Jorge Spinoza

Ex Voto

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:56:00 +0000

The Problem with Young Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:16:00 +0000

"One is sometimes tempted to think that the generation which has invented the ‘fiction course’ is getting the fiction it deserves. At any rate, it is fostering in its young writers the conviction that art is neither long nor arduous, and perhaps blinding them to the fact that notoriety and mediocrity are often interchangeable terms."
—Edith Wharton, in the 1920s, from The Writing of Fiction.

Link: The Problem with Young Writers | The Awl

Geocities Delenda Est

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:14:00 +0000

The Deleted City from deletedcity on Vimeo.

The Deleted City

The Deleted City is a digital archaeology of the world wide web as it exploded into the 21st century. At that time the web was often described as an enormous digital library that you could visit or contribute to by building a homepage. The early citizens of the net (or netizens) took their netizenship serious, and built homepages about themselves and subjects they were experts in. These pioneers found their brave new world at Geocities, a free webhosting provider that was modelled after a city and where you could get a free "piece of land" to build your digital home in a certain neighbourhood based on the subject of your homepage. Heartland was – as a neigbourhood for all things rural – by far the largest, but there were neighbourhoods for fashion, arts and far east related topics to name just a few.

Link: http://www.deletedcity.net/

Notes From a Dragon Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:27:00 +0000

Ronan won’t prosper or succeed in the way we have come to understand this term in our culture; he will never walk or say “Mama,” and I will never be a tiger mom. The mothers and fathers of terminally ill children are something else entirely. Our goals are simple and terrible: to help our children live with minimal discomfort and maximum dignity. We will not launch our children into a bright and promising future, but see them into early graves. We will prepare to lose them and then, impossibly, to live on after that gutting loss. This requires a new ferocity, a new way of thinking, a new animal. We are dragon parents: fierce and loyal and loving as hell. Our experiences have taught us how to parent for the here and now, for the sake of parenting, for the humanity implicit in the act itself, though this runs counter to traditional wisdom and advice.

Link: Notes From a Dragon Mom - NYTimes.com:

Pulp non-fiction: Jarvis Cocker becomes editor for Faber | Books | guardian.co.uk

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 05:38:00 +0000

"Jarvis felt like a natural fit with the Faber sensibility, both as author and editor, and I'm sure the small list of books he will develop will represent his eccentric and yet popular touch," said Brackstone. "We now have an excellent portfolio of authors from the pop world and our intention is to develop these relationships and continue to build a reputation as the home for exciting and original writing on music." (Brackstone caused a minor stir last year with an open letter to Morrissey, pleading to let Faber publish his rumoured memoirs because, he said, the former Smiths singer belonged "in the House of Eliot".)

Enlace: Pulp non-fiction: Jarvis Cocker becomes editor for Faber | Books | guardian.co.uk.

PressPausePlay [Documental]

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:12:00 +0000

The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent in an unprecedented way, with unlimited opportunities. But does democratized culture mean better art or is true talent instead drowned out? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world's most influential creators of the digital era.

PressPausePlay

Funciona con la Teoría Literaria

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:54:00 +0000

Surviving the World - Lesson 1198 - Insight

Es [Casi el Mismo] Trabajo

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:32:00 +0000

Los procesos del libro electrónico son los mismo a aquellos de la industrial editorial tradicional:

El 50% de lo que usted paga por este libro va directo al escritor, sin el cual no existiría. Para que usted pueda leerlo ha sido necesario el trabajo de un escritor, una editora, una correctora, un técnico en digitalización, una diseñadora web, un webmaster y un productor. Si lo piratea, ya sabe a quién roba. Si nos roba, mejor no nos lea. No va a entenderlo.

Enlace: Es trabajo

(Sin Título)

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:44:00 +0000

2 de octubre de 2011. Y también no olvidemos qué partido político estaba en el poder y cómo hacía ejercicio de las fuerzas del Estado.

La RAE contra elcastellano.org, o la máquina de hacer dinero del Grupo Planeta

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:10:00 +0000

Que la Real Academia Española es una institución ya no sólo al servicio de la codificación de la lengua del imperio, sino al servicio de intereses mercantiles de empresas transnacionales españolas no es una noticia que vaya a tomar por sorpresa a nadie que lleve un tiempo siguiendo este blog. Pero debemos reconocer que, en este empeño, se perfecciona día a día, con performances que ni el más alocado delirio podría vaticinar.

Enlace: La RAE contra elcastellano.org, o la máquina de hacer dinero del Grupo Planeta

El Cosmonauta [Corto]

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:45:00 +0000

THE COSMONAUT from Vinegar Hill on Vimeo.

The Cosmonaut es un corto dirigido por David Altrogge el cual basó su financiamiento en Kickstarter, una comunidad en donde uno puede buscar patrocinio para diferentes proyectos.

En una ocasión escuché hablar al Profesor Gafapasta sobre El Cosmonauta, un cómic. Seguramente de ahí se derivó el corto de arriba, aunque en España haya un proyecto similar. Al igual que su contraparte estadounidense, la producción de El Cosmonauta se encuentra financiada por el crowfunding y cimentada en una licencia de Creative Commons.

LSD Virtual

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:48:00 +0000

Si este fin de semana les ha parecido largo (porque ya se gastaron gran parte de su presupuesto desde el día 15), pueden perder el resto de la tarde mirando de a ratos la hipnótica imagen que acompaña a esta entrada y luego ver en otra dirección, así podrán sentir efímeramente lo que se siente el LSD sin necesidad de buscar a su dealer. t

Leo Teología

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:09:00 +0000

Hoy me topé con la pregunta de si Dios es capaz de sufrir, basado lo anterior en los principios de la teología de la cruz de Martín Lutero.

Enlace: Triablogue: Can God Suffer?

Fuegos Pirotecnicos en el Grito de Independencia de Ciudad Juarez [46 Imagenes]

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 07:45:00 +0000

Pueden jugar en Picasa con más opciones (como el zoom) al dar click a las imágenes.

Foto

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:38:00 +0000

¿Foto sin contexto? Aparentemente habrá una mesa en Londres la próxima semana respecto a los libros y su cultura 'pirata'.

Where does the creative act lie in the process of copying? Cultural piracy is pervading publishing worldwide, but what makes these new forms original and what issues are raised?
Participants include artist Andrea Francke, initiator of The Piracy Project; Eva Weinmayr, Co-director of AND Publishing; Kenneth Goldsmith, founder, UbuWeb; and Nick Thurston, Editor of information as material.
September 24, 2011, 2.30pm
Whitechapel Gallery, London

Enlace: http://www.manystuff.org/?p=14123

Mi Wallpaper

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:39:00 +0000

Hattie Watson.

El Libro en Alemania

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:33:00 +0000

En Alemania prospera la industria del libro. ¿Cómo? Valoran el peso simbólico de cultura que se encuentra en éstos y los tasan de acorde a ello.

One thing you will not find on the shelves at German bookshops, large or small, is that mainstay of big American bookstores – signs announcing steep discounts on current bestsellers. That’s because the cost of all new books in Germany is strictly regulated by something called the Buchpreisbindung, a uniform pricing policy that was adopted voluntarily by booksellers in 1888 and became national law in 2002. By forcing all stores and on-line vendors to sell new titles at the same price, the law is, obviously, a boon to small stores that can’t compete with the volume purchasing of the big chains and online giants like Amazon.de and Buch.de.

“The idea [of the Buchpreisbindung] was to eliminate price competition in order to promote the sale of little-known books,” says Simone Thelen, spokeswoman for the Mayersche chain, which was founded in the 19th century and now has 49 stores, mostly in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. “It makes it possible for publishers to publish a variety of books and authors, and it gives us the chance to promote young, unknown authors and books that are not blockbusters.”

This seemingly counter-intuitive strategy – protecting books by keeping them expensive – is actually in line with much of what goes on in Germany today. The country enjoys the healthiest economy in Europe, rising employment, a balanced budget, and an enviable trade surplus not in spite of, but because of, its well-paid workers and their vast network of social services, including universal (that is, mandatory) health care, plus at least four weeks of paid vacation and in some cases more than seven. It makes perfect sense to prosperous, book-loving Germans to pay a fair, strictly regulated price for new books because they believe that the health of the book industry – that is, of publishers, booksellers, and writers, from famous to unknown – is vital to the health of the whole society.

Enlace: The German Solution: Saving Books by Keeping Them Expensive

Immune System, Loaded With Remade T-cells, Vanquishes Cancer

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:01:00 +0000

PHILADELPHIA — A year ago, when chemotherapy stopped working against his leukemia, William Ludwig signed up to be the first patient treated in a bold experiment at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ludwig, then 65, a retired corrections officer from Bridgeton, N.J., felt his life draining away and thought he had nothing to lose.

Doctors removed a billion of his T-cells — a type of white blood cell that fights viruses and tumors — and gave them new genes that would program the cells to attack his cancer. Then the altered cells were dripped back into Mr. Ludwig’s veins.

At first, nothing happened. But after 10 days, hell broke loose in his hospital room. He began shaking with chills. His temperature shot up. His blood pressure shot down. He became so ill that doctors moved him into intensive care and warned that he might die. His family gathered at the hospital, fearing the worst.

A few weeks later, the fevers were gone. And so was the leukemia.

There was no trace of it anywhere — no leukemic cells in his blood or bone marrow, no more bulging lymph nodes on his CT scan. His doctors calculated that the treatment had killed off two pounds of cancer cells.

A year later, Mr. Ludwig is still in complete remission. Before, there were days when he could barely get out of bed; now, he plays golf and does yard work.

Enlace: Immune System, Loaded With Remade T-cells, Vanquishes Cancer - NYTimes.com

¡Vamos!

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Vamos al noa noa

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes! - YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:41:00 +0000

Veinticinco forma de ponerse una bufanda/pañuelo (en cuatro minutos y medio).

Buenos Aires: Las Calles de Borges on Vimeo

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:07:00 +0000

Buenos Aires: Las Calles de Borges from Ian Ruschel on Vimeo.

‎"La tarea del arte es esa: transformar lo que nos ocurre continuamente... transformar todo eso en símbolos, transformarlo en música, transformarlo en algo que perdure en la memoria de los hombres"...

Fármacos Inteligentes Contra el Cáncer Sólo se Activan al Contacto con Tumores

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:06:00 +0000

Cancer researchers at the University of Bradford have developed a treatment that only activates when it reaches a tumour, reducing damage to healthy cells.

The drug is based on colchicine -- a compound derived from the autumn crocus. The colchicine is attached to a string of seven amino acids, which are cleaved off when they meet a particular class of enzyme (matrix metalloproteinases) that are only found in tumour environments, allowing the drug to activate.

The compound then starves the tumour to death by destroying its blood vessels, a process known as haemorrhagic necrosis. Previous treatments have focused on preventing growth of new blood vessels, but the University of Bradford's Kevin Adams said that this is the first attempt at removing existing blood vessels.

Enlace: 'Smart' cancer drug only activates on contact with tumours (Wired UK)

9/11

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:39:00 +0000

Hoy al igual que hace 10 años la televisión se ha saturado de programas relacionados con el ataque a las Torres Gemelas de Nueva York ocurrido el 11 de septiembre de 2001. Mejor me he dedicado.

En Marginal Revolution se preguntan si existe una gran obra de arte basada en el 9/11. De allí se puede partir para una serie de enlaces.

La Chica de Ayer - Nacha Pop [Youtube]

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:26:00 +0000

No se Quejen, También México Viola la Soberanía en Texas

noreply@blogger.com (Jorge Spinoza) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:50:00 +0000

Un político texano clama que: "It is very disturbing that here are incursions into American air space by any aircraft originating from foreign countries and no one seems to be held accountable". Nadie se siente seguro en el condado de Zapata, Texas, el cual hace frontera en Tamaulipas.

Enlace: Mexican military flies over South Texas