Sunday, May 18, 2008

No one is rational

Some time ago I read a piece of text in a book that really got to me. This text is extracted from the book"Children of the mind", the fourth book in Ender's saga, by Orson Scott Card. Let each of you draw what you will.

"No one is rational - Said Miro -. We all act because we are convinced of what we want, and we believe tha through our actions we will attain it. But we never know anything with absolute certainty, so all our rationale are just inventions to justify what we wer going to do anyway before we thought up any reasons."





Saturday, May 17, 2008

Thinking in perspective

Sometimes you have to put things in perspective...

How many of you can name a fact from fifty years ago? Many, I imagine. How about from the beginning of the last century? I'm sure some of you will think of something, even though it has to be important, like the sinking of the Titanic, in 1912. And of the previous century? Photography produced the first permanent photograph in 1826. What about two centuries back? three? The further back we go, the bigger the event needs to be for us to remember.

But lets think of a closer circle. How much do you know of your parent's life? How they met? And before that? And your grandparents? And how they met? Their previous girlfriends or boyfriends? Their childhood friends? How many can you name?

And of your great grandparents? Can you name anything further than their name? Their job? Some hobby? Their favourite colour? Someone may.

What about further back?

In the end, the percentage of people that trascend in history are minimal. The majority of facts that seem vital today, in some time (more or less time) will be of no importance whatsoever. Nothing of what we say or do will mean a thing in "the big picture". We have a major influence in all that surrounds us now; and our actions have major repercussions today, now, here, with the people that surround us.

They say we can join two people from anywhere in the world with less than 10 levels. I've found something like it in Xing. Almost any person in Xing is less than 5 levels away from me.

Where I'm going with this is that sometimes, to see the big picture you have to look at the details.


Lets think of the the world we know today and what it will be like in 2 or 3 centuries. We don't even need to imagine what the society will e like nor what the world will be like. None of that matters. If we could ask the people there, how many would remember Zapatero or Rajoy or Bush o any other political figures from today? How many writers will they be able to name? How many bands? With they be able to name the Pope? And what of us? Who from us will they remember?

And within our own families? n 4 generations, will they be able to name our favourite colour? The music we liked?

In the end, the only thing that counts is how we live today, for us, taking into account the people around us. Always looking towards the future, yes, butthe future doesn't exist, nor do we for it. Nor for the past, either. The past is gone. we musn't forget, but learn, but the past cannot rule us.

This is what Carpe Diem means. This is what it is to live today, to live now.

... but... Is there really any other way to live? In the end, no matter what we do, in 3 centuries, no-one will know we ver existed, so, worry about what really matters...




Friday, May 09, 2008

The BMW photos

These are the pictures BMW took of the test ride mentioned below. They're a bit dark and I would have chosen another (any) bend, but, hey, they're free!

Enjoy!






Thursday, May 08, 2008

The chosen one (report)

A few too many days late (you will have to forgive me, but the last few days have been absolute mayhem...) I am here to report on the BMW test day at the Jarama racing circuit.

The day started with a short briefing in which we were given some notions on how to ride in a circuit (optimal track use, etc) and the basic rules of the "game" (no overtaking, follow the monitor, the group in which you ride will go as slow as the slowest one in it, there are four groups depending on speed - I chose the second fastest... just not to overstep my bounds... -, etc... the normal stuff). This briefing lasted for a half an hour.

After the briefing we were finally shown to our bikes, we each rode the one we had chosen and we placed ourselves in the groups.

... aaand we were off!!!! (remember... the one with the yellow crash-helmet)



This is what one looks like after riding (if only for a few laps) in a racing circuit.



This is the gang of good people, all good friends, who accompanied me in such a celebrated ocasion. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!



The little ones also had their fun moment, of course!



... and the not so little, hehehehehehe



Naturally... after the effort, we need to replenish energies... with good food!!



The photos were taken by our great journalist, Oshita who naturally took advantage of the situation by staying well behind the camera. It was hard but we finally captured her...



... well... more or less...

And El Prenda was our (movie) camera extraordinaire for the ocasion and was kind enough to record some very good videos. These are a couple of the best.

In this one I'm riding second, just behind the monitor.


And in the penultimate lap (I think). In this one I'm sixth. Pay close attention to the sound of the bike as it exits the bend. 1200cc/165BHP sound this good...


And here you can see something like what I was seeing from my bike:


Naturally... I'm dying to repeat the experience. As soon as I can, which will be real soon...