tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656Fri, 30 Aug 2024 10:32:19 +0000personal stuffSciFooGlobalizationIslamOpen Scien cetechnoliberationtravelsAdaptogensAgalmicsFuture StudiesGM cropsNeglected DiseasesOpen Source Biomedical ResearchRepRapSystems BiologyTrypanosomatidsAIDSAnarchismAstronomyAustraliaBlack leavesChagas' DiseaseFrancisco ChimoioFreedom of SpeechFreeman DysonGreen RevolutionIsraelJosé OlaldeJulius Baer BankKibbutzimKraftwerkMbekiMusicOpen ScienceOpportunitiesPCRPubmedQuacksReligionSeñor CoconutSkepticismSocialismSouth AfricaSynaptic LeapThesisTranshumanismTrypanosoma cruziVenezuelaWikileaksXO laptopZimbabwebeauty in sicencecensorshipconspiracy theorydiagnosisfreedom of speechreationismA praise to the globalization that has shrunk the world and made possible connections between people from almost everywhere.http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)Blogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-527130904846601861Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +00002010-06-02T02:40:08.947-04:30I have been silent for a really long time, but many things have been going on in my life. LavaAmp, my project of a pocket sized thermal cycler, has thrived and now we have a prototype. Currently I am in Boulder, Colorado, at the Unreasonable Institute, a training program for social entrepreneurs. This has been sponsored by more than 50 people from several countries, who believe in our project, inhttp://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2010/06/overdose-of-awesomeness.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-5116707865920528659Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:46:00 +00002009-11-17T18:17:25.174-04:30http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/11/total-fertility-rate-vs-gdp-per-capita.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-4621064202953061739Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:53:00 +00002009-11-14T00:41:44.506-04:30I have been silent for a long time, busy with lots of stuff. Finally I finished my thesis, doing much more than anybody expected, my start up got some funding and developed a prototype device (more about that on another post). Life has been hectic, but despite that, I have found the time to write about the terrible situation that is going on here in Venezuela. Fortunately, Xeni Jardin, from http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/11/violent-video-games-banned-in-venezuela.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-5032828210112687842Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:28:00 +00002009-06-25T20:13:45.183-04:30A study released recently compared the attitude of people to cultural differences before and after listening to patriotic music and found that:"(...) preliminary findings showed that the patriotic songs had a negative effect on the participants, as shown through their responses to the survey's questions about other cultures and diversity. The patriotic songs made the participants close-minded andhttp://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/06/on-effect-of-patriotic-propaganda.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-7666823844971763787Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:16:00 +00002009-06-21T17:45:01.919-04:30I think my brain melted a bit trying to understand and react in a coherent way to Princess Hijab.She is a guerrilla artist/protester/ad buster that 'hijabizes' advertisement. She, a self defined 'insomniac punk' claims not to be a Muslim and do what she does just for the sake of artistic expression. And I am torn here, as I think that the burqa is hideous, demeaning, a symbol of male oppression. http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/06/princess-hijab-and-complexity-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-4640968613935716269Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:12:00 +00002009-06-06T21:07:22.728-04:30I just finished a consultancy that paid nicely. And about to finish the Neverending Thesis, I will start paid work in July. Finally I can say I am economically independent. It took a long time and several attempts, but I am glad I did it finally, thanks to my efforts. Things might change, but I can live for a few months without fear.Thanks, mamá. You have always believed in me, even more than I http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/06/independence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-8436681029736471901Sat, 30 May 2009 16:33:00 +00002009-05-30T12:18:03.892-04:30I corrected Chávez' picture from the ISHR campaign to represent what happened yesterday.http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/05/missing-picture-chavez-and-vargas-llosa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-573133822269884888Thu, 28 May 2009 16:07:00 +00002009-05-28T11:57:56.766-04:30Satire is a powerful force, indeed:This campaign was created for the International Society for Human Rights, a very deserved mock to such powerful rulers who are so afraid of letting other dissent. They have made another against Chávez, but I do not put it here, since I do not think that Chávez' abuses related to the Internet are in the same league (not yet? He is getting his paws on cable TV nowhttp://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/05/hilarious-campaign-powerful-men-afraid.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-8959396734252138750Wed, 13 May 2009 12:37:00 +00002009-05-13T08:37:15.101-04:30I started to read this comment about the so called 'Penis Phone' and I decided to write a post about it, since the translation is not really good.In Venezuela, when a person is vergatario/a it means he or she is astounding, impressive, qualified. In a different way than English, to be called un güevo or un pipe does not means you are a dick, it means you are a highly skilled person. When I was a http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/05/are-you-dick-musings-on-el-vergatario.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-3654084942106625627Tue, 12 May 2009 19:42:00 +00002009-05-12T15:17:46.461-04:30I messed my numbers in a flame war about Venezuela this morning at BoingBoing. I claimed my grad salary would be less than a dollar daily, at black market rate (which shall remain unnamed here). Is much more than that, closer to 4 dollars daily. I counted only what would have left after paying the rent and picked up a wrong number for the rate.I apologize for messing the numbers, and since the http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/05/exchange-rate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-3730742505328414759Mon, 11 May 2009 17:39:00 +00002009-05-11T23:59:29.931-04:30Rico-chavezUploaded by noticias24 - Up-to-the minute news videos.Chávez dixit:"Wealthy people are not humans, they are animals, animals with human shape."I am not rich, not at all. But I have never seen in all human history, a situation where the government or authority claim that some people are not human ending without a blood bath.I feel sick, sad, broken in the http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/05/crying.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-5403194227783518311Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:14:00 +00002009-04-26T10:50:22.573-04:30A month ago, I had to return to my father's house due to shaky personal finances. Even if I had enough money to pay the rent, I could not pay anything else in Mérida, so, I returned to Valera for a bit.My father got an offer to set Internet service, even if we live in a semi rural area, so I could do stuff online while way from Mérida. I taught him how to use the computer, set an e mail account http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/04/month-ago-i-had-to-return-to-my-fathers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-3462918156641194450Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:27:00 +00002009-03-24T08:51:41.842-04:30Today we celebrate the Ada Lovelace Day. Lovelace, Mother of Programming, she was an English aristocrat who wrote instructions for Charles Babbage's Analytical machine. Today we celebrate the women in science. so I will blog about the most recent and surprising case I came across: Hedy Lamarr.Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, in Vienna, besides being a movie star, she had a very interesting life, http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/03/hedy-lamarr-and-her-exciting-career.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-6317731899836975620Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:48:00 +00002009-03-19T12:18:22.013-04:30AustraliacensorshipThe Australian Government seems to have a list of websites that will be banned as they depict child pornography, however, it seems that many of these websites are not related in any way to it:...about half of the sites on the list are not related to child porn and include a slew of online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/03/being-criminal-aussie-style.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-8981693595420831587Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:59:00 +00002009-03-18T20:56:14.594-04:30Tired of hearing the mantra about how good are tax cuts for the economy and people, I decided to try to find for myself with the available data if this was true or not. So, I decided to create a Gapminder graph to check possible correlations between Growth, Unemployment and the top marginal tax rate.I cannot find definite trends, but it seems pretty obvious that high taxes do not kill the economyhttp://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-taxes-and-growth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-410683117844644940Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:17:00 +00002009-03-16T14:01:41.822-04:30A friend sent me an ominous message, a link to a blog claiming that two of the biggest seed providers for amateur gardeners and farmers were going to be bought by Monsanto, the bête noire of the Organic movement, producer of most of the GM crops cultivated around the world.Even if these rumors turned to be false, the acquisition of companies like this by the likes of Monsanto is not a far-fetchedhttp://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/03/feasible-nightmares.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-2253666362677180869Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:01:00 +00002009-02-23T16:17:13.834-04:30AnarchismIsraelKibbutzimSocialismA short piece on the achievements of the kibbutzim, the Israeli social community that proves that Socialism can really do well, thrive and create wealth. Kibbutzim are integral part of Israel and the key for a lot of it success. Sadly, many of the so called Progressive and leftists blindly criticize Israel, without looking this real victory of communitarism, self organizing and cooperation. http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/02/dream-of-kibbutz.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-4748706703713886716Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:46:00 +00002009-02-21T23:22:22.509-04:30IslamMy good friend Muhammad Ahmad, from Pakistan, living in Minneapolis now, created a very interesting website about Islam and Science Fiction, where he reviews several Science Fiction books and stories that deal one way or another with Muslims and Islam.Muhammad is one of the smartest people I have ever met and even if our encounter was brief, it was really enlightening, one that taught me a lot http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/02/islam-in-science-fiction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-9079589635709226312Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:28:00 +00002009-02-19T15:39:44.264-04:30If you see the picture and you have no clue, this Wikipedia entry should do:In 2008 American journalist Peter Maass called Obiang Africa's worst dictator, worse than Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.All but one member of the 100-seat national parliament belong to the PDGE or are aligned with it. The opposition is severely hampered by the lack of a free press as a vehicle for their views. Around 90% of http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/02/one-more-reason-to-hate-condoleezza.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-3982136841486187815Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:51:00 +00002009-02-05T17:02:32.847-04:30VenezuelaUsually, I avoid discussing Venezuelan politics in this blog, not only because it is not related to the subject of this blog, but also because some of the things that happen here are hard to believe and the sources in English about it are scarce.Most of the best resources to understand the Venezuelan situation are created and kept by grassroots activists, as opposed to media machines and think http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2009/02/prosthetic-dialog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-1298097735429989579Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:28:00 +00002008-06-06T22:09:36.117-04:30http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080605211522.htmRepRap, the prototype for a autoreplicating (but not self assembling) machine finally is able to build all of its parts.This is thrilling and possibly a milestone in a future Agalmics history. It is quite reassuring to see these bottom-up efforts to bloom and spread, to be the heralds of a better, decentralized tomorrow, where, as the http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2008/06/reprap-replicates-itself.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-8157064728524262089Tue, 06 May 2008 00:55:00 +00002008-05-09T19:13:13.433-04:30http://news. yahoo.com/ s/livescience/ radicalscienceai mstosolvefoodcri sisSome of us have been asking for public policies for supporting Biotech and educating the people better about the promises and risks of Genetically Modified Organism (GM) crops.Maybe this crisis will prove to be the factor that triggers better acceptance of GM food. Hopefully this support will promote the growth of GM http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-need-of-new-green-revolution.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-1449400917232862044Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:35:00 +00002008-05-09T19:13:02.620-04:30The Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, asked other African countries to boycott the arms ship heading to Zimbabwe.According to the BBC, Mwanawasa said: "We don't want a situation which will escalate the [tension] in Zimbabwe more than what it is,".Finally some common sense coming from a top politician in Africa about Zimbabwe. But, to be fair, his mild words are complemented by others http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2008/04/well-maybe-we-do-learn.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-4931654503807607081Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:10:00 +00002008-04-20T18:53:48.297-04:30MbekiSouth AfricaZimbabweNo, it seems we never, ever, learn.No matter how hard the lesson has been. No matter how much we have suffered, no matter how others need our support and empathy, we never fucking learn.I wish I could express my outrage concerning the South African policy to Zimbabwe. The SA government does not only support Mugabe's atrocities, but also they allow to go through their territory new arms for http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2008/04/we-never-learn-do-we.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377043120729574656.post-3910644102932413664Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:37:00 +00002008-04-16T13:11:13.667-04:30http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/16/net-bullies-target-c.htmlAccording to BoingBoing:A Chinese student at Duke who participated in pro-Tibet protests on campus -- after befriending her Tibetan dorm-mate -- has become the target of brutal online and offline attacks. Thousands of nationalist Chinese thugs (some claiming to be Duke students) see her actions as "traitorous," and have threatened her http://globallyconnected.blogspot.com/2008/04/chinese-student-targeted-by-patriotic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1