26
Feb

Middle East

There are several areas in the World quite interesting to look at nowadays. One of these places is Middle East. I found this video at TED which talks about Qatar. It is one of the Emirates in the Gulf area, which are using the money from the oil they are floating into designing attractive mini countries. These countries are becoming some of the centers of the World economy nowadays.

I have only been to the area once (apart from several connecting stops in Emirates’ Dubai airport), and it was in Winter… From what I know, summer is crazy, with temperature around 40-50 degrees as a constant. To give you an example, I was amazed when one of my colleagues there, refuelled the car without stopping the motor. At least in Europe, this is considered dangerous, as it can provoke an explosion… In Middle East, this  is common practice, as refuelling without air conditioning can be even dangerous during summer. Back to the video, it does not have many components to learn from in a public speaking sense, but it does provide some good interesting data to look at:

  • Qatar economy has grown 15% for the past 5 years.
  • It only rains 74 mm/year (Brazil, 1782 mm/year)
  • The “pre-oil” Qatar (1930s) had a population of 11,000 people, all of them living either in fishing villages or roaming around the country looking for the scarcest resource in the area: water.
  • The current Qatar has 1.7 million people, and have increased water consumption to 430 litres. They produce all their water thanks to Desalination, although their water reserves amount only 2 days. 90% of food is imported, as only a 1% of the land is cultivated.
  • In order to make this sustainable, they are planning to install 1800 MW of solar power, in order to be able to feed the high power demands that desalination has.

I found these data very interesting, full of contradictions, changes and good looking plans…  and also opportunities for my industry.

Posted in None | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
9
Feb

La Millor Terreta del Món

Conociendo las costumbres vacacionales de los habitantes de esta nuestra España, una buena parte de vosotros habréis oído alguna vez la expresión “la millor terreta del món” que, aunque valenciana, es fácilmente entendible por los castellanoparlantes. Hace unas cuantas semanas, a través de Facebook, llegué a la historia del origen de la expresión que se usa para referirse a Alicante, y qué mejor momento que este fin de semana, en el que yo mismo he venido a la “terreta”, para compartirla con vosotros.

2011 02 - Finde en Alicante - 06

La historia se remonta a mediados del siglo XIX, y su autor fue Mariano Roca de Togores y Carrasco, un noble de la época, de familia alicantina que, entre otras muchas cosas, fue Ministro en distintas ocasiones y Embajador en varias capitales europeas. Además, en su tiempo libre, era un escritor de todo tipo, desde historia, hasta poemas de amor.

Es en una carta en forma de poema que escribió a su amigo Manuel Bretón de los Herreros donde acuñó la expresión “la millor terra del món” hablando de Alicante:

Sepades, señor Bretón,
que de Poniente a Levante,
es sin disputa Alicante
la millor terra del món.

No tenía este poema un fin distinto que las fotos que hoy se cuelgan en Instagram: dar envidia… de lo bien que se vivía en Alicante, y de sus vistas, en comparación con Madrid. Además, envidia con conocimiento de causa, ya que el tal “señor Bretón” había pasado sus tiempos mozos en Alicante durante la Guerra de la Independencia, y Roca de Togores escribía desde su finca en Alicante, cerca de donde hoy se puede encontrar el Parque Municipal del Palmeral, en la zona sur de Alicante mirando al mar.

Me llaman la atención un par de cosas:  primero el juego de idiomas que se gastaba, juntando el castellano con un par de palabras en valenciano. Y, segundo, siguiendo este mismo hilo, que el noble poeta era originario de Orihuela, tierra en la que hoy no se habla nada de valenciano, e incluso están exentos de su estudio por razones históricas.

Os dejo a continuación el poema completo. Recomiendo su lectura, ya que muchas estrofas son hoy en día más que aplicables.

Continue reading →

Posted in None | Tagged , , | 3 Comments
3
Feb

Rome

“You haven’t been to Rome yet!?” I had heard this question for a long time, and I finally got a perfect excuse to visit it last month, counting with great “native” indications, which enhanced the experience in great manner.

2013 01 - Roma-63.jpg 2013 01 - Roma-29.jpg

I must admit that I was kind of skeptical regarding the “beauty” of Rome. For some reason, and in spite of the frequent recommendations, I was not expecting a big thing… but it did exceed my expectations. I confirmed that the often-heard sentence “Every corner you look at hosts either a ruin or a church” is not an exaggeration, but completely true.

2013 01 - Roma-31.jpg 2013 01 - Roma-40.jpg 2013 01 - Roma-41.jpg 2013 01 - Roma-47.jpg

It is so true, that one of the other frequent complaints, the traffic, is heavily affected by the ruins. They cannot build roads and buildings as they plan, because every meter they dig, they find something out, and must change the original project. The clearest case is how the Aqueducts force the street routes in the city.

2013 01 - Roma-13.jpg 2013 01 - Roma-4.jpg

Rome, as capital of Roman Empire, was in the “old good times” the biggest and most advanced city in the World, apart from the richest one, and you still feel it. This political power also led the Catholic Church to “set” their headquarters here. As Romans like to say (and I could agree with them) any regular Roman church could be a big cathedral in the rest of Europe.

2013 01 - Roma-67.jpg

If the historic perspective is not enough for you, add the excellent Italian food to the picture, and you get a great destination for a couple of free days. Have you been to Rome yet?

2013 01 - Roma-27.jpg 2013 01 - Roma-21.jpg

More pictures in this slideshow.

Posted in None | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
7
Jan

Cabalgata de Reyes Magos de Alcoy

Mucho se ha escrito sobre las Cabalgatas de Reyes Magos, y más en concreto sobre la de Alcoy. Aparte de ser la cabalgata más antigua de España es probablemente una de las más mágicas de cuantas hay.

Después de ver en la tele y en directo alguna otra, y comentarlo, parece que el hecho de que no haya nada de publicidad en la misma ya la hace bastante “especial”, pero eso no es lo mejor.

2013 01 - Cabalgata-18.jpg

Lo mejor es que la noche anterior, los niños han visto como sus Majestades acampan en las montañas de alrededor de la ciudad, mientras leen las cartas que llenos de ilusión han echado en los buzones reales el día de antes.

2012 01 - Cabalgata-28.jpg

Lo mejor es que a lo largo del recorrido de la cabalgata, los niños se acercan a estos magos que vienen de Oriente (ahora parece que de camino de vuelta a su Andalucía natal) para besarles.

2013 01 - Cabalgata-10.jpg

Lo mejor es que los pajes reales, els “negres” hacen entrega de los regalos durante la Cabalgata misma a los niños.

2012 01 - Cabalgata-10.jpg

Lo mejor es que esos pajes, si pueden (si no está muy alto, que son pajes, no pájaros), entran por el balcón con los regalos de los niños.

2013 01 - Cabalgata-17.jpg

Lo mejor es que esto pasa sin apenas variaciones (si funciona, para qué tocarlo) desde antes de que yo naciera, y aún así encandila a niños y mayores.

2013 01 - Cabalgata-7.jpg

Posted in None | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment
26
Dec

Why do Chinese drink hot water?

If you have been to China or you have some Chinese friends, you may have noticed that, among other significant culture differences and particular behaviours, they are also different in such a common activity as drinking water. The first time I realized of this was during my stay in Sweden, as my friend Ziyi drank a glass of hot water (directly from the kettle) before heading to the office. In my later visits to China I could realize it was a common thing in China, even in summer. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered water with my dinner in a restaurant in Beijing and I got a glass of hot water.

Why do they do it? If you ask them, you will get different explanations for it. Some of them are related to the health (they say hot water is healthier for the body, and also for the soul), and some others are a consequence of other practices they have (as they drink plenty of tea, they get used to hot drinks, and that includes the plain water).

I don’t buy any of those explanations, even though they make sense and could also be true. This type of special behaviours must have a simple and ancient reason, as many others explained in Marvin Harris’ “Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches“.

My idea is that they originally started to drink hot water because they learned about sterilization, and realized they had to apply high temperatures to the tap water to make it drinkable (i.e. without further health compications). When you are thirsty waiting for the water to be cold is a luxurious decision, and you probably opt for drinking it right away.

Don't drink water from the Tap

This is still valid and needed nowadays. The hostel where I stayed a couple of years ago in Beijing made it clear for the ignorant visitor that we should drink boiled water if we did not want to have a “bad time”. Nowadays, even in higher quality hotels, adapted to Western standards, they make it clear that the tap water is impotable, with an alarming sign next to the sink.

Posted in None | Tagged , | 2 Comments