Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward

An easy riddle, for a change

Palindromic — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:38:05 +0000

As part of what is now a tradition in Risk & Reward, today I want to invite you once again to a mind stretcher.

Given that last time I posted a hard riddle only few could solve, I am bringing a quite easy one. It was introduced to me by Ronen Amit, a friend at Singularity University.

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The “Twitter culture” and the end of attention

Palindromic — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:23:18 +0000

The classes we’re having down here at Singularity University are really amazing. It’s a unique opportunity to listen to speakers who blow your mind off. I must confess, however, that there’s something I’m quite worried about: When taking some distance from what is going on at the classes, you can notice that, hard as we may try, we students don’t manage to pay attention for an extended period of time.

It seems as if the culture of brevity reflected on Twitter or TED (the shorter the better) had destructed our capacity to stay focused for more than just a couple of minutes.

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Top 20 songs: July 2010

Palindromic — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:06:28 +0000

As strange as it may sound, from the sunny Californian summer I share with you the winter edition of Bilinkis Top 20. As usual, the ranking is based on the music I listened to the most over the past months. This was analyzed by a sophisticated algorithm with a secret formula that I bet not even Google could work out.

I share this with you for people to discover songs yet unknown. Also, so that you recommend me new stuff to listen to. So please let comments on your reactions and your recommendations.

I hope you like it. I’m including a bonus track as a gift!

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We are all gay today!

Palindromic — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:26:35 +0000

I always admired people who, in whatever context, dare to go after what they want -even if that means contradicting what a majority around them expect from them. For example, those who choose to be geologists or artists, when everybody around expects them to become a lawyer. This applies in particular to choosing sexual orientation. To be gay is one of the bravest decisions one can make. Popular belief that states you have to be a real macho to admit you’re gay is a big truth -especially if we associate macho with courage and not with merely exalting manliness, which has nothing to do with courage.

That’s why I think today, the day Gay Marriage has become legal, is a historic day for Argentina. It’s a day when many of the bravest people in the country can get the admiration and respect they deserve for their courage and the struggle they held for years. Today we celebrate that the greatness of the human being lies in diversity and difference, not in over-adaptation or uniformity. In a couple of decades from now, we’ll find it hard to believe that this debate even existed, as much as nowadays it sounds unreal that just 60 years ago women didn’t have the right to vote.

It was a close vote at Congress. This says a lot about a society which is yet distant from embracing diversity. There is still people out there who believe there is only one way to be a husband/wife; one of being a mom/dad. What we learn from this is that legal recognition is just the first step of a process that has just begun: learning to see the world beyond our own eyes.

However, although there are many challenges ahead to leave discrimination behind, today is a day to celebrate. A day to admire the the courage and struggle of those who fought to make this happen. A day to hug each other and feel that we are all different, we are all unique, we are all gay.

Picture: Essygie

Translated by: Palindromic

Total Solar Eclipse and a Dream of a Lifetime Not Fulfilled (yet)

Palindromic — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:15:25 +0000

First thing I want to say in this post is where I am writing it from. There are two interesting aspects about this. One is that after 20 years of using PC, today is the day when I officially switched to a Mac. Rumor has it that “once you go Mac, you never come back.” We’ll see what happens with me.

Another interesting aspect about this post is that I’m writing it up in the air, about 33,000 feet from the ground, in an airplane with Wi-Fi while en route to San Francisco for SU after a brief family visit in Buenos Aires.

This visit had a bittersweet flavor: It allowed me to be closer to a wonderful natural phenomenon but, at the same time, it meant that I unexpectedly missed at Singularity University what could have possible been a unique moment, fulfilling a dream of a lifetime.

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Waiting for the Flying Cars

Palindromic — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:32:15 +0000

If you’re over 25 years old, you have probably watched the trilogy “Back to the future.” You might as well remember the time machine, the “flux capacitor”, and part 2, where Marty McFly -the main character- travels to the future to try to save his children.

During his stay in the future, we can see many amazing things, such as flying skateboards, sneakers with automatic shoelaces or self-drying clothing. This is why I found it very fun when my friend Poty Nielsen made me realize that the day to which they wanted to travel was… yesterday!

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Singularity University: Week 1

Palindromic — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:04:03 +0000

Oops! This post has not been translated yet. At Palindromic, we are working hard to have all the posts translated into English. Please try again later. In the meantime, you can enjoy the Spanish version.

A (hard?) riddle

Palindromic — Sat, 29 May 2010 16:09:10 +0000

The Launch of La Red Innova

Santiago B. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:02:22 +0000

Apart from attending the Menorca Tech Talk, my trip to Spain included some vacation days (a few days to get my classic “Loose notes” I do when I travel) and presentation at a new conference on technology and innovation called La Red Innova.

Organized by Paul Largu�a, an Argentine who has lived in Spain for a while, the goal is to become THE conference for Spanish-speakers, like the Web 2.0 Expo is to USA, LeWeb is to France or the DLD is to Germany.

According to Damian Voltes, the first edition turned out very well. Myself in particular, I got to be in a panel that was moderated by Jos� Mar�a Figueres, former president of Costa Rica, where entrepreneurs shared the stage with such notables as Marcos Galper�n, Alec Oxenford and Romero Rodrigues.

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© Santiago B. for Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Alec Oxenford, Damian Voltes, Enrique Dans, Jose Maria Figueres, La Red Innova, Marcos Galperin, Pablo Larguia, Romero Rodrigues, Speeches, Twitter, Videos

Managing Huge Crises

Santiago B. — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:48:48 +0000

To answer Alexis Garbarz’s question (in Spanish, he asked what measures did we take after that natual disaster) on the post Shit Happens, I think it is good to discuss more upon the learning Officenet got out of the crisis management during the great flood in San Pablo. And who better for that than Leo Piccioli, who personally directed the operations in Brazil to overcome this terrible situation? So, I asked him to write a guest post about it. Here it goes!

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© Santiago B. for Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Alexis Garbarz, Brasil, Crisis, Entrepreneurship, Leo Piccioli, Marcelo Menghini, Officenet, Officenet Story