On why a multiethnic Europe is nowhere near. Microsoft does Warsaw

So this is what Microsoft Poland (or they advertisers) considered a bit too much for their consumer base:

Lacking a better word, doesn’t it look glorious?
At least, they were tactful enough to do a poor Photoshop job… but come on, couldn’t mighty Microsoft Europe spare a few thousand euros to do a Poland-rated version of [...]

On Transformers: Revenge of the Ignorant and the future of knowledge

It is well known that movies are not reality. However, I never understood the “need” to historically, timely or geographically deviate reality.
Sad too say, I am pretty sure that I have missed millions of things myself. From downtown Manhattan aka Vancouver or Liverpool (Inside Man/Alfie) to a running of the bulls/fallas mix up in Mission [...]

On the age of media overstatement and living in fear of everything

Today it’s the turn of swine flu (a strain of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, whatever that means). From 2004 to 2007, it was avian influenza (H5N1, for those who worry enough to care). 2003 brought us the Michael Jackson look thanks to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a nasty type of pneumonia). Post-9/11 anthrax [...]

On a life with no news, day 63

Hobbes, the news that get to my ears through word of mouth are:
- Swain flu from Mexico and the popular use of the word “pandemic”
- Spanish and Irish unemployment counting for 2/3 of all EU unemployment increase
- Chelsea 0 – Barcelona 0
- “London seems empty these days” commentaries
PS. I couldn’t resist it any more and [...]

On a life with no news, day 40: Smelling the future

40 days and 40 nights trying to avoid the news. I almost got my hands badly burnt gambling on oil CFDs, but the G20 meeting saved my neck and taught me a good lesson I read the other day: Nothing sedates rationality like a large doses of effortless money (Warren Buffett).
Easy went, easy came, but [...]

On a life with no news, day 25

OK, I must confess, I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms and I started peering over shoulders to read some news and staring at covers of magazines and papers at news agents.
A short while ago I started trading on oil CFDs, so it sounds sensible to keep a bit of track on what’s exactly going on in [...]

On a life with no news, day 21

Hobbes, it is day 21 of my newsless life. It is proving a big mission and, personally, I don’t think I am going to make it. I have been thinking, and the 4-5h per day I don’t know what to do with, might have better use reading the papers. After all, I might be an [...]

On staying away from news, good or bad. A detox therapy for the brain

I have been saying for a while that terrorist groups (or freedom Fighters, depending what side you take) would take advantage of brainless governments and hit them now, when it really hurts. ETA in Spain and now IRA (real IRA, friends of IRA, an IRA Facebook ring) in Northern Ireland have tried their chance, and [...]

On following up news that the media buried in oblivion: Wells Fargo takes Wachovia over

Hobbes, for years the media has been grinding my gears with their sensationalism (including so-called serious press). They drop a bomb, follow it up for a week or so, and move on to greener pastures.
It seems that society has a massive case of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Or perhaps is just that media are just [...]