I am sleepy. I had a blog once where all my posts started with this sentence. Not because I planned it, but because I was actually sleepy every time I wrote on it. That was a long time ago. I might write more about this experience one day. When I talk about it, people say I could be a case study.
Anyways, today I had an urge to write a long entry that I didn't write about Second Life. I haven't writen more here about it, but I kept thinking about it, and reading and researching. Haven't reached a conclusion yet, but I believe I'm on my way.
hdhd had an interesting post on his blog today. Not something new, it's actually a quote from a book by Yochai Benkler, but it fascinated me by the simplicity and clarity of the way the author managed to express a complex concept. Have a look there.
(Just a though: Hernani uses Drupal on his website. I feel bad. I could install one in my server, but for some reason, I just feel that it's lonelier to be in your own domain and not in a community, like Blogger. Although, Adolfo said WordPress is far better then Blogger. Hn. I don't know. I just feel like having it in my own server. Even if my last experience with that was horrible: I had all my TCC (the end of course monograph) in a wiki, fabulous experience, and it crashed, and it's all lost. Oh well).
Anyways. Today was a day of long talks about Life, the Universe and Everything. I am tired, tomorrow Madrid, for the first time. My hostess said it's 0.5 Celsious there. My mother laugh and said she had never heard that there could be a .5 temperature.
2007-01-25
Sheeps and sexual choice
Ana sent me this morning an article about a scientist who is researching genetics implications in gay sheeps. Obviously, written this way, it would make any sensible person freak out and say that it is an absurd. But let's look at the facts with a little more care:
So, yes, apperantly, Dr. Roselli is doing research to understand sheep homosexuality. His explanation is that his investigation will help to better know which sheep are better for breeding. Ok, fine, I guess. The rage of course comes from the natural conclusions that the research could lead to a way of avoiding homosexuality - both in sheeps AND human.
I was first repulsed by the idea as well, but then, thinking a bit further, I concluded that I completely agree with Dr. Wolpe, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, when he says that the issue that has to be addressed in this case is not the research itself, but the mentality that makes it a problem. In other words: if homosexuality wasn't a problem at all, nobody would mind if they knew it was genetic. It's like eye color, for a silly example. Nobody forbids scientists to find out how eye color is determined, because, really, it's all normal.
This reminds me of an excelent article that I read sometime ago, by Contardo Calegaris, about the movie C.R.A.Z.Y. I haven't seen the movie yet, (we downloaded it, but it was in Spanish.... blah), but the article is a brilliant reflection about the use of the expressions "sexual option" and "sexual orientation". The last sentence (in Portuguese): "prefiro defender o princípio da liberdade de "escolha" amorosa e sexual, sem justificativa biológica. É muito "crazy"?"
PS: the link to the article is leads to another site, since the Folha de São Paulo, where it was originally published, requires paid login.
So, yes, apperantly, Dr. Roselli is doing research to understand sheep homosexuality. His explanation is that his investigation will help to better know which sheep are better for breeding. Ok, fine, I guess. The rage of course comes from the natural conclusions that the research could lead to a way of avoiding homosexuality - both in sheeps AND human.
I was first repulsed by the idea as well, but then, thinking a bit further, I concluded that I completely agree with Dr. Wolpe, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, when he says that the issue that has to be addressed in this case is not the research itself, but the mentality that makes it a problem. In other words: if homosexuality wasn't a problem at all, nobody would mind if they knew it was genetic. It's like eye color, for a silly example. Nobody forbids scientists to find out how eye color is determined, because, really, it's all normal.
This reminds me of an excelent article that I read sometime ago, by Contardo Calegaris, about the movie C.R.A.Z.Y. I haven't seen the movie yet, (we downloaded it, but it was in Spanish.... blah), but the article is a brilliant reflection about the use of the expressions "sexual option" and "sexual orientation". The last sentence (in Portuguese): "prefiro defender o princípio da liberdade de "escolha" amorosa e sexual, sem justificativa biológica. É muito "crazy"?"
PS: the link to the article is leads to another site, since the Folha de São Paulo, where it was originally published, requires paid login.
2007-01-23
Get a first life
What really makes me think about the importance of Second Life is the amount of people saying that it has no importance, or that it is dangerous, or that it's not inovative...
Another critic>
Get a First Life:
Get a First Life:
2007-01-22
Information society - technology determinism?
Just a quick though, so it won't get lost: I am reading Daniel Bell's “Foreword: 1976”. The Coming of Postindustrial Society" (Nueva York: Basic Books, 1999), written in 1976, for the advanced seminar offered by UOC and OII. Anyways, the texts for this week talk a lot about the transition from industrial society to post industrial society. Gee, was there an industrial society, first of all? Isn't this a quite linear way of thinking development? Isn't it slightly too generic?
I mean, really, do societies really develop in one linear way? ... ok, back to the readings. Just had to write this somewhere...
I mean, really, do societies really develop in one linear way? ... ok, back to the readings. Just had to write this somewhere...
2007-01-19
MP3, Feeds and women
So... I am here loading music to my just bought MP3 (it's a crappy one, but oh well, can't afford an iPod yet. And when I can, certainly I'll give it to Ana, to encourage her "The soundtrack of my PhD" project. :)
I have actually a lot of things to do, specially a lot of readings, but go figure, it's difficult to concentrate. There are so many things to read when I sit in front of the computer that it takes sometimes more then an hour and a half until I can finally start *working*.
First, I read news, usually UOL, to know what's happening in Brazil. I dunno why, that's habit. I have feeds from many sources in my Netvibes, but I just can't skip the routine of actually going until UOL.
Then I reply e-mails. I am working at this project to develop a virtual store that is keeping me kind busy. It shouldn't, of course, since I earn by hour, but, gah, programming is definetly an adictive activitie. I should have been a programmer, I though the other day. I have some talent to do it. And if there's something really acomplishing is to watch something you programmed start working.
(I suddenly thought about something: Adolfo wrote a post about where are the female bloggers. And although many of the statistics say that the difference between the amount of men and women in the blogsphere is not so big, the women certainly have less visibility. And now, in the middle of this long post, I just thought that, well, maybe it's because women are less objective when they write? This is not a theory, just an idea).
I have actually a lot of things to do, specially a lot of readings, but go figure, it's difficult to concentrate. There are so many things to read when I sit in front of the computer that it takes sometimes more then an hour and a half until I can finally start *working*.
First, I read news, usually UOL, to know what's happening in Brazil. I dunno why, that's habit. I have feeds from many sources in my Netvibes, but I just can't skip the routine of actually going until UOL.
Then I reply e-mails. I am working at this project to develop a virtual store that is keeping me kind busy. It shouldn't, of course, since I earn by hour, but, gah, programming is definetly an adictive activitie. I should have been a programmer, I though the other day. I have some talent to do it. And if there's something really acomplishing is to watch something you programmed start working.
(I suddenly thought about something: Adolfo wrote a post about where are the female bloggers. And although many of the statistics say that the difference between the amount of men and women in the blogsphere is not so big, the women certainly have less visibility. And now, in the middle of this long post, I just thought that, well, maybe it's because women are less objective when they write? This is not a theory, just an idea).
2007-01-11
Under pressure
You know what? Maybe I do work better under pressure. I'm not sure if this is something I would ever tell a boss, but... maybe it's true. (And I guess good bosses already knew that). :)
2007-01-08
Serenata moderna
Ontem à noite, voltando para casa, eu vi uma cena digna de nota: um jovem apaixonado estava na rua, olhando para cima, às vezes subindo em um apoio, tentando fazer sua homenagem musical ser ouvida por sua amada, que lhe observava da sacada... porém o instrumento que o jovem usava não era nada mais que seu celular com MP3, onde ele gravara a música, e agora estendia o braço para cima, oferecendo-a para a dama da janela...
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