Pulmon libre, buceo, snorkel, clavados...

Antiguo y clasico:

Caricaturizado(anime), ilustrado y ridiculo:

Mi interes:

El de Juulia:

Modern art

I am so terribly outdated! It took me a couple of months of devotion to things other than the Internet not to get it anymore. I do not even recognize the cozy old blogs I used to frequent. Everything happens too fast in this environment. I was annoyed to realize that last.fm is not free anylonger. I enjoyed the proyect but consistently will say no to limitations of any kind imposed in the www. This is an environment to put information at everybody´s feet, not the other way around. For MODERN ART please click the post!
Will I ever catch up?

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Graffiti

Pique made simple aka "pico de gallo!?"

This is the simplest salad one can prepare with great results does not matter the proportions used. Here in European cuisine cilantro (coriander) is not very common, I had a very hard time finding it fresh in Tallinn, imported all the way from Italy! Although it should be available in every shop, for it is an "Europeanized" herb, it is seldom so (originally from Asia, but very common in medieval cuisine since it grows wild in the southern part of the continent centuries ago). Our attempt to cultivate it at home also failed. One little bag of seeds that fill good four square meters of year round bush of cilantro in Medellin, miserably failed to even germinate this Spring. Cilantro leaves are anxyolitic and can also be used as a digestive help.

In the Americas (South, Central and North America) cilantro is used the most. It can also be found in a number of delicious Asian dishes, but the Mexicans are the sef appointed ambassadors of the product. A tortilla without pique (Col.) is not a real tortilla. Their restaurants have defnitively popularized the product. Because this family is passionate about CILANTRO, tonight I will garnish our dinner with Pico de Gallo.

Ingredients: Onion, Cilantro (fresh and only fresh), tomatoes (pear tomatoes, the riper the better), lime juice, any sort of peper (we prefer a simple paprika for it), garlic and salt to taste.

Method: Chop it all, mix it well, and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Pic-nic en Jagala Joa.

Con Yvonne y los hijos de Katrin, para que Kristian y Emil se conocieran ahora que van a comenzar juntos en el Reaalkool.

A carpenter´s workshop

This was such a nice old house that I wished I lived in Colombia to purchase one of the many run down/forgotten ones in a small town to remodel it just the way I want (and to participate in FAJARDO´s presidential campaign ). A carpenter´s workshop in an edifice of a quarter of a block in El Retiro, Antioquia. I imagine the wonderful patio it is built around and regret that I cannot have a patio of the sort in the middle of my house in Estonia. This is just not a colonial country.

This picture does not do this house any justice :(. I want a patio, a COLONIAL patio anyway:

It is late to comment on EUROVISION, but these songs were fantastic!

For the first time I see anything of worth in this silly contest.
1. The Russian efforts in putting up the greatest show ever succeeded
2. Estonia, Russia and Sweden had really good songs
3. How being cute (Is he really so cute? His looks seem rather average to me) awarded the Norwegian singer the first place?
4. Why Azerbaijan, Albania and Turkey could collect so many supporters? Their presentations were terrible ad the songs amateurish, boring, the worst of the bunch!
5. Patricia Kass was GOOD! and deserved a better place in the finals
4. Which country other than Norway could afford at this point to host an EUROVISION contest anyway?
I hope the next year the quality of the music will continue improving and the policy of patriotism is replaced by one that can take merits into account!

Please, listen to these nice melodies: The melancholic Estonian character manifest in one and the Intensity of any Slavic nation in the other. The last is the song that represented France by Patricia Kass.

El Retiro, Antioquia, Colombia

This is still a very conservative small town (blue everything, not a touch of red on the houses of this streets). At 20 minutes from Medellin, serving some of the very typical grilled meats of the area, plus strawberries and cream, waffles filled with toffe (better than the dutch toffe waffles sold in Starbucks for 3 EUR for sure!, but at a reasonable cost of 10 cents of EUR with all added) and blackberry jam, and fresh lemonade, mixed with the peels and all, sweet and sour. I love this place!

From Medellin, for a while longer

The yellow dress in the Yellow Patio,
Palm flowers: It's the Season!
At grandfather's pool: the joy of Spring
Juulia and the little flower of flowers
Joonas rests watching Discovery Kids in Spanish: "Mr. Maker"

Mas pulpitos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Los pulpos son menos lindos en realidad de lo que aparecen cuando representados grafica o esculturalmente. Me gustan! Como los que ya publicamos en esta entrada hace muchos meses. O esta otra, hace muchos mas. Las vacas son hermosas SIEMPRE. Azules (como la de Annecy, Francia), o en la Avenida de las Vegas, pleno Valle de Aburra -all the same-.

He pedido permisos para el uso de todas estas imagenes, pero hace tanto que perdi el registro de fuentes. Vale decir que ninguna de las de pulpos es mia? Las vacas si!

There is always WIKIPEDIA

Rhymes with the Orange 08.02.2004

If an entry proposes no reasonable amount of novelty should I still post it? I never know.
The song MY WAY (Frank Sinatra, his staple theme, sung the first time in 1969) has been released at least 85 more times by different other interpreters. It is in your best interest that I recommend you to ignore CALAMARO´S version. He made a mistake on this one that he has to live up to for the rest of his natural life, and beyond. I still fancy his music greaty!
Concerning MY WAY I would stick with Sinatra, and welcome the remake by Robbie Williams. At the touch of admiration, everything this man does seems fine. To me.

Venezuelans might not be realizing that if their president is (or is made) so mighty and powerful to give to "the people" everything they ask and need, he also holds that power to take it all away at will. Arbirariness does not provide other incentive than caution. In time, caution turns into suspicion and fear where the authority acts unpredictably-randomly, based on mood or whim. A society does not develop healthily if what binds it together is so precarious. How can these people be walking the way to misfortune and stagnation that other countries have utterly regretted, and why they do it so cheerfully?

Los blogeros con identidad

Estos si son devotos de sus ideas, consistentes con la tematica que exponen y coherentes. Por eso los leo. Son pensadores en serie, no toderos complacientes y temperamentales como debe ser mi caso.
Me la paso leyendo-divagando-preparando las clases de derecho comparado. Y lo que leo como me inquieta me saca de contexto -inevitablemente-. Comienzo trabajando un concepto juridico cualquiera y casi siempre termino enterandome de los avances en tecnologia digital o comentando blogs de artistas graficos. Parece que casi todo lo que me interesa me conduce inevitablemente hasta alli. Lo que queria sugerir, sinembargo, es que hay tanto en que pensar y tantas posibilidades de expansion intelectual que elegir un solo tema "tiene que ser" una limitante forzada. A mis casi 40 "de todo un poquito" sigue siendo el penoso lema, pero como se abarca el "todo"? O peor aun, como se elige entre tantas opciones la insignificancia de una sola? Lo cierto es que los web logs de mas popularidad son los mas consistentes los que demuestran la mayor continuidad tematica. Como es que hay gente tan comprometida?
Este me gusta mucho, por que su autor razona escrupulosamente, no hace comentarios falaces. El tema que lo ocupa es el de la informacion, tambien el de la tecnologia que la transmite. Este es uno de los weblogs mas populares en nuestro idioma y lo consulto a menudo por que ademas tiene enlaces pertinentes sobre asuntos que estudio y enseno: propiedad intelectual, la legitimidad politica y juridica, etc. Alude a temas de la actualidad politica Espanola, es un ciudadano conocido y reconocido por sus credenciales profesionales y academicas: Enrique Dans

Completely tired

Another webcomic by xkcd

Of having to register and login everywhere. I ran a check around forums, news and blogs on the absurdity (annoyance, ok) to waste half or more of the time one spends online accessing the privilege of merely accessing. Reaching most times "somewhere" foggy, banal, disorganized and terribly busy with adds and instructions only to realize that you no longer remember what you needed in the first place, but you can still be sure it is not there. It gets even more disturbing when after a while you decide to capitalize the investment (time, energy, information) using the product these cybercommunities offer and you can´t recall the data you used; with the login names or passwords forgotten, you will inadvertedly get engaged in the same obnoxious processes.
I found nothing on the issue. I surely missed to register somewhere...

It should be the turn of an entry in Spanish, BUT,

This is a post on ESTONIA. Yesterday was the 91th anniversary of its independence and the traditional Presidential cellebration took place in Jõvi. An otherwise remote (or rather removed from the public interest, because it is really close, as any Estonian would say: "Our country is so small that everything is nearby") location that draws no attention or interest from the rest of the country in an area that is associated fairly or not, with the times of ocupation and the decadence that followed the events of 1991.
Jõhvi, however was a clever choice from the President. Estonia is every single part of it, and the State, which is all of the population represented by the mandataries in charge, must reach out to maintain the connection with its people. I want to see my own President hosting traditional celebrations like this in different towns every year, moving some of the ministries to cities in need of revitalization and development, recognizing local leaders from every small town of the country.
"Estonia is so small that everything is nearby," becomes an advantage for its government to be effective and respected. The speech delivered by Toomas Hendrik Ilves was convincing, realistic and pedagogical. A presidential speech unique that did not bore anybody! I wish I was the first making a public note on it. It emphasized the need for solidarity, a quality that is rare to find in this part of the word. I liked the assessment, the tone, the emphasis, the place and I am sure it will be the talk of town for long.

Another example to follow from this country is its love and respect for nature; This website provides an insight of the woods and wild animals inhabiting it. What a fantastic idea to provide this window to the world into any country. Once again, I want to see someone coming up with the same initiative in Colombia so the word, and we have finally access to the beauty of our gifted land! The site has links to 4 different cameras with direct stream into the forest, for birth watching and into the nest of an owl, plus a fantastic collection of pictures of landscapes by different contributors. Enjoy Estonia from afar!

This image by Arne Ader is specially nice because even though I am not very fond of birds (I probably have a phobia by association. Sara Farine fears them irrationally and she´s been my very good friend more than 20 years now), this looks like a drawing by my favourite illustrator of all: Lisbeth Zwerger

Source and author: Arne Ader

I am developing a passion for Belgian Orangettes

This picture was taken and belongs to gatogrunch who also has other great photographs in his flickr account.

And growing intolerance for injustice, specially if derived from negligence, because of "not getting it," not bothering to learn and advance, the self imposed incapacity to discern.
An unidentified official of an border control agency from a not so distant country evaluated my application of a transit visa and decided that I was not persuasive enough to convince him/her on my "capacity (financial?) or intentions to leave that country in less than 48 hours." I have -like one million- arguments to prove the person wrong, based on data PROVIDED and readily AVAILABLE. This profusion is what demonstrates his/her inability to think manifest in the reasoning accompanying the refusal notice, or something else: an unjustified dismissal of all the information available about my request. This person's claims are so notoriously faulty that I am compelled to think nationality was the factor that REALLY attracted attention. Being Colombian has obliged me to invest great portion of my vital energy demythifying whatever people think that comes "in package." tiresome.

Now, for certain, my capacity -the financial one- is disturbed by the wasted air plane tickets (from Tallinn to Miami, a gross amount of money has been thrown to the bin). The Border control agency of that country advises in its Website not to make definitive arrangements for the trip before having the visa but this is another disconcerting line among the many others:

1. If you cannot demonstrate you will leave the country within 48 hours you shall be presumed to intend to stay +
2. Therefore, it is your burden to show convincing proof of your intention to leave within 48 hours after arrival. The standard document (papers. print outs without any juridical value) are itineraries or any sort of booking arrangements +
3. Between the booking of tickets and the submission of the application to the Embassy can and will pass weeks +
4. Any experienced traveller knows that booking tickets can be done in 5 minutes over the Internet, but keeping the booking requires very fast if not immediate payment +
5. Either you pay so your booking is convincing, serious, real or you do not and it would be cancelled, which in turn will make your application false, because the "proof" of intention will not be valid.

Phoney recommendation. Is there any real guideline applicable or followed by border control agents other than the legitimized gut feeling?

Stereotypes strip people off their uniqueness. How can ANY one characteristic, say nationality in this case, could comprehensively define a person or determine someone's life? I find this thought unappealing and uncomfortable.
My children, however, are being taught to bond closely with the ethereal thought of being and behaving nationals of their homeland. It poses to me a difficult dilemma to resolve: should I counterbalance the teachings of standardization or let their individuality dilute on behalf of appreciation for their cultural heritage?
The rising wave of nationalism is puzzling to me. How this notion could possibly contribute to a better world? In very practical terms, I have more pressing and interesting things to do than trying to match my attitude with the definition of being Colombian or anything else so far removed from what matters to my daily life. I prefer to go to cinema (watched Vicky-Cristina-Barcelona, another fantastic film by Woody Allen), eat cinnamon rolls or anything else, really...ANYTHING else.

Even sheep are all different, please take a look at this illustrative project:

I am watching/liking this

Bill Maher on DVD. He is hilarious to say the least. I am buying his stuff, did I tell already that I am about to embark in a real-life adventure? I will travel from Estonia to Colombia in about 6 weeks, it will take me about 40 hours and 4 different planes to reach the final destination, not to focus on the real sad issue: cost.
The prices to go from anywhere in the world to Colombia and from there continue being outrageous. It seems cheaper to go from Patagonia into deep Russia/the Siberian steppes. No reasoning can justify this foolishness. I can imagine profits. Colombians travel a lot! Specially those that live abroad and regularly visit! To revitalize the economy facilitating travelling could be a good social policy, starting from opening a ferry line between South America and Central America, FINALLY connecting Colombia and Panama. Commerce and tourism would flourish, no need to resort to extremes to earn a living in the border towns. Think Tallinn and Helsinki linked with several boat lines per day, 7 days a week for VERY inexpensive fares. Can it be possible that I am the only one sensing that with a bit of diligence few towns could come up with plenty of legitimate options for development and we, the Colombian abroad -ex pats-, could maintain a closer relationship with our country?

I also found this illustrative example of illiteracy. I wonder if he is proud to be a concious activist? No original source available, just a random picture from an unrelated website...