July 13th-15th Alvaro and I attended Hope9 (Hackers On Planet Earth number 9) conference in New York`s Hotel Pennsylvania.
It was a lot of fun, as usual. Besides the many and informative talks (we gave one on “Digital Security in Health Care Institutions”, the first day), there was music, booths (FSF, EFF with a girl that wanted to come to Spain to help the #indignados, Free Manning, No Starch Press Books and more), arduino and lock-picking classes, a pro-ponies and against-zombies USA Presidential Candidate wearing a boot on his head, MakerBot 3D printers, the IMMI, Hackers For Charity, AlphaOne HackerSpace (will be visiting it next Thursday with Audrey), StartUpHire, SparkleLabs (awesome presents for kids and n00bies!
Last night`s storm was, again, AMAZING. I was not exactly in a position to take a picture, “too concentrated on something else” (although I would have loved it), but this is a great shot by Ryan Brenizer.
Let me share some odd videos I have watched recently, thanks to Leaitrice and Patricia:
The famous “Sunscreen” music video (the text comes from an essay written in 1997 by Mary Schmich, a columnist at the Chicago Tribune, as a graduation speech for the class of `97) which gives some amazing advice for life. There is even a StarWars Version.
Drunk History: get some history students drunk, have them narrate historical events, while reenacting them… more fun than it seems.
After reading “Debunking Putin`s Newest Myth” by Alexander Yanov, PhD, and with all my respect and admiration for this very well known historian of Russian nationalisms:
Although quite brilliant and eloquent, I believe it is not incisive and daring enough in debunking Putin`s newest myth. It takes a very conservative approach, perhaps letting a Western traditional philosophy baggage and inclination take the part of pure reason and belief, which is usually needed, in equal parts, to fight a political/philosophical quarrel.
After playing with it for a while, beyond it limitations (light, format, movement…) here are the two biggest pitfalls with the Lytro camera:
It is still for Mac OSX only. They NEED to come out with Open Source / Free Software (both their software AND platform support for GNU/Linux).
Picture library size and location. BIG unresolved issue.
Accompanied by your absence
I hear your skin calling.
Silently, still, I answer.
In the solitude of your presence
I remember sliding down your gaze
fearlessly falling into your void,
your being`s foyer.
Next to you, finally, I rest
dreaming and longing,
with the peace and tranquility that comes from
knowing me you.
I have been under tropical storms several times in the jungle. But I have never seen anything like today`s storm over Manhattan. Absolutely incredible.
The Guardian. Photo: Inga Sarda-Sorensen
