Woolen Dreams

From a NYTimes blog, about an NYU/ITP project:

Cloud 1001 was a pillow that connects to a sensor that you wear on your finger as you sleep. By sensing your galvanic skin response, it knows when you are entering REM sleep and then plays a soft strain of music from a speaker woven into the pillow. The contraption is meant to facilitate “lucid dreaming,” in which the sleeper is aware of and influences the dream. “What’s it like?” I asked Daniel Liss, the creator. “I’ve never been more exhausted in my life,” he replied.

ITP projects are legendary as they are creative. See a list of ITP projects for yourself.

The invention of murder seems an interesting time-waster.

The River Knows

Years ago The Doors sang thus:

Free fall flow, river flow
On and on it goes
Breath under water 'till the end
Yes, the river knows

Please believe me
If you don't need me
I'm going, but I need a little time
I promised I would drown myself in mysticated wine

 

Today I remember the runes like the wind or the ebbing water of the river and the cold that hugged each pore with rum and heat.

No me acostumbro

Mirando cosas viejas, hallé un poema
en una servilleta, casi borrado
Eran sólo unas líneas, era mi letra,
estaba dedicado a la mujer que amo.

Los versos eran tristes y mal logrados,
pero eran un reflejo de aquellos años
los años más terribles que me han pasado
y mientras los leía me ahogaba en llanto

No me acostumbro no,
no me acostumbro
todavía al acostarme la recuerdo
y al despertar amor, tiemblo de miedo
al descubrir que sólo estaba en mi sueño

Canción de Rey Ruiz.

Quien canta escribió un poema que dedicó a la mujer que ama.  La letra es simple, directa, mas no carece de poesía.  En sí, no es necesariamente un gran poema; pero combinado con la música, se convierte en algo más potente.

Es que recuerda momentos y evoca memorias personales, no sólo del autor, sino también de todo quien lo escucha.  Mientras la melodía hace piruetas alegremente, el ritmo le hace juego al corazón, nunca parando de latir y batir.

La salsa y el calor tropical.
La melodía y la dulzura.
El ritmo y el movimiento.
El recuerdo ahogado.

Truth & UFOs

Dennis Kucinich on CBS's the Early Show:

You talk about UFOs; in Washington, truth is an unidentified flying object!

While being interviewed about why he brought the motion to impeach Dick Cheney to the House floor.  The reason he brought it up was because of his constituency, American citizens, he said.  This idea of democracy that many forget.

iPhone Pilot Commercial

At 22:40 EDT I saw the commercial for iPhone that involves a pilot of a plane whose flight was delayed due to weather, using iPhone to check the weather and communicate to control that weather had cleared. (on NBC 4 New York, at 22:40 EDT on 3 Nov 2007)
It upsets me that pilots get to use their iPhone to connect to the Internet when a flight is delayed, while the rest of the passengers sit in the cabin not being able to use any electronic devices!  I did not purchase iPhone to become a netizen with a first class communicator device with third class communication.
I directed this feedback to Apple and the airlines that I have flown recently.  This commercial feels like rubbing salt on a wound.

Eduardo.

Techno-Blinders

Developing technology based services that are to be used by many clients should follow guidelines about who are the intended users of that service.

For example, developing a web-based service that works well when using one web browser that only a minority of web users use to browse the web is frustratingly narrow-minded.

Similarly, developing web-based services that work well only on the web browser used by the majority of web users, and completely ignoring alternative browsers used by a minority of web users is equally obtuse.

Developing web services that work well only in Internet Explorer for Windows is acceptable when the main community of users of that service are business users; they're already using Windows, and Internet Explorer already comes with.  However as soon as a web service is developed for use by a community at large, for example the academic community, thought has to go into what web browsers people use.  In other words, give people alternatives in case they don't use the browser you'd prefer them to use. 

In business communities and/or environments, it is easy to dictate what is required.  In academic environments, it is less easy to do this.

It is acceptable that only the majority browser is required to use a service that is used for budget information and decisions.  It is not acceptable to require one browser on one operating system in order to use one web-based service or another.

lodo

en un rincón sin esquina

esquivo adjetivos y formas

como simple y bello pétalo

vuelo, nazco y muero

en un abrir y cerrar

de ojos.

pronunciar tu nombre, crecer

aprender tu naturaleza, cada

suspiro, cada sensación,

cada espina o memoria/lección

despacio graban historia

con puño apretado y letras

garabatos.

es un trago amargo

amarte actualmente

o es difícil imaginar

como todavia nos pertenecemos

y nos merecemos.

imagino una libélula

imagino otra, diferente

distinta, ajena

ahora imagino qué diseños

en la arena del mar que es el universo

acusa ingenio o inteligencia

a la casualidad que aquél poeta hable de sí o de

aquella libélula

me ata la lógica a un puerto

en mi mente

disfruto del aire fresco del campo

puertas de madera que se quejan

de algún viejo tornillo

y clavos que han reemplazado

a otros en tanta madera

en la claridad de la noche crece

la solitud oscura

pero el viento me acompaña

un nuevo sueño, sin anhelos ni lodo

matices verde menta

y tajante púrpura

soy la rueda y el camino

la luna y el sol

hablo y despiertas

ver como nunca nadie jamás

y finalmente

amar

una tarde ardiente

eternal

irresistible

y completamente

indescifrable.

© 2007 Eduardo De León

Risk

There is a quote by Anais Nin upon which I have learned to meditate.  Here is the quote:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

I don't remember the full context of this quote.  I suppose a simple search on the Internet would do, if only to get some idea.  But perhaps doing research with some university tools may yield more interesting sources.

She was a writer.

Silencio

Silencio donde el ruido impera

Silence like water droplets in between rocks

Seek the silence, share the silence

Divide the silence to multiply it

Listen to the silence

The voices of those who were, silence

The voices that never were, a louder silence

The silence of old

The silence of cold

The silence of gold

Things that annoy me about iPhone

1. There are no gestures to perform cut, copy, paste, drag-and-drop, and text selection operations.
2. iPhone does not provide scroll bars or resize controls.
3. Diffie-Hellman protocol and DSA keys and self-signed certificates are not available on iPhone.

Word 2007 Posts to Blogger

So you can use Microsoft Office Word 2007 to post to Blogger. This is one such entry.

You can also post to Live Spaces blog; now I'm interested in posting to my own MovableType blog server, but apparently it is not possible. I guess I will have to use Microsoft's Live Writer for that.

Later.

Manu Chao at Prospect Park

On 27 June, a few weeks ago, we went to see Manu Chao perform at Prospect Park, in Brooklyn NY.

Here is a link to some photos, you can see how much fun we had!

United States citizenship: Soliciting Comments

So on the 30th of July, in about a week or so, the USCIS will be raising the cost of the fees necessary to submit an application for citizenship of the United States.

So people are talking about how to become a citizen of the United States, and the most commonly cited reasons are because you can vote, and because it's more convenient when traveling. Another reason I learned recently, which I think is a better one, is that in certain circumstances you may not be able to collect government retirement benefits unless you are a citizen of the United States.

So now I turn to the few readers that may see this on this medium. What are your opinions on the top reasons why one should become a citizen of the United States? Please explain the relevance and comparative importance of the benefits, compared to drawbacks and if possible contrasted to non-citizenship (permanent residence) and citizenship of other nations.

Prickle-Prickle

Today is Prickle-Prickle, the 3rd day of Confusion in the YOLD 3173

Nunca quise tanto a nadie

Nunca quise a nadie tanto como a vos
por eso es que empiezo a dudar
si seremos hermanos que nos separaron
y nosotros sin saberlo nos volvimos a juntar
Tu sangre es roja
la mía también creo no me equivoco
algo tendremos que ver
somos indios latinos con guitarra eléctrica
y comunicados a través de internet

Para odiar hay que querer
para destruir hay que hacer
y estoy orgulloso de quererte romper
la cabeza contra la pared

Por todas esas cosas que tenemos en común
hace tiempo ya marchaste de acá
te cansaste de mí, yo me cansé de vos
pero cuando nos miramos sabemos que no es verdad
Porque tanto te quise y tanto te quiero
siempre una marca tuya llevará mi corazón
Disculpá si te parece raro
pero comparto la opinión que escuché en una canción
"Si la amas déjala ser, si la quieres déjala volar"
nunca fui tu patrón, no quisiera cambiarte
y no quiero que pierdas tu personalidad

Para odiar hay que querer...
para destruir hay que hacer
y estoy orgulloso de quererte romper
la cabeza contra la pared

Para dejar hay que beber
para morir primero hay que nacer
siento ganas nuevamente de tirarme a tus pies
y llevarte a mi morada otra vez
Si lo sembrás lo recogés
y si esperás vas a entender
cuando las cosas salen como no las espero
la vida me hace más guerrero.

Intoxicados - Nunca quise

Buenos dias niña de Tilcara - Intoxicados

...Buenos días niña de Tilcara
vine a despedirme
pronto me voy
es que siempre me alejo de la gente que quiero
pero lo único que espero
es volverte a ver en enero
enero tilcareño, enero tilcareño
Quebrada y vos
Buenos días niña de Tilcara, buenos días...
http://www.musica.com/letras.asp?letra=811749

Countries I Have Visited

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

official joost beta tester

Joost - Internet TV

I'm getting addicted to Joost [ http://www.joost.com/ ].  I signed up a few months ago to receive the beta, then one day they sent an email to me inviting me to download their beta invite-only software and start watching Internet TV.  So I installed it on my Windows computer (they didn't have a Mac version of the software yet) and started watching.  At the time they really didn't have a lot of interesting programs available; they had "strong man" competition shows, world records, cartoons, etc. (which by the way, they still have).  And no ads.  They say they intend for the service to be free of charge, but advertising supported.  So i put it away for a few weeks, because the software didn't work with my new Windows Vista installation, and there was not version for the Intel Macintosh either.  Eventually I got another email advising me of an update to the software, so I decided to give it a nother chance, and voila! it works in both Windows Vista and Mac OS X Tiger for Intel Macs.  So i'm now not only watching programs on it, but showing people and even inviting people I know to try the beta.  i only have five invites, but they're going fast.  They may give me more invites if I use them all up.

For now, it still seems interesting; there are enough programs that I kinda want to watch, even as it's not premium TV.  Still though, it's pretty cool concept, new concept, and certainly has room to grow and mature and improve, etc.  I've been watching videos.. Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia right now.

"I don't feel any shame, I won't apologize, when there ain't nowhere you can go, running away from pain when you've been victimized, tales from another broken home."

sneezing, coughing in the subway

seen in the new york city subway: guy holds on to metal pole while train is in motion; guy gets urge to sneeze; guy takes hand off pole, places hand on face to cover his sneeze/cough, then places hand back on metal pole.

when i get to work, i wash my hands.

stupid Apple Remote tricks

Stupid Apple Remote Tricks

Criticize Odious Ideas

Odious ideas are not entitled to hide from criticism behind the human shield of their believers' feelings.
Richard Stallman

this is a test post. it has been added thru google docs & spreadsheets webApp

I remember you

You're still number one I remember the smell of your skin
I remember everything
I remember all your moves
I remember you
I remember the nights ya know I still do
- Please Forgive Me / Bryan Adams

las vegas - ITIL conference

another completely forgettable airport terminal. waiting to board the jetblue flight 195 to las vegas, on a 17th day of february in the year 2007. a saturday.