Roberto Carlos leaves Madrid after 11 consecutive years (including 3 European Champions League titles), the longest ever period for any foreign player with Real Madrid.
Becks leaves for LA after 4 years with Real Madrid, without ever complaining or uttering a bad word about anyone. Not the greatest player in the world, but definitely a gentleman and a true professional.
Filed under Football/Soccer, Living la vida española
I look out my window and I see people huddled inside a bar, with others looking through its window. There are maybe 15 minutes left in the match, and Real Madrid is losing at home 0-1 to Mallorca. If they don’t score two goals, they lose the lead and hand the title over to Barcelona.
But instead of getting involved (I am weak hearted), I have decided to finish The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, but I must admit that if you are truly interested in modern Egypt, then you really must read the larger Cairo Triology by the great, late Naguib Mahfouz (or even Midaq Alley). Al Aswany’s story is really nothing more than putting Mahfouz’s triology into the present. Continue reading
Filed under Digressions, Literature, Living la vida española
In this article from The Economist, Lexington explains how most voters are incredibly ignorant when it comes to most issues. Even if voters are generally ignorant about the great majority of issues, this shouldn’t be a problem. That is precisely why we have a representative democracy — so that someone else can do the thinking, studying and evaluating for us. Nevertheless, voters are also irrational because the political issues upon which they base their votes, if implemented, actually go against their interests.
[There are] four biases that prompt voters systematically to demand policies that make them worse off. First, people do not understand how the pursuit of private profits often yields public benefits: they have an anti-market bias. Second, they underestimate the benefits of interactions with foreigners: they have an anti-foreign bias. Third, they equate prosperity with employment rather than production: Mr Caplan calls this the “make-work bias”. Finally, they tend to think economic conditions are worse than they are, a bias towards pessimism.
In other words, voter ignorance is not a problem in itself. The problem lies in the fact that voters’ irrationality causes them to elect politicians who will ultimately promote policies that will negatively affect the voters. And worst of all, the voters will never understand that it is their own idiocy that eventually causes them harm.
In any event, here is The Economist article in full: Continue reading
Filed under Essays
I had almost totally forgotten the incredibly annoying Crazy Eddie commercials from the 1980s. But the other day, Martin, Neska, Nina, Diego C. and I were brainstorming for a title to the press release that would come out on Martin’s blog for FON’s launch of new services.
We were trying to come up with something catchy that used Spanish words that Americans have incorporated into everyday language. I suggested (similar to what I use as one of my blog categories), something derived from “Living La Vida loco”. When everyone quickly voted the idea down because of an aversion to Ricky Martin, I defended myself with the sudden, out-of-the-blue flashback to Crazy Eddie screaming like a lunatic that the “prices are insane.” Of course, Martin remembered Crazy Eddie (having lived in New York for almost 20 years). No one else knew what I was talking about.
In any event, we went with “Fiesta Fonera“. For more Crazy Eddie commericals, click here. Crazy Eddie sure takes me back to the 80s and my family trips to New York and New Jersey.
Filed under Digressions, FON
I just read in the news that Pepsi is now marketing a cucumber flavored soft drink in Japan. Of course, it isn’t real cucumber, but an artificially flavored substitute. It’s “Ice Cucumber”.
Now that’s news! Continue reading
Filed under Digressions
The last two nights, I have had two unrelated dreams that both relate to home. I use the term home liberally because the dreams relate to three different homes: my present home in Madrid, my family’s home in Maryland and the first house I had lived in in Maryland from the ages of 2 to 8. What is always interesting about dreams is their ability to make possible physical impossibilities. Continue reading
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
All of us here in Madrid have been working really hard to prepare for launching a bunch of new services, one of which involves this cool new video. Some have been preparing all of the technical infrastructure, some the hardware, some the new website and logos, some the fine print, some the logics, some the numbers, and others like Diego C and Jose Antonio have been working on all of it at the same time. Personally, I have been working with the Marketing Team drafting just about everything that goes in writing with the aid of Neska, Mayte the Ninja, Berga, Gon, Iban, Eloy, and Hysidro. Meanwhile FON Spain has been putting the final touches on Chueca WiFi.
We are always working pretty hard at FON, but the last few days have reminded me of the early days of intense team work and even longer than normal hours. The difference is that now we can handle multiple new features and services almost weekly whereas before it took so much longer. The best is when the new website temporarily hiccups after the massive response from Foneros who have positively reacted to our effort.
East Side!
Filed under FON
There are so many different ways to measure distance, more than just in terms of time zones, travel time, and travel distance. Furthermore, there are even more ways that these different measures of distance combine to distort, amplify or even diminish physical distance. There are airplanes, phones, and emails that diminish physical distance. I can’t even fathom what it was like for my great grandparents when they left their families to emigrate to the U.S., never to see their family members or hear their voices ever again.
Luckily, I don’t have that problem. I go home at least twice a year, something that is an essential necessity for my own sanity. Nevertheless, I do experience the distance all the time. For example, I only speak with my parents about once a month. This has nothing to do with a lack of affection. Fortunately, I don’t need to speak with my family everyday to know that I am important to them. I just know it. But there are also real, concrete reasons why speaking on the phone is complicated. Continue reading
Filed under Friends / Family
I really enjoy David Sedaris’ books. They are all a comedic mixture of autobiographical prose (and some fiction). My two favorite books of his are Barrel Fever and Me Talk Pretty One Day. The latter is a good summary of how it feels to live in a foreign country when you have trouble with basic communications skills. He tells the story of cultural shock as the extension of his life long state of being an outsider, from speaking with a lisp to living in North Carolina to not being interested in footbal to going to college and ending up in France.
I first heard of Sedaris while listening to NPR probably around 1997. Sedaris was explaining how he had moved to France with the hope of hearing the French talking all day about art and film, but once he learned enough French to understand the language, he saw that they spent their days, like everyone else, gossiping about their neigbhors.
In any event, here is David Sedaris on the Letterman Show from a while back reading a short essay. Despite his annoying voice and not being his best essay, it is still pretty funny.
Filed under Digressions
Grave Error 