that depress me, because they represent the commercialization of a sixties dream; he plays the same cool American icon, even though he does not go on a motorcycle. Ghost Rider is one of those. This one takes from the "Comic Book" culture of the American golden age during most of the twentieth century. By simplifying the discourse plenty; going to "Comics Culture": the author, Roy Thomas, presents a caricature of the Devil, Satan, or Demon, easing the artistic weight of the work. Freeing himself of any artistic pretension, produces, for my taste, a passable mix of, comic book/commercial film, type of entertainment.

Peter Fonda is not a good actor, he is an icon, and an intelligent man. My point here is to analyze the insights these movies give me of what Americans think they are.

They are decent, open minded frontier people. Searching for meaning in life through an ideal of a better world in this life. The Land of Opportunity, where everything can happen and everybody can make it. Even if you are a black coming from outside the power elites of the country.

In "Easy Rider" Fonda's character declares the whole affair a bummer. "We blew it". In "Ghost Rider" he produces out of the randomness of Nature, an enemy that will confront him from then on. He wasn't in control, after all.

I believe that the US experience is the beginning of a "New Age", coming from Europe, and fusing itself with the "Real Americans", that were in the continent before Columbus. In that respect, Mexico is more advanced in this fusion, by the sheer number of surviving American Indians living here.

We went through the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty first centuries, in a cultural desert, maybe we will make it into a "New World", glimpsed in "Easy Rider" and "Ghost Rider".

America, North and South, land of opportunity.

A Guide to Capacitors: Electrolytic, Ceramic and others

The capacitors are the most used electronic components. According the construction technology and their use they can have different shapes: from big cylindrical containers (electrolytic capacitors) to tiny drops (tantalum capacitors).

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Hillary for Secretary?

Barack Obama is talking about letting Hillary Clinton be the point person on foreign policy. What happened to the transformative change?

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‘Drop Dead’ Is Not an Option

New York City’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s was in no way comparable in scale to the myriad crises facing the country right now. But it’s still instructive.

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Number and Representation

In his Web page Domingo Gómez Morín writes:

"So, in the fourth step we got 479 exact digits for the square root of 2, just by means of the most simple arithmetic. We did not require any derivatives, nor the Cartesian system, nor any cumbersome-&-mysterious concept coming out from Infinitesimal Calculus."

Gómez Morín accomplished an impressive feat with simple arithmetic. In a few algebraic steps with a new algorithm, he goes - it seems - to the heart of the matter. The order he maintains is worth studying.

This is an example of how different algorithms can be used to represent the same number. Maybe we could define number, as the set of all algorithms that produce it. Some clearly defined processes, or algorithms, will be better than others depending on the context; but in any case I am looking for a periodic representation of irrational numbers, just like Minkowski's question mark function, ?(x), seems to bring some order to the square root of natural numbers, so Gómez Morín's algorithms, which he calls, Fractal Fractions, seem to bring even more order at a lower complexity prize. Not only can he get 479 exact digits in four steps for quadratics, he can improve the solution precision to general polynomial equations.

Frugal Traveler: Frugal Mexico

In Chiapas, a region of Mexico remote both in distance and culture, revolution smolders, natural beauty abounds, Indian ways flourish and prices are right.

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The Network of Everything

Wireless experts believe that, by 2017, personal networks will have to cope with at least a thousand devices, like laptops, telephones, mp3 players, games, sensors and other technology. To link these devices will require a ‘Network of Everything’. It represents an astonishing challenge, but European researchers believe that they are moving towards

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Pemex May Award 1st Oil Exploration Contract by 2009 (Update

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos may award the company's first external oil production and exploration contract by the end of next year, as it targets producers such as Exxon Mobil Corp.,Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp.

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Oil soars past $67; metals rally

WASHINGTON (AP) – The price of oil topped $67 per barrel Thursday amid persistent supply disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico and Nigeria,

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Sun Microsystems

I used to own shares of that great innovative company. I read sadly today that the stock prize is $4.02. Up to 6,000 people, very likely intelligent and educated people, will lose their job (below). The financial engineering behind the mortgage industry depended on the power of the hardware sold by Sun Microsystems.

I want to emphasize here that the principals of those companies are not necessarily the same mathematicians, scientists, and engineers, that produced or were in charge of these marvels of modern technologies. Nevertheless these technical men and women will lose their jobs.

Sun Microsystems is a victim of human folly.

Crisis Spreads to Tech Sector as Sun to Cut Work Force

Sun Microsystems has started a restructuring that could see up to 6,000 employees lose their jobs as it joins a growing list of technology companies reeling from the crisis.

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Democracy Now! | Democracy Now! Exclusive (Part 1): Bill Aye

Bill Ayers finally speaks out!!!

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Discover Ancient Rome in Google Earth

See Rome as it looked in 320 AD and fly down to see famous buildings and monuments in 3D. Select the "Ancient Rome 3D" layer under Gallery in Google Earth. Download Google Earth at http://earth.google.com/rome/

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Bill Ayers on Good Morning America

Bad interview

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A Killing in a Town Where Latinos Sense Hate

The stabbing of a laborer has brought accusations of anti-immigrant hostility to a village in Suffolk County.

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Depression Economics Returns

The United States economy has entered the realm of Depression economics, in which the usual rules of economic policy no longer apply.

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Juanes Sweeps Latin Grammys With 5 Wins

HOUSTON (AP) -- Colombian rocker Juanes ruled the Latin Grammys on Thursday, sweeping awards in five categories -- including record of the year and album of the year -- and setting a new record for total wins.

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Is the Nation Ready for Obama's Energy Plan?

Obama's 30-point energy agenda calls for big changes to address carbon emissions, fuel efficiency, renewable power and efficiency.If President-elect Barack Obama enacts the energy plan he laid out during his campaign, American taxpayers will each get a $500 rebate check -- funded by a windfall profits taxes on big oil companies.

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Wall Street Flat After Sell-Off

Markets in the United States opened calmly as buyers tentatively stepped in a day after the major exchanges all fell about 5 percent.

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FT.com / World / Americas - Mexico’s Congress passes budget

Agustín Carstens, Mexico’s finance minister, on Thursday praised legislators for passing a 2009 budget that will increase government spending 13.1 per cent in real terms, and called the move ”a key piece in the anti-cyclical strategy”.

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Agencia Espacial Mexican (AEXA)

The Mexican Senate approved the creation of a Space Agency. See note below from Wikipedia.

When I was at the "Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla" (BUAP), a group of friends, Mexican and Russian, were in talks with Members of Congress to make this possible. There had been an agency in the past, but the idea was to start anew; one that would stick.

I am sure there are other agents, like American astronauts of Mexican descent, and our only Mexican astronaut from Zumpango del Río, Guerrero State: Rodolfo Neri Vela; but my friends put their grain of salt for this accomplishment. I am proud of their work.

Mexican Space Agency approved unanimously in the Senate

The Mexican Space Agency (AEXA) (in Spanish: Agencia Espacial Mexicana) is a proposed space agency approved unanimously in the Senate of Mexico on November 4th, 2008 [1] after receiving a significant vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies on April 26, 2006.[2] Since the initiative was modified in the Senate, it awaits a confirmation vote ..

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Colombia tests OLPC laptops... running Windows XP

The government of Colombia has established a deal to bring the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's distinctive XO laptop to the country for a pilot program that will involve schools in several towns. These laptops won't be packing the penguin, however, because they will come with Microsoft's Windows XP operating system preinstalled.

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Pranksters dupe Americans with fake New York Times

A group of pranksters handed out more than 1.2 million fake New York Times newspapers mainly in New York City and Los Angeles on Wednesday with a front page story declaring “Iraq War Ends”.

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Obama and Our Schools

President-elect Barack Obama ranked education fifth among his priorities, and if it is being downplayed, that’s a mistake.

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The Election Lives!

The U.S. Senate race in Minnesota is up in the air. You may want to consider becoming totally obsessed with it.

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Pictures of the Day, Nov. 11

President-elect Barack Obama laid a wreath at a soldier's memorial in Chicago on Veteran's Day. Obama hugs Tammy Duckworth, Irak War Veteran.

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Baby, You’re Home

A growing number of women have been opting to give birth in the intimate and familiar surroundings of home — even in small New York City apartments.

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After the Credit crunch, the Oil crunch

Watchdog warns over falling supplies: the International Energy Agency is to call today for an energy revolution and a "major de-carbonisation" of global fuel sources as the world confronts tighter oil supplies caused by shrinking investment. • World needs to find 64m extra barrels a day by 2030 • Green revolution required to replace fuel sources

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Boxers, Briefs or Silks?

Sarah Palin is now trying to unmake her McCain campaign makeover and morph from uptown cloistered girl back to down-home accessible girl.

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How to Fix a Flat

Somebody ought to call Steve Jobs and ask him if he’d like to run a car company for a year. It wouldn’t take him long to come up with the G.M. iCar.

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Nicomachus

Mathematician who wrote an arithmetic book: Introduction to Arithmetic.

This man saw more in number than meets the eye.

Craig J. Hogan

Indeterminacy of Holographic Quantum Geometry

Craig J. Hogan

University of Chicago and Fermilab

An efective theory based on wave optics is used to describe indeterminacy of position in holographic spacetime with a UV cutoff at the Planck scale. Wavefunctions describing spacetime positions are modeled as complex disturbances of quasi-monochromatic radiation. It is shown that the product of standard deviations of two position wavefunctions in the plane of a holographic light sheet is equal to the product of their normal separation and the Planck length. For macroscopically separated positions the transverse uncertainty is much larger than the Planck length, and is predicted to be observable as a "holographic noise" in relative position with a distinctive shear spatial character, and an absolutely normalized frequency spectrum with no parameters once the fundamental wavelength is fixed from the theory of gravitational thermodynamics. The spectrum of holographic noise is estimated for the GEO600 interferometric gravitational-wave detector, and is shown to approximately account for currently unexplained noise between about 300 and 1400Hz. In a holographic world, this result directly and precisely measures the fundamental minimum interval of time.

This is the Abstract of a paper that could be correct, and fundamental.

Are We Living in Two Space Dimensions?

Craig Hogan thinks so.

He works at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago. An optic holograph is a two dimensional object that encodes a third. When looked at different angles one sees a third dimension; this encoding is through light polarization.

Now Hogan claims that we live in two space dimensions and time, the third space dimension being an "illusion".

To prove that one has to see some noise around 1kHz in Gravity Wave Detectors. Well, they see that noise.

I'll keep you posted. This is Nobel Prize worth work.

Indeterminacy of Holographic Quantum Geometry

An effective theory based on wave optics is used to describe indeterminacy of position in holographic spacetime with a UV cutoff at the Planck scale. Wavefunctions describing spacetime positions are modeled as complex disturbances of quasi-monochromatic radiation. It is shown that the product of standard deviations of two position wavefunctions ..

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Research shows that our concept of time may be flawed

"It's as if, in the real world, we are living inside a hologram," says Hogan. "The illusion is almost perfect."

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Ninety Years Ago

On November 11, 1918 armistice was declared in Europe.

Never again!

Millions of peoples should not die for the follies of a few kings and dignitaries.

Who remembers that silly man, Archduke Franz Ferdinand; and so many died.

Never again!

A Holiday to End All Wars

For Americans, Veterans Day celebrates the survivors of all the nation’s 20th and 21st century wars. In France and Britain, by contrast, the mood is altogether more somber.

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What if There is No Money?

Bob Herbert from the NYT writes in the piece below, that President Obama has to give jobs to people. I was wondering, what if Obama comes to the White House and finds out that all of Bush's friends looted the country?

I hope not.

Beyond the Fat Cats

When the Champagne and caviar crowd is in trouble, taxpayer money can be found quickly. But the working poor and young are being clobbered in this downturn.

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25,000 Teachers Protest in Guerrero

Today 25, 000 grammar school teachers from all over Guerrero converged to this capital city of Chilpancingo. The power of the Calderón administration, apparently supported by the State Governor, is showing signs of fatigue.

I believe the Mexican government will have to pay more attention to the protesting teachers.

Also today Calderón named Fernando Gómez Mont Urueta (below) as Interior Minister after the untimely death of Juan Camilo Mouriño Terrazo last Tuesday.

Mexico: Interior Minister Is Named

President Felipe Calderón appointed Fernando Francisco Gómez Mont, a lawyer and former lawmaker, as the new interior minister.

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Domingo Gómez Morín

This graph represent the solution to the equation:

F_n = 3F_{n - 1} + 3F_{n - 2} + F_{n - 3}

This equation connects three previous values, to the fourth one, so one needs to give three initial values. For this case I chose:

F₁ = 3 , F₂ = 15 , F₃ = 57.

The solution tends to (1 + 2^1/3 + 2^2/3)ⁿ, as n increases.

According to Gómez Morín, this equation helps us get a periodic generalized continued fraction for these cubic roots of integer coefficient polynomials.

FT.com / World - Mexico hedges almost all of its oil exports

Mexico hedged it's oil exports with derivatives contracts at $70-$100 a barrel.

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Mexico: the next crisis

DestabilizationTerror and a grim warning about future instability struck our NAFTA partner, Mexico, on the day Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.

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Small Basic Teaches Kids How to Program

After a year in the making, and with very little fanfare, Microsoft last month launched Small Basic, a free programming language aimed at kids. Unlike Scratch and Alice, tools designed for kids to learn programming in a 'codeless' environment, Small Basic is essentially a small version of the BASIC language.

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Emptying Pandora’s Box

Crisis demands statesmanship, which cannot be composed of calculation alone, but must reach for the unquenchable in the human spirit. Hope.

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Did environmental disasters play role in Mayan decline?

Apocalypto fans might be forgiven for thinking the fabled collapse of the ancient Maya, the retreat of a civilization from pyramids and ceremonial centers across Central America from 800 to 1000 A.D., involved all sorts of cataclysmic events, war, famine and devastation.

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Obama Economic Plan:How to turn the New Deal into a Big Deal

"Franklin Delano Obama? " (Paul Krugman) Barack Obama’s chances of leading a new New Deal depend largely on whether his short-run economic plans are bold enough. Progressives can only hope that he has the necessary audacity.

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Obama's Historic Victory Howard Zinn

Those of us on the Left who have criticized Obama, as I have, for his failure to take bold positions on the war and on the economy, must join the exultation of those Americans, black and white, who shouted and wept Tuesday night as they were informed that Barack Obama had won the presidential election. It is truly a historic moment, that a ..

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It Still Felt Good the Morning After

Almost every assumption about America that was taken as a given by our political culture on Tuesday morning was proved wrong by Tuesday night.

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Show Me the Money

To everyone overseas, I’m glad you all feel that America “is back.” If you want Barack Obama to succeed, though, don’t just show us the love, show us the money.

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China Unveils $586 Billion Economic Stimulus Plan

China announced plans to spend billions on a wide array of infrastructure and social welfare projects in a bold move aimed at bolstering its economy.

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Indian satellite captured by Moon

Indian satellite captured by Moon

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Take a Bow, America

We still have two wars to deal with and a severe economic crisis. But we should not lose sight of the profound significance of this week.

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A Political Manners Manual

With all the stories about people doing happy dances in the street after Barack Obama won, we have overlooked the dark side of the postelection mood.

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UPDATE 1-Mexico's Slim buys stake in U.S. drilling company

(Updates to replace sourcing to SEC) MEXICO CITY, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim bought a 7.64 percent stake in U.S. company Bronco Drilling, which has a contract to drill three wells for state oil monopoly Pemex, according to...

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Universities Under Stress

The NYT just published an article on the financial troubles of American universities (below). I am the beneficiary of the magnanimity of the American people when I attended UCSB from 1973 to 1981.

It is logical that under the Financial Tsunami that just hit the US economy, centers of higher learning will be battered also.

Maybe that is why Antonio Villaraigosa was just invited to the first serious meeting with President Elect Barack Hussein Obama. Many white rich men must be running out the door after the mess they left behind. The poor people of the US will have to come and put the pieces back together again.

As Carlos Slim Helú said once, countries do not go bankrupt. Now he is one of the three richest men on Earth. The other one Warren Buffett, was there in the meeting with Obama, and Villaraigosa, also.

Countries do not go bankrupt; but it will take some time before these brave men and women put things straight up again.

I am grateful for what I owe the US, and I hope to see that big country up north, back on its feet again.

Go, Obama, go!

Tough Times Strain Colleges Rich and Poor

Public and private universities are freezing hiring and postponing construction projects as endowments shrink and states cut their financing.

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CHAPTER 7 The Final Days (Newsweek Special)

Obama was leading in the polls, even in red states like Virginia. But McCain almost seemed to glory in being the underdog.

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Unknown "Structures" Tugging at Universe, Study Says

Something may be out there. Way out there. On the outskirts of creation, unknown, unseen "structures" are tugging on our universe like cosmic magnets, a controversial new study says.

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Obama Convenes Economic Advisers

President-elect Barack Obama will meet with a group of high-profile economic experts in Chicago on Friday.

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Michael Moore

I hope he is right:

"What will it be like to have a smart president? Science, banished for eight years, will return. Imagine supporting our country's greatest minds as they seek to cure illness, discover new forms of energy, and work to save the planet. I know, pinch me."

Pinch Me ...a message from Michael Moore

Friends,Who among us is not at a loss for words? Tears pour out. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. A stunning, whopping landslide of hope in a time of deep despair.

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Ford Plans Cuts as It Burns Through $7.7 Billion

Ford announced that its automotive business lost $2.9 billion in the third quarter and said that it would cut more jobs to conserve cash.

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Unemployment Rate at 14-Year High After Big October Losses

The economy lost 240,000 nonfarm jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent, the government reported, as the slowdown took a toll on households and businesses.

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Paul Krugman: The Obama Agenda

Right now many commentators are urging Barack Obama to think small. Let’s hope he has the good sense to ignore their advice.

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An Eternal Revolution

Barack Obama’s victory wasn’t a radical moment of change in American history but rather was the culmination of the founding fathers’ vision of our democracy.

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Retailers Report a Sales Collapse

Most of the nation’s retailers reported double-digit declines in October sales, underscoring how the financial turmoil has touched all consumers.

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Obama, Assembling Team, Turns to the Economy

The financial markets, foreign leaders and even the Bush administration are looking to President-elect Barack Obama for signs of how he will manage the crisis.

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Energy agency sees oil price rising to $200 a barrel

The era of cheap oil is over, the International Energy Agency warned yesterday as it predicted crude values would soon rebound to above $100 a barrel and double again by 2030 as fields in the North Sea and elsewhere in the world declined faster than expected.

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Obama won 66 percent of the kids.

Timothy Egan writes in the NYT (below), that Obama is a young people star. What does that mean?

I want to believe that my children and their friends are better than me.

Timothy Egan: This American Moment — The Surprises

If you look closely at who voted for Obama, you'll see a lot of people who weren't supposed to.

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Cuba hails Obama win, hopes US embargo will ease

During the long US election campaign, Cubans rooted for Mr Obama, believing his victory would overturn the US economic embargo on the communist island state. There is also optimism about Mr Obama's declaration during his campaign that he would be ready to talk about easing restrictions on travel and on remittances - the money US Cubans send to

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Bill Joy with Obama?

Below you can read John Doerr's advice to Obama, hire Bill.

It pains me to see Sun Microsystems going down the drain. The US has to leverage its technical talent. The Chinese government won't do it; you can bet on that.

Sensible talk finally coming from "El Norte". Eight years of dark ages for the greatest country of modern times is enough, ENOUGH.

I also invested in Sun Microsystems when I had money. I hope one day I can keep betting on the winning horse in the race: Technology.

Bits: John Doerr’s Advice for Barack Obama: Hire Bill

Top venture capitalist John Doerr gives Barack Obama advice on tech policy that just happens to favor Mr. Doerr's firm.

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AOL 9.1

I am incompetent.

My wife registered to AOL in 1995, when I left my family in Warrenville to go back to Mexico. She kept connected to me through this service.

Through all these years she has kept the conversation going, whether I am there or not.

Today I tried to install AOL 9.1 on my desktop. I failed.

Of course I can connect through the web browser of my choice using our AOL account, I use mainly three. But somehow it piques me to connect like a real technical man, with my own AOL installation on my desktop.

You know what?

At first it worked, for a day or two; that was a good feeling.

Then all of a sudden, through a series of obscure messages I do not feel like printing here; the software informed me that it couldn't connect anymore. I did try, my regular simple minded tricks to no avail, I do not even want to tell you how many times.

I couldn't do it.

I have been posting here all kinds of "nice" AOL emails informing me how many services that I hardly used anyway, were going to be cut. I had even bought AOL stock when I had a job at Lucent.

You know what? I think that it is going to be a long time, before something like AOL, grows up again.

Maybe a year or two.

I'll have my eyes open for the new kid in the block. Google, Digg? I really don't know. But it will come, and Joe the Plumber will be able to enjoy the Internet experience with no hassle.

Equality’s Winding Path

We were disappointed that voters in four states chose to approve ballot measures that discriminate against couples of the same sex.

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Bring on the Puppy and the Rookie

Some people said that a President Obama would make the White House the Black House. The opposite is true: Barack Obama has the chance to make the White House pristine again.

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Thinking of Good Vibrations

Today, you can bask in the realization that there are billions of people around the planet who loathed our country last week but are now in awe of its capacity to rise above historic fears.

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Perfecting the Union

Barack Obama’s idea, put simply, was that America can be better than it has been. It can embody once more what the world still craves from the American idea: hope.

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The Man Who Could Turn Anyone into a Torturer

Using just the authority of his lab coat and actors paid to scream, Yale psychology researcher Stanley Milgram turned dozens of ordinary people into torturers and murderers. Or at least, that's what his research subjects believed.

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New Type of Particle May Have Been Found

Last week, physicists announced that the Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, has produced particles that they are unable to explain. Could it be a sign of new physics?

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4,294,967,295 Comments

Seems about normal for an Obama article.

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I did Cry

Last night watching the scenes from Grant Park, my eyes watered. I remembered Martin Luther King when I saw Jesse Jackson crying at Grant Park. He did cry then, and now again, but for very different reasons.

Historic Night.

Plane Crash Kills Mexico’s Point Man in Drug War

Mexico’s interior minister and 12 other people died Tuesday night when a government jet crashed into a tony business district in Mexico City.

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Obama's Words

Last night I stayed up to witness history. Here is one excerpt from Obama's speech last night at Grant Park, as reported by the NYT.

"It’s been a long time coming," the president-elect added, "but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America."

Obama Is Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.

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Google Walks Away From Yahoo Ad Partnership

The move, which came after antitrust regulators raised objections, leaves Yahoo scrambling for a plan for growth.

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Mexico’s Interior Minister Killed in Jet Crash

The minister, Juan Camilo Mouriño, and seven others were killed in Mexico City.

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Finishing Our Work

Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward: Everything really is possible in America.

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Obama at Grant Park

I am watching this great man right now talking to the World. We need to pull together out of this mess. Maybe people of color know better how to fix things. Selfish leaders are useless.

Mexicans for Obama

I just dugg the 23010 digg if you voted for Obama (below). I did not vote because I am Mexican. But I am fully behind Americans in their decision.

Digg This If You Voted For Obama!

Realtime election results!

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President Barack Obama

Barack Obama won the election because he saw what is wrong with this country: the utter failure of government to protect its citizens.

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Grant Park

Now I am watching Grant Park in Chicago.

John McCain

I just watched his concession speech. I like him.

Senator Obama will be President Obama.

Latest election calls from AP and NPR. NPR predicts that Ohio wil go to Obama. It is over.

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After Epic Campaign, Voters Go to Polls

In a tumultuous period of American history, voters were writing the ending to a political saga nearly two years in the making.

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Done Deal

10:10 PM
273 Electoral Votes

Democracy Now

I am watching Amy Goodman and Juan González, these guys act like if Obama won.

I guess they are right. At 9:50 PM Central Time, I call Obama the Winner!

Remember, you read it here first.

192 Electoral Votes

Obama needs 270.


Obama 29,769,632

McCain 28,450,626

It looks it is going to happen.

9:33 PM Central Time.

Democrats Aim to Expand Majorities in Congress

The question is not which party will control Congress next year, but how bulletproof that control will be.

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Order and Prediction

Obama could be President of the US. That is the news. Fifty years ago, I would've not predicted that. To predict, there has to be a pattern. Sometimes patterns are hidden by the way we choose to understand something. No black man has ever been elected to this position.

Looking at the map on the front page of the NYT, I see a lot of red counties in that country. I really don't see a pattern that will make me predict an Obama victory.

Of course there is that mysterious Electoral College, according to the NYT, they are tied on the popular vote; 11,920,663 for Obama, and 11,850,353 for McCain. To me that is a tie; but Electoral vote wise it is: 62 to 8, Obama's way.

I don't predict a winner at 8:14 PM central time.

John McCain

At this point the South is going McCain´s way.

Bummer.

That was at 7:30 PM in Florida, now at 7:40 PM, Florida leans towards Obama.

Weird.

After Epic Campaign, Voters Go to Polls

In a tumultuous period of American history, voters were writing the ending to a political saga nearly two years in the making.

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Obama

He won the first town (below). Town by town the whole country has to put the US back in a road to prosperity.

Obama Wins Dixville Notch, NH, The First Place To Vote

Democrat Barack Obama came up a big winner in the presidential race in Dixville Notch, N.H., where the nation's first Election Day votes were cast and counted early Tuesday. Obama defeated John McCain 15-6.

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The Fierce Urgency of Now

Bob Herbert, as always has the gravitas lacking in much of American opinion makers. His piece below, reminds us of the grave moment we are facing for the survival of our way of life. Deniers, are just ignorant. I hope that when Barack Hussein Obama, becomes the 44th President of the USA, he invites this thoughtful man to his team of advisors.

So Little Time, So Much Damage

Most presidents put on a last-minute policy stamp, but in President George W. Bush’s case it is more like a wrecking ball.

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Beyond Election Day

As Americans go to the polls in what is probably the most important presidential election since World War II, what they really have to decide is what kind of country they want.

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Studs Terkel

A great man has died, at 96.

He just missed by four days the unprecedent election of the first black American president.

He would've enjoyed it.

Life goes on.

Studs Terkel: He was a working man till the very end - USATO

Studs Terkel, the author, radio host and oral historian who died Friday in Chicago at age 96, liked to say, "I don't do interviews. I have conversations."

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Domingo Gómez Morín

This mathematician has studied the rational approximation of solutions to polynomial equations.
I find it very interesting, and I here post something from his Web Page:

"The Cartesian-decimal-system fundamentals have imposed the replacement of Number by its corresponding decimal value, i.e.: 3/2=6/4=1.5, that is, it has restricted 3/2 to the decimal result of dividing 3 by 2, and this constitutes a crude transfiguration and degradation of Number.

In the same way flowers bring us their multiple natural properties: beauty, color and scent, also Number brings out much more than just the decimal result of a division, it bears a relative value (The form of the ratio) and a very specific location within a set of ratios which plays an important role in the development of root-solving algorithms. Cartesian system has depersonalized Number confining it to just an absolute value.

Indeed, it is really striking to realize that ancient mathematicians (Babylonians, Greeks, etc.) certainly had at hand the most elemental arithmetic tool (The rational mean) for achieving all those "advanced" algorithms that were consecrated as the most outstanding successes brought to light by the Cartesian system and decimal fractions. Believe It or Not!, based on all the evidence at hand, it seems that the extremely simple arithmetical methods shown in the book “The Fifth Arithmetic Operation” have no precedents at all, all through the very long history of roots solving.

These new trivial methods and the comments shown above are certainly very sound arguments to cogitate on the following important issues:

• The Cartesian system should not be considered as a fundamental system of Natural Philosophy but just as an artificial creation which apart from being extrinsic to the natural properties of Number also contributes to distort and vitiate the genuine image of Quantity.

• The results of the arithmetical operations of irrational numbers can be easily established by agency of the Rational Process (based on the Rational Mean in accordance with Number itself), rather than by using Dedekind's and Cantor's judgments.

• The traditional continued fractions expressions are just a particular case (Second Order Continued Fractions) of a more general conception called: Generalized Continued Fractions (Fractal Fractions), which yield periodic representations for algebraic numbers of higher degrees. You will realize that any representation of irrational numbers of higher degree get distorted when using the traditional continued fractions, that is, the “Second Order Continued Fractions” . It remains so much to be investigated on this matter mainly the issue on generating best approximants for roots of higher degrees, but these new generalized continued fractions are a step ahead on the comprehension of periodicity and best convergents.

• There are so few precedents on the analysis of the rational mean.

• The rational mean is the most intelligible arithmetical operation to understand irrational numbers, and the arithmonic mean is a particular case and an essential operation for root-solving.

Based on all the very important and simple arithmetical methods brought to light by the Rational Mean, and considering all the wonderful arithmetical properties that have been passed over during so long time, one can say now that it is certainly a pathetic arrogance to think that any result (i.e.: imaginary numbers, higher dimensions, cartesian system, relativity theory, etc.) coming out from artifices and opinions extrinsic to Number could ever supersede the Natural Order determined “in accordance with number by the forethought and the mind of Him that created all things, for the pattern was fixed, like a preliminary sketch,...” (quoted text: Nicomachus, chap.VI, [1])."

NASA Probe Shows Mercury More Dynamic Than Thought

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Earth's first nearly full look at Mercury reveals that the tiny lifeless planet took a far greater role in shaping itself than was thought, with volcanoes spewing ''mysterious dark blue material.''

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Minerals on Mars Point to More Recent Presence of Water

Scientists are seeing global mineralogical signs that Mars was at least occasionally wet for the first two billion years of its existence.

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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Forty-one years after Sidney Poitier’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” racial politics in America have changed, but not completely.

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Pemex Gulf Accident Investigators Blocked From Site

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Mexican attorney general's office blocked investigators from visiting the site of the Gulf of Mexico's deadliest offshore oil accident for more than two months, limiting the scope of a Petroleos Mexicanos study into the incident, a report says.

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Seizing The Opportunity For A New Progressive Era In America

If, as seems likely, Sen. Barack Obama is elected and Democrats win greater majorities in both houses of Congress, will we witness a new era of bold progressive change, a 21st-century Green New Deal? Certainly many of the elements are present. Now it is on us to do the same, to seize the moment, accept our mandate, and begin a new era in America.

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Values in Education

Last week we had the visit of Professor Ángel Homero Flores Samaniego. He has a proposal to research Mathematics Education. He mentioned the issue of values, there was a reaction in the audience about this. I remembered from my Benedictine University, Alternative Certification Program for High School Teachers, that there was a Jewish-American scientist, we studied, that dwelt on these issues: Lawrence Kohlberg. These are important issues.

I am glad Professor Flores brought that up. Without students and teachers, ethically engaged in the academic pursuits, the success is not as good as it can be.

Professor Steven Pinker wrote a relevant piece in the NYT.

A Guy I Trust

You can read below in a NYT piece, how Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox, and now Felipe Calderón, have tried to clean up house to fight crime.

If you are not Mexican, very likely you don't understand why they did not succeed; I have more of a clue; the whole system is based on lies. Two years ago Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) won the election for President, and Felipe Calderón stole it. Of course his government can be infiltrated by gangsters, he is one.

I trust AMLO.

In Mexico’s Drug War, Sorting Out Good Guys From Bad

In Mexico’s drug war, the reality is that many bureaucrats are serving both the taxpayers and the traffickers.

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