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You'll find all my rants over here, mainly articles on any topic that interests me: programming, open source issues, politics, society in general, etc. Yes, I do have other interests that are not strictly related to computers. Hey, don't forget my first passion was political activism! I will post articles I published somewhere else over here too, and perhaps one day I'll even find the time to post all the articles I've published since I was 16 years old or so.

Cuaderno de Bitácora Apresuradas notas tomadas durante el transcurso de mi vida cotidiana. Estos apuntes no pretenden ser de ningún modo pensamientos elaborados o ideas consistentes, sino más bien simples anotaciones al margen sobre muy diversos temas: política, economía, literatura, artes, cultura...
Ruminations on Technology Personal blog on anything related to the technology industry: news, products, languages, operating systems, business strategies, etc.
Forjando una nueva política Reflexiones sobre la posibilidad de construir una nueva práctica política más allá de las gastadas formas al uso, superando las etiquetas y las respuestas que hemos venido aplicando hasta ahora.
Socialismo ciudadano Blog personal donde voy anotando mis reflexiones relacionadas con mi militancia en el PSOE, siempre desde una visión independiente, constructiva y respetuosa con las ideas de los demás.
Enciclopedia Esquemática Ya desde mi adolescencia, siempre quise embarcarme en la aventura de escribir una pequeña enciclopedia personal que resumiera todos los saberes de la Humanidad. Con el paso de los años, no tuve más remedio que aceptar mis limitaciones y trabajar en este proyecto, mucho más modesto.
Poesía Recopilación de diversas colecciones de poemas que he ido escribiendo a través de los años.
Ficción Escritos de ficción, fundamentalmente narrativa corta, microrrelatos, cuentos infantiles... lo mismo algún día tengo la valentía de escribir una novela.
Ensayo Colección de ensayos, incluyendo trabajos largos con contribuciones cortas, recopilaciones de correos, etc.
Apuntes/Notes Notas que voy tomando aquí y allá conforme se me ocurren ideas o me encuentro con citas que me parecen interesantes. Todo muy desordenado. En fin, como unos auténticos apuntes. Improvised notes that I'm taking here and there to document ideas, quotes, etc.
Hollande y la izquierda Comentario subido a Facebook tras leer un artículo sobre el giro a la derecha de Hollande en Francia. Tomé la noticia como excusa para reflexionar sobre la relevancia del proyecto socialdemócrata en la sociedad globalizada del siglo XXI y la necesidad de reconstruir la izquierda desde abajo, quizá renunciando incluso a la etiqueta de izquierdas, pero manteniendo sus principios y valores.
(Enero 2014)
Informe PISA y cultura confuciana Comentario en Facebook sobre una noticia subida por un amigo acerca de los resultados del Informe PISA y los efectos positivos que la cultura confuciana pueda tener en el desempeño educativo de los jóvenes asiáticos.
(Diciembre 2013)
Bitcoin, money and capitalism Joseph, a co-worker, posted a note on Facebook commenting on bitcoin and pointing out that perhaps all currencies in the end only work for as long as people accept them. Ross, another co-worker, made a comment about bitcoin being like a pyramid scheme, to which Joseph replied that perhaps all currencies are pyramid schemes in that sense. Here are a couple of comments I made about the topic of bitcoins, the nature of money and capitalism.
(September 2013)
Comunidades virtuales Breve discusión en Facebook sobre el concepto de comunidad virtual y las implicaciones que pueda tener para el compromiso político y la sociedad.
(9 Agosto 2013)
Políticas de estímulo y deuda Explicación enviada a unos amigos jubilados sobre las políticas de estímulo que se han estado aplicando en EEUU y Japón, sus limitaciones y, sobre todo, las implicaciones que pueda tener a medio y largo plazo para la deuda de esos países.
(24 y 26 Junio 2013)
US budget deficit Email to a friend reflecting upon the nature of the US budget deficit, and whether or not it is sustainable, temporary and/or a good way to stimulate the economy.
(29 January 2013)
A dialogue concerning the problem of the debt Reflections on the problem of the debt (not only the national debt, but actually the debt in general), considering some of its implications at multiple levels.
(8 July 2012)
On how Obama ended the culture wars Message sent to Sam Marino after reading an article by E.J. Dionne Jr. on The New Republic titled Church and State: How Barack Obama ended the culture wars —for now.
(5 January 2010)
Razones para la revalorización del dólar
a finales de 2008 		Correo enviado en respuesta a la pregunta que me hizo un amigo español sobre las razones que hayan podido llevar a una revalorización del dólar a finales del 2008, después de la caída experimentada durante los últimos años.
(8 Diciembre 2008)
America the Illiterate Shortly after Obama's victory in the US presidential election and in the middle of the international financial crisis, my friend Sam sent an email with a link to an article written by Chris Hedges: America the Illiterate. Here is what I had to say about the piece.
(26 November 2008)
La paz como valor absoluto Texto publicado como una nota en mi cuenta en Facebook reflexionando sobre el concepto de paz como valor absoluto, tal y como parece ser defendido por Camps y Giner en el libro Violencia: tolerancia cero (concepto con el que me muestro en desacuerdo).
(3 Agosto 2008)
The Crisis of the Middle Class First attempt to spell out a possible response to the contemporary crisis of the middle class, perhaps more perceived than real.
(1 May 2008)
Islam and Tolerance Towards Other Religions This was serendipity at its best. A day after having a conversation with my good friend Sam about Islam and its attitude towards other religions, I came across a piece published in El País about an Evangelical pastor from El Salvador who was imprisoned in Morocco for proselitism.
(26 February 2006)
Bush's wiretapping Reply to an email from Sam Marino that included a link to a Wall Street Journal editorial discussing the political scandal over Bush's wiretapping US citizens without prior court approval.
(December 2005)
Bush's anti-terrorist policies Reply to an email from Joe Cochran where he pointed me to an article by Robert Steinbeck regarding the side-effects of Bush's anti-terrorist policies.
(December 2005)
Beltway vs. Blogosphere A friend send me an article published by a political commentator who writes for Newsweek on the rift between the liberal bloggers and the Democratic leadership. Here are my thoughs on the issue.
(18 September 2005)
Hopeful about the European Union Although I told my friend Rene Madsen many times that I was feeling very excited about the prospects of the EU, I never detailed the reasons. Here they are.
(20 June 2003)
Promoting racial diversity President Bush spoke against affirmative action as applied by the University of Michigan but in favor of promoting the principle of racial diversity. But why should we, as a society, promote such principle asks a friend? Here is my answer.
(16 January 2003)
Boarding ships in the Indian Ocean and
 giving credit to US allies 		What to think when the Spanish Navy boards a boat sailing through the Indian Ocean under no flag, and the soldiers find out that the crew is North Korean and they are carrying several hidden Scud missiles? Also, do we give enough credit to the US allies?
(18 December 2002)
On Tom Tancredo's immigration policies I was asked how come that anybody who proposes to halt uncontrolled illegal immigration to the USA is automatically labeled a "racist". Here is what I had to say about it.
(27 November 2002)
US foreign policy towards China I wrote this as a reply to an email detailing how a woman and her son had been tortured in China for being Christian activists. The original email somehow insinuated that the current US foreign policy towards China is wrong because it does nothing to stop these acts.
(26 November 2002)
The myth of out of control punitive damages
in the American legal system 		Anybody who has been living in the USA has heard the stories of people who get awarded hundres of millions of dollars (if not billions) in court. Politicians use it to rally against legal lobbies that appear to support the Democrats, while conservative pundits play demagoguery with it to talk about how "out of control" American society has become and how moronic anybody who disagrees with them is. But to what extent is all this even true?
(4 November 2002)
Walter Cronkite: was the past truly always better? Here is another typical conservative jeremyad that seems to be quite successful in contemporary America: the past was always better, and up until the horrible sixties American society was healthy in all respects. Well, not so apparently.
(5 October 2002)
Political and personal attitudes Is there any connection between the way individuals approach political and personal issues? Or do they belong to two completely different spheres of our experience?
(16 August 2002)
Problems in the American educational system Tim sent me an email about the recent nationwide History tests and how the overall results were very poor. He blamed it on the time wasted on sexual education, the influence of the leftists in academia and a weak curriculum.
(15 May 2002)
Conservatism and the decline of empires How come that precisely at the moment when many empires start their slow decline towards the final crisis they also experience a strong resurgence of conservatism? That's precisely what I address in this email after I read the review of a book by Bernard Lewis.
(17 March 2002)
Linux on the desktop This is an issue I had discussed with my friend Sam a lot, and I finally decided to sit down and put together my ideas on an email.
(4 March 2002)
Spain's refusal to extradite terrorists The Spanish authorities had arrested 11 people accused of cooperating with al-Qaeda, and now there were rumors that they might not extradite them to the USA. My friend Tim accused Spain of being an accomplice.
(26 November 2001)
The Military Order of 11/13: an
unfortunate decision 		Tim sent me the complete contents of the actual military order from President Bush that established military courts to try those individuals accused of terrorism who were not American citizens. Here is my take on the document.
(14 November 2001)
Ideas for a second phase
of the military campaing in Afghanistan 		My friend Tim asked me what I would suggest as the main ideas for a second phase of the military campaing in Afghanistan once the US planes seem to have a total control of the air. Here is my reply.
(20 October 2001)
Nationalism and flags as a weapon What a surprise when my wife told me that she had received an email from one of her aunts that I needed to read! No, it wasn't a good surprise but rather a tough flashback to my days as a child in Franco's Spain.
(16 October 2001)
Addressing the ultimate causes of terrorism Another friend mentioned how he had recently read an article from Salman Rushdie arguing that the United States did not have to change its current foreign policy as a consequence of the terrorist attacks. He thought this would amount to blaming the US Government for the attacks themselves. I disagree with this position, and here I explain why.
(16 October 2001)
Responding to September 11th Barely a week after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a friend of mine asked for my opinion on how the United States should react. He wanted to know what I would tell the Presidebt if I were one of his top advisors. Here is what I had to say. It's not a theoretical piece, but rather one full of detailed descriptions of actions that should be taken.
(17 September 2001)