Cittanupassana

Carnival 2006 - Premortem

2006-03-04T17:42:00.000-05:00

Einstein´s lost equation

2006-02-25T11:55:00.000-05:00

The Ugly American

2006-02-13T17:58:00.000-05:00

Please, Eva Golinger, either shut up and go home or move permanently to Venezuela, where you will be able to enjoy all the benefits a socialist banana republic like this one can offer you.

"The Capitalists will sell us the rope by which we will hang them."

2006-02-13T17:19:00.000-05:00

Not a single day passes by without the usual verbal sparring between the the US and Chavez. Diplomatic relations are at an all time low. Chavez recently expelled from Venezuela an American Naval Attaché and threatened the US with withholding oil shipments if invaded or attacked in any way. Nevertheless, it is business as usual for Washington. Because of high oil prices, tight supplies, and the Looney Tunes in Tehran, the US chooses to ignore Chavez' insults and erratic behavior, and keeps on buying his oil, even though he uses his Petro-dollars to wage a propaganda war on the US through the entire Continent. When will Washington's patience run out? I cannot help but feel sorry for the Americans' conundrum.

Richard Leider

2006-02-11T09:18:00.000-05:00

"The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose."

Adolf Hitler

2006-02-10T16:11:00.000-05:00

"How fortunate for leaders that men do not think."

Bill Cosby

2006-02-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."
"Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it."
"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
"The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now."

Bertolt Brecht

2006-02-10T15:54:00.000-05:00

"Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life."

Eyes wide shut

2006-02-08T17:33:00.000-05:00

It never fails. Take my wife, put her inside a car, start driving and five minutes later she is in the arms of Morpheus. I end up making the trip alone, bored as hell. I cannot understand how easily some people trust others to take them to their destination without exerting some sort of supervision over their driving skills. When I am not behind the wheel, I am constantly watching over whomever is driving, monitoring the speed gauge, checking road conditions, measuring distances between cars, never relinquishing control completely. Whenever I see my wife sound asleep, I begin to swerve crazily from one side of the road to the other, just to scare her into waking up, then tell her I just missed hitting an iguana.

Gandhi

2006-02-08T17:19:00.000-05:00

Why is Gandhi so relevant in the current political context in Venezuela ? Let's take a look at some of his thoughts:

"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt."
"Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side."
"The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular."
"Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep."
"Nonviolence is not a weapon of the weak. It is a weapon of the strongest and bravest."
"We must become the change we want to see in the world."
"In true democracy every man and woman is taught to think for himself or herself."
"In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place."
"Democracy and violence can ill go together."
"A "No" uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a "Yes" merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble."

"I pity the fool"

2006-02-06T15:31:00.000-05:00

"Who's more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?"
Obi Wan Kenobi.

"Every nation has the government it deserves."
Joseph de Maistre.

The fact that Mr. Chavez has been able to hold on to power for seven years now, and with no end in sight, speaks volumes about the political IQ of the average Venezuelan. A tyrant like Chavez would not be electable in any civilized country, not even as a city Councilman. His antics are reminiscent of those of a snake oil peddler in a Western movie and he speaks with the forked tongue of a used car salesman. Nonetheless he seems to hold under his spell a wide chunk of the population. That is why democracies do not always work in nations where ignorance is paramount. There is the ever-present danger of a snake charmer, or a pied piper taking center stage. I feel sorry for Venezuela, but at the end, I have to admit, it had it coming.

If you repeat a lie often enough...

2006-02-05T17:22:00.000-05:00

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels.

“A lie told often enough becomes truth”
Vladimir Lenin.

This is, unfortunately, the standard modus operandi of the current fascist government. Chavez keeps belching, almost daily, that the gringos are coming, keeping the average Venezuelan from noticing the myriad of domestic problems that suffocate the nation. The trouble is that, while the average joe on the street is waiting for the impending invasion, the gringos are not even paying attention to Chavez 's vitriolic ranting, busy as they are, nabbing Arab terrorists. This is a lesson Chavez has learned well from the master puppeteer of Havana, who has been successfully blaming the Americans for his nefarious actions for decades now, and who has surrendered his soul to the devil in exchange for a life longer than Methuselah's.

Bye Bye Firefox

2006-01-31T17:25:00.000-05:00

Being a Microsoft-centric person, I have had a hard time using Firefox while trying to shush the nagging voice inside my head telling me to dump the browser. So I am more than happy to announce that I have switched today to IE7 Beta 2 Preview, which has been running smoothly so far on my machine.

My enemy's enemy is my friend

2006-01-30T16:20:00.000-05:00

I remember watching Cindy Sheehan on CNN when she camped outside President Bush's ranch in an anti-war protest, and actually feeling sorry for her. At the time I could not understand President Bush 's refusal to meet with the grieving mother. Last week Sheehan was visiting Caracas for the World Social Forum meeting, met with President Chavez and ended the meeting by branding President Bush a terrorist.
This is the kind of flawed logic that AntiBushites use to their own detriment:
I hate Bush AND Chavez hates Bush EQUALS I must love Chavez.
My enemy's enemy is my friend.
Never mind that Chavez is the least democratic head of state in Latin America nor that he has declared his intentions to remain in power until 2031.
I have my own logic to apply in this case:
Cindy Sheehan loves Chavez EQUALS Cindy Sheehan Zero credibility.

First They Came...

2006-01-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

After living through seven years of Bolivarian Revolution, I cannot help but be reminded of the famous poem by Rev. Martin Niemoller:

When they came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Boxer + Doberman = Boxerman ?

2006-01-07T12:52:00.000-05:00

I love dogs, specially Boxers. I have owned quite a few over the years, was a breeder for a while, until lack of time forced me to give up this hobby. But I have never seen a smarter dog than this one. His name is "Sparky" and is half Boxer, half Doberman.

Chicken Little, Venezuelan Style

2006-01-06T15:39:00.000-05:00

In the magical kingdom of Venezuela, there was once a bridge of crucial importance, because it linked the village with the kingdom's main port and airport. The bridge had been built a long time ago and everyone in the village agreed that losing the bridge would bring doom to the villagers, since it would cut off the main source of food. The villagers did not know how to farm. They were exporting oil, and with that money, buying necessary food and goods.
One day Chicken Little was bored as he sat below the bridge seeking shade. Suddenly, a piece of the bridge fell over his head."Oh my goodness!" said Chicken Little. "The bridge is falling! I must go and tell the king."
On his way to the king's palace, Chicken Little met the King's Minister of Infrastructure. "Where are you going ?", asked the Minister. "I am going to see the King, because the bridge is falling, I saw it with my own eyes, heard it with my own ears and part of it fell on my head."
"Do not bother the king with this nonsense", replied the Minister of Infrastructure ,"as the King is too busy liberating the Country from years of neo-imperialist domination by the great evil warlord from the north known as Mr. Danger."
Chicken Little did not listen to the Minister. He knew he had to reach the King as soon as possible. So he ran away as fast as he could. Soon, he met the Minister of the Interior. "Where are you going ?", asked the Minister. Chicken Little replied "The bridge is falling, the bridge is falling, I have to tell the King."
"Saving this bridge is not a priority for this Bolivarian Revolutionary government. The King is busy selling cheap oil to Brooklyn and Boston, in order to make Mr. Danger look bad in the eyes of his own people" said the Minister.
Chicken Little did not stop to argue with the Minister. He knew that only the King wielded real power, so he was not going to waste his time with the hired help. He kept running down the road as fast as he could until he reached the royal palace. He entered the royal chambers only to see the King having dinner with his main advisor, the all powerful Darth Castro. "the bridge is falling, I saw it with my own eyes, heard it with my own ears and part of it fell on my head", shouted Chicken Little with a desperate voice.
The King slowly turned his head towards Chicken Little and murmured " I condemn you to spend time in jail for spreading false rumors about this government, only to disseminate panic among the villagers and scare foreign investors."
So Chicken Little was led to jail by the King's Praetorian Guard. The bridge fell the next day. The villagers starved to death and the King tagged the whole incident as a conspiracy led by the State Department and executed by the CIA.

New Year's Hangover

2006-01-03T09:06:00.000-05:00

No, that is not me, by the way.
Who said that the eyes are the windows to the soul ?

Frazzled, Frustrated, and Forlorn

2006-01-02T08:31:00.000-05:00

Will the last person to leave the Country please turn off the light...

Venezuela used to be a favored destination for European immigrants, specially those from Spain, Italy and Portugal. Following the Spanish civil war and WWII, thousands chose to settle in this magical spot, and by doing so, prospered and contributed to the development of this backward Country. Times have changed, and drastically so. The first wave of returnees occurred in the early eighties, when the local currency took a nosedive following government corruption so widespread that even the gargantuan inflow of petrodollars could not mask. Later in the decade, in 1989, following another megadevaluation, riots sprung in Caracas and other major provincial cities that resulted in grand scale looting of commercial properties. This unprecedented cataclysm and the following government crackdown on the rioters scared the middle class out of its wits. Although not part of the conflict, it suffered the consequences of government mismanagement by bearing the brunt of the populace's ire. This event led to the second wave of European returnees, who saw a chance of leading a calmer life in a rapidly unifying Europe. Finally, the third wave of immigrants began leaving the country after the current leader was elected in late 1998. First it was a trickle, now the dam has broken and almost eveybody below the age of forty is making plans or trying to leave their birthplace one way or another. Many do so unprepared, settling illegally in developed nations. Many have no recourse besides moving to neighboring islands, like Aruba and Curacao, for a meager subsistence. The Cubans, at least had Miami for safe haven. Soon all the human capital of this generation will be lost. The Government will have to outsource all major projects to foreign companies from Brazil to Cuba.
So please, will the last Venezuelan to leave the Country, turn off the light...

Koan

2006-01-01T16:46:00.000-05:00

Zen teaching riddle.
One day Akbar drew a line with his royal hand on the floor of the open court and told his wise men that if they wanted to keep heir jobs they must make the line shorter without touching any part of it.
Wise man after wise man approached and stood staring at the puzzle, but they were unable to solve the problem.
Finally Birbal stepped forward and drew a longer line next to the first one, without touching the first line.
Everyone in the court look at it and agreed. The first line was definitely shorter.
nozen.com

Buddha

2005-12-31T12:31:00.000-05:00

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

"He is able who thinks he is able."

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. "

"There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills."

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. "

"To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him."

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. "

"What we think, we become."

Karoshi

2005-12-30T12:07:00.000-05:00

I have been working so much this week that I am beginning to understand the meaning of death-by-overwork. On the other hand the year is coming to an end, so using Dilbert's words, "It looks like I'll be exaggerating my accomplishments again this year."
Usually, I do not like Christmas. It is quite a stressfull time of the year for me. Family obligations, compulsive shopping, gift selections, overeating, overdrinking, overspending, are not some of my favorite ways to occupy my time, but I mostly dread having to conclude that this year has also been a wasted year, professionally speaking, for me. As I make plans to leave this banana dictatorship where I am stuck, I am reminded of John Lennon's immortal words : "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." Hopefully, by June of next year, I will be on my way to a "sunny" new home in Canada.
Today, I have been suffering from information overload. Among the many subjects I have been reading about, some are more prominent than the others:

Mezzanine Funding
Milan Kundera
Device-Agnostic
Irritable Male Syndrome
Game Theory
Prisoner's dilemma
Wordpress
Jimmy Wales
Richard Linklater
Boxing Day
Life Coaching
Festivus
Climatique
Scott Adams
Before Sunset
Before Sunrise
Julie Delpy
Aliyah
Yerida

This is not a decent way to spend the holidays.

Avian Influenza

2005-12-29T07:31:00.000-05:00

These last few months we have been bombarded with alarmist warnings about avian influenza while a much scarier virus has already spread among us: affluenza.

"Our society is more troubled by problems of overabundance. We are three times richer than in the 1950s, and diseases particular to "affluenza" clog our social and individual arteries. We are more overworked, more stressed, more depressed and much fatter. ...
Critiques of affluenza go deeper than puritanical dismay at the aggressive vulgarity of materialism. The centrepiece of the argument is that we are obsessed privately with more income and better goods, and collectively with "growth" and "progress". Yet all the scholarly work on well-being shows that after passing a benchmark of real deprivation, greater prosperity does not lead to increased happiness."
—Anne Manne, "Sell Your Soul And Spend, Spend, Spend," Syndey Morning Herald, April 14, 2003

I had been thinking about writing a post to illustrate my conflicting emotions about money, until I saw my own views reflected in a great article about plutophobia . I would not be able to explain this "disorder" any better than the author does, so I will just leave the link posted for future reference.

Mortimer Adler

2005-12-28T12:53:00.000-05:00

"The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live. "

This quote from American philosopher Mortimer Adler has always attracted my attention, more so now that I am entering my fourth decade in life and early signs of physical decay are constant reminders of my mortality. A question that has always troubled me is what is worse, as one ages, physical or mental decline. As I watch my parents and my uncles get older, some have tended to develop serious physical ailments while maintaining excellent mental acuity and others seem to go down the hill mentally while physically in top shape.

Changing the subject, while reading recently about Bojangles, I came across a fascinating word, copasetic, that was a favorite of this American entertainer. I must confess that I had never heard nor used it before, but I do find it quite melodic and not without a certain charm.

As a recovering GAD patient, I have developed quite a low tolerance for adrenaline, and feel quite uncomfortable when I sense high doses of this hormone running through my veins. Lately I have been trying to live a life devoid of it, surrounded by my three comforting companions : Serenity, Equanimity, and Imperturbability. In one word, Ataraxis.

Staying on this subject I have always loved the following quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson: "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances".

I come from a family of hotheads where one shoots one's mouth off first and asks questions later. Most of us are ticking time bombs with extremely short fuses. Genetically, we were born doomed, or so I thought. Happily for me, at least, this is a thing of the past, as I have acquired new habits and gone through a monumental paradigm shift. (aren´t all paradigm shifts monumental ?).

Yesterday, I came across a fascinating website about personal development run by Steve Pavlina . I suspect I will be spending much time exploring it.

The darkest hour is just before dawn

2005-12-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

This week my sister came to visit us from Belgium. We had not seen her since early May. She is still hooked on smoking, which is probably one of the dirtiest habits one can acquire. It is, I guess, her way of coping with stressful situations. I go to group therapy, she binges on nicotine.