The big news in Europe is tomorrow's French presidential runoff election; all the surveys show Sarkozy winning with between 53% and 55% of the vote.
Royal knows she is going to lose, and so hit the panic button yesterday with some nasty Angry Left ranting against Sarko. Royal said Sarkozy was "a risk for France," "a danger to the unity of the Republic and for social peace," and "a threat to democracy."
She added, "It is my responsibility to send out an alert about the risk of (Sarkozy's) candidacy in relation with the violence and the brutality that will be touched off in the country. Everyone knows it but nobody says it; it's a sort of taboo." An interviewer asked her, "So it's you or chaos." Royal answered, "I didn't say that, but it's true." She continued, "There will be severe tensions in the country, because he has multiplied his provocations and his verbal violence, especially toward "popular" neighborhoods."
Furthermore, Royal claimed that her poor showing in the surveys is because of a plot among the party in power (the UMP), the polling companies, and the owners of the large media corporations.
This is repulsive behavior in a democratic election. You don't call your opponent undemocratic or claim if he wins the country will fall apart or threaten the voters with an outburst of violence if you lose. And you don't blame your loss on a nefarious plot by some nebulous power brokers, either. I am thoroughly disgusted with Royal, who has demonstrated that she is not a reasonable and moderate leftist but rather someone who trafficks in fear.
José María Aznar, who might have been slightly tipsy, put his foot in his mouth big-time when he told a group of wine producers, in response to the Traffic Authority's current anti-drunk driving TV commercials, that he did not need anyone to tell him how much wine he could drink before driving. How thoroughly irresponsible. 4000 people die on the roads every year in Spain and alcohol is a factor in 30% of these deaths. If Mr. Aznar wants to drink wine, that's fine with me, I drink wine too, but I don't drive. I take the Metro, or a taxi if I'm out late, which I ususlly am not. It's not particularly expensive or inconvenient, either. And if Mr. Aznar wants to promote Spanish wines, that's great too, but he should of course mention moderation in drinking at the same time. Mr. Aznar should admit he was wrong.
Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia knocked out another little Bourbon this week; it's a girl named Sonia. Big news, of course. I actually rather like the Spanish royal family. I am, of course, a small-R republican, but if we've got a democratic constitutional monarchy with a powerless King, that's effectively a republic for all practical purposes. And the Spanish royals are well-behaved and go about their business, which is mostly public relations, without causing any scandals or getting any negative publicity. They're also cheap; the State spends a few million euros a year on them, but probably gets that value back with all the PR and diplomatic work they do.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Friday, May 04, 2007
Big news today: debates. The American press seems to think that the three main Republican presidential candidates, McCain, Romney, and Giuliani, all did rather well in yesterday's debate. TV3 ran a surprisingly neutral report that was actually informative on this afternoon's news. As for the French presidential debate between Sarkozy and Royal, consensus according to La Vanguardia is that Sarkozy won and that he should defeat Royal fairly easily. A Le Figaro survey said that 53% of viewers said that Sarko was "more convincing," to only 31% for Royal.
Other French election reports: Bayrou voters said Sarkozy won by 51% to 25%. The Socialists are claiming that the Le Figaro poll was fixed, which means they know they're going to lose. Le Pen has called on his 3.8 million voters to either abstain or vote for Sarkozy. Though Bayrou has announced he will not vote for Sarkozy, 21 of his party's 29 parliamentary deputies have endorsed Sarko. Royal, in a huff, accused Sarkozy of "the height of political immorality," which played very badly with viewers--especially when her information about the education measure she called immoral turned out to be completely wrong. She also screwed up badly when Sarko said that more than 50% of French electricity is produced at nuclear plants and she corrected him, saying it was 17%. Wrong. It's 78%. Le Parisien said that Sarko won on points, but not by KO.
I dunno. I'm not a gambler, but if I were, I might put a hundred bucks down at one of those Internet sites on Sarkozy to win, whatever the odds are. Sounds like a better bet than, say, the Mavericks over the Warriors, or the Bears over the Colts.
Crisis in Cuba: Three deserters tried to hijack a plane to Florida and killed two Cuban army officers. They will, of course, be executed. Wonder if the European Left will condemn the death penalty when Castro carries it out? I don't think they have yet, since Castro's sent at least several thousand persons to the firing squad in his forty-some years in power. The regime has of course blamed the Americans.
Eusebio Val reports from Washington in La Vangua about some ridiculous lawsuit in DC, and points out that America is much too legalistic and that some suits are "dementedly disproportionate and absurdly Kafkian." He's right, I'm afraid; one of the problems of having a legal system to which people can turn for justice is that some folks are going to abuse their privilege. Still, don't toss out the whole system because a few people are gaming it; instead, block the loopholes. Especially get rid of "punitive damages" in civil court; punishment is the business of a criminal court.
Isabel Pantoja is still all over the news. I don't particularly care. Convict the crooks and jail them, as they deserve, but stop bothering me with up-to-the-minute news reports on whether she was wearing sunglasses or not as she walked out the jail door. By the way, there were a lot of reports a few years ago claiming that la Pantoja was, uh, muff-diving with radio host Encarna Sanchez and singer Maria del Monte. More proof, I suppose, that real lesbians are nothing like the ones that appear in porno flicks. (This ought to pull in a few extra visitors today; "lesbian" and "porno" always bring in the Google hits.)
This week there's been rioting in Madrid's Malasaña (which I think translates to English as "Bad Lasagna") district, as hundreds of drunken youths fought it out with the cops two nights in a row about nothing in particular. Fifty people were injured, among them police officers hit with bottles and stones. One cop had both forearm bones broken. Lock these punks up. Blowing off a little steam is one thing and vandalism and violence are completely different.
Meanwhile, the Catalan regional police killed a schizophrenic who'd gone violent and was carrying a pick and s screwdriver. This guy had twenty arrests for violent behavior, including a stabbing just a few days ago. He freaked out two nights ago and his family called the cops. He ran away and they couldn't find him until 5 AM, when he armed himself and attacked the police in front of his house, swinging the pick, and a cop shot him. The second shot hit the schizo's father in the leg. Police authorities say it's a justifiable homicide, and will take no action against the officer. The court will hold a hearing today, and will almost certainly press no charges.
That sounds like the right thing. The cop thought his life was in danger and he fired. Now let's see La Vanguardia be so fair with the next Brooklyn cop who shoots somebody he thinks is going to pull a gun. (Cop shoots man in Brooklyn. International news. Cop shoots man in Malgrat de Mar. Local news.) By the way, it's quite clear that the schizo should have been locked up for everyone's safety; much clearer, for example, than in the case of the Virginia Tech shooter.
A total of nine people were killed in the Palencia gas explosion and building collapse. Two bodies have not been recovered yet.
My neighbor Chemical Inma Mayol, Communist candidate for mayor of Barcelona and current city councillor, yesterday said, "A los okupas se los desaloja de buen rollo," which translates as something like, "When we close down a squat, we do it in a cool way." Barf.
Antena 3 is going to do a TV series in which viewers vote on "the greatest Spaniard in history." They did this in the UK, where Churchill won, and in France, where De Gaulle won. They also did it in Portugal. Oops. Longtime dictator Antonio Salazar won. Now they're worried that Franco is going to win in Spain; they've been collecting votes by telephone and on the Internet for about three weeks, and Franco is one of the top vote-getters so far. They've worked out a Plan B in case Franco does win; they're also doing a general survey of the Spanish population, and will use those results in case of a Franco landslide.
Now, of course, the call-in vote isn't scientifically valid, since it's what they call a self-selected survey; only those people who feel strongly about the question call in to vote. Many people with strong feelings about such questions are kind of nutty, so I wouldn't be surprised if Franco does win the call-in vote. There are enough wacky Spaniards nostalgic for Franco to tip the vote their way, though of course the majority of Spaniards are not pro-Franco now.
Annoy a Spanish leftist! Vote for Franco here!
(Actually, my honest vote is either Cervantes or Velázquez. I suppose Cervantes's presence at the Battle of Lepanto tips the scale his way. If the question is about the US, my vote is for Lincoln. If we're limited to the 20th century, Eisenhower.)
Other French election reports: Bayrou voters said Sarkozy won by 51% to 25%. The Socialists are claiming that the Le Figaro poll was fixed, which means they know they're going to lose. Le Pen has called on his 3.8 million voters to either abstain or vote for Sarkozy. Though Bayrou has announced he will not vote for Sarkozy, 21 of his party's 29 parliamentary deputies have endorsed Sarko. Royal, in a huff, accused Sarkozy of "the height of political immorality," which played very badly with viewers--especially when her information about the education measure she called immoral turned out to be completely wrong. She also screwed up badly when Sarko said that more than 50% of French electricity is produced at nuclear plants and she corrected him, saying it was 17%. Wrong. It's 78%. Le Parisien said that Sarko won on points, but not by KO.
I dunno. I'm not a gambler, but if I were, I might put a hundred bucks down at one of those Internet sites on Sarkozy to win, whatever the odds are. Sounds like a better bet than, say, the Mavericks over the Warriors, or the Bears over the Colts.
Crisis in Cuba: Three deserters tried to hijack a plane to Florida and killed two Cuban army officers. They will, of course, be executed. Wonder if the European Left will condemn the death penalty when Castro carries it out? I don't think they have yet, since Castro's sent at least several thousand persons to the firing squad in his forty-some years in power. The regime has of course blamed the Americans.
Eusebio Val reports from Washington in La Vangua about some ridiculous lawsuit in DC, and points out that America is much too legalistic and that some suits are "dementedly disproportionate and absurdly Kafkian." He's right, I'm afraid; one of the problems of having a legal system to which people can turn for justice is that some folks are going to abuse their privilege. Still, don't toss out the whole system because a few people are gaming it; instead, block the loopholes. Especially get rid of "punitive damages" in civil court; punishment is the business of a criminal court.
Isabel Pantoja is still all over the news. I don't particularly care. Convict the crooks and jail them, as they deserve, but stop bothering me with up-to-the-minute news reports on whether she was wearing sunglasses or not as she walked out the jail door. By the way, there were a lot of reports a few years ago claiming that la Pantoja was, uh, muff-diving with radio host Encarna Sanchez and singer Maria del Monte. More proof, I suppose, that real lesbians are nothing like the ones that appear in porno flicks. (This ought to pull in a few extra visitors today; "lesbian" and "porno" always bring in the Google hits.)
This week there's been rioting in Madrid's Malasaña (which I think translates to English as "Bad Lasagna") district, as hundreds of drunken youths fought it out with the cops two nights in a row about nothing in particular. Fifty people were injured, among them police officers hit with bottles and stones. One cop had both forearm bones broken. Lock these punks up. Blowing off a little steam is one thing and vandalism and violence are completely different.
Meanwhile, the Catalan regional police killed a schizophrenic who'd gone violent and was carrying a pick and s screwdriver. This guy had twenty arrests for violent behavior, including a stabbing just a few days ago. He freaked out two nights ago and his family called the cops. He ran away and they couldn't find him until 5 AM, when he armed himself and attacked the police in front of his house, swinging the pick, and a cop shot him. The second shot hit the schizo's father in the leg. Police authorities say it's a justifiable homicide, and will take no action against the officer. The court will hold a hearing today, and will almost certainly press no charges.
That sounds like the right thing. The cop thought his life was in danger and he fired. Now let's see La Vanguardia be so fair with the next Brooklyn cop who shoots somebody he thinks is going to pull a gun. (Cop shoots man in Brooklyn. International news. Cop shoots man in Malgrat de Mar. Local news.) By the way, it's quite clear that the schizo should have been locked up for everyone's safety; much clearer, for example, than in the case of the Virginia Tech shooter.
A total of nine people were killed in the Palencia gas explosion and building collapse. Two bodies have not been recovered yet.
My neighbor Chemical Inma Mayol, Communist candidate for mayor of Barcelona and current city councillor, yesterday said, "A los okupas se los desaloja de buen rollo," which translates as something like, "When we close down a squat, we do it in a cool way." Barf.
Antena 3 is going to do a TV series in which viewers vote on "the greatest Spaniard in history." They did this in the UK, where Churchill won, and in France, where De Gaulle won. They also did it in Portugal. Oops. Longtime dictator Antonio Salazar won. Now they're worried that Franco is going to win in Spain; they've been collecting votes by telephone and on the Internet for about three weeks, and Franco is one of the top vote-getters so far. They've worked out a Plan B in case Franco does win; they're also doing a general survey of the Spanish population, and will use those results in case of a Franco landslide.
Now, of course, the call-in vote isn't scientifically valid, since it's what they call a self-selected survey; only those people who feel strongly about the question call in to vote. Many people with strong feelings about such questions are kind of nutty, so I wouldn't be surprised if Franco does win the call-in vote. There are enough wacky Spaniards nostalgic for Franco to tip the vote their way, though of course the majority of Spaniards are not pro-Franco now.
Annoy a Spanish leftist! Vote for Franco here!
(Actually, my honest vote is either Cervantes or Velázquez. I suppose Cervantes's presence at the Battle of Lepanto tips the scale his way. If the question is about the US, my vote is for Lincoln. If we're limited to the 20th century, Eisenhower.)
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Big news from here: Isabel Pantoja was arrested and spent the night in jail for her involvement in a money-laundering scheme. She is sort of the Spanish equivalent of a cross between Dolly Parton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbra Streisand. Seems that la Pantoja was holding large amounts of undeclared cash. She made €90,000 bail this afternoon after testifying at a hearing.
Her, uh, romantic companion, the former mayor of Marbella Julián Muñoz, was the brains of the operation. Muñoz has been in jail without bail since October, along with several other people. José María González de Caldas, the bullfight promoter and ex-president of FC Sevilla, is out on €50,000 bail. Some 100 people have been implicated in this scandal, which the Spanish press has named "the Malaya case," related to illegal rezoning, unlicensed construction, kickbacks, bribery, abuse of power, and general wide-open corruption involving pretty much everybody who has ever been within five miles of Marbella. Literally billions of euros are involved; these weasels massively outscammed traditional organized crime, who probably don't rake in a quarter of the cash involved here.
This was the lead story in every newspaper and on the TV3 afternoon news.
This mess is, of course, the legacy of crooked gangster Jesús Gil, who ran Marbella like Pendergast ran Kansas City until he happily croaked off a couple of years ago. Now Zap is somehow trying to blame it on the PP, which is ridiculous because the PP had nothing to do with Gil and his ring of chorizos. His argument is that Gil's corruption went on under eight years of the Aznar government. Yeah, and it went on under how many years of Felipe's government? And what exactly can a prime minister do about a corrupt mayor who is of a different party?
By the way, la Pantoja, though she is the personification of poor taste and showbiz sleaze, is not a danger to society, and neither is her ex-boyfriend. I don't know why Muñoz and some of his compinches are locked up without bail while De Juana Chaos is walking the streets.
Remember the guy who wrote the xenophobic letter to La Vanguardia a week ago about the Chinese shops in his neighborhood? He's back.
The first graffiti against Chinese shops has already appeared in my neighborhood, and it won't be the last. We have been complaining for a long time about the problem in the Plaza Tetuán-Arco de Triunfo area of the exaggerated proliferation of Chinese businesses.
Our shops that have been here forever cannot compete with the very high prices that the Chinese businessmen pay. We residents think there is something strange behind this: it is not normal that they can pay astronomical leases and then keep the shops open almost without customers. I have the feeling that this is going to turn into racism and our politicians are not doing anything to stop it.
(signed)
R. Pérez Maldonado
Barcelona
Comments: 1) Mr. Pérez Maldonado is certainly doing everything he can to turn the situation into racism. 2) Chinese businessmen, not being stupid, do not pay higher prices than any other kind of businessman. 3) Mr. Pérez Maldonado's grandparents were most likely not born in Catalonia, based on his surnames, so it's a little rich that he's complaining about other immigrants now. 4) This guy is obviously a major asshole and certainly does not represent everybody in Barcelona.
Her, uh, romantic companion, the former mayor of Marbella Julián Muñoz, was the brains of the operation. Muñoz has been in jail without bail since October, along with several other people. José María González de Caldas, the bullfight promoter and ex-president of FC Sevilla, is out on €50,000 bail. Some 100 people have been implicated in this scandal, which the Spanish press has named "the Malaya case," related to illegal rezoning, unlicensed construction, kickbacks, bribery, abuse of power, and general wide-open corruption involving pretty much everybody who has ever been within five miles of Marbella. Literally billions of euros are involved; these weasels massively outscammed traditional organized crime, who probably don't rake in a quarter of the cash involved here.
This was the lead story in every newspaper and on the TV3 afternoon news.
This mess is, of course, the legacy of crooked gangster Jesús Gil, who ran Marbella like Pendergast ran Kansas City until he happily croaked off a couple of years ago. Now Zap is somehow trying to blame it on the PP, which is ridiculous because the PP had nothing to do with Gil and his ring of chorizos. His argument is that Gil's corruption went on under eight years of the Aznar government. Yeah, and it went on under how many years of Felipe's government? And what exactly can a prime minister do about a corrupt mayor who is of a different party?
By the way, la Pantoja, though she is the personification of poor taste and showbiz sleaze, is not a danger to society, and neither is her ex-boyfriend. I don't know why Muñoz and some of his compinches are locked up without bail while De Juana Chaos is walking the streets.
Remember the guy who wrote the xenophobic letter to La Vanguardia a week ago about the Chinese shops in his neighborhood? He's back.
The first graffiti against Chinese shops has already appeared in my neighborhood, and it won't be the last. We have been complaining for a long time about the problem in the Plaza Tetuán-Arco de Triunfo area of the exaggerated proliferation of Chinese businesses.
Our shops that have been here forever cannot compete with the very high prices that the Chinese businessmen pay. We residents think there is something strange behind this: it is not normal that they can pay astronomical leases and then keep the shops open almost without customers. I have the feeling that this is going to turn into racism and our politicians are not doing anything to stop it.
(signed)
R. Pérez Maldonado
Barcelona
Comments: 1) Mr. Pérez Maldonado is certainly doing everything he can to turn the situation into racism. 2) Chinese businessmen, not being stupid, do not pay higher prices than any other kind of businessman. 3) Mr. Pérez Maldonado's grandparents were most likely not born in Catalonia, based on his surnames, so it's a little rich that he's complaining about other immigrants now. 4) This guy is obviously a major asshole and certainly does not represent everybody in Barcelona.
Remember, I announced the Trilingual Barcelona Blog Reunion for this evening at the Café Flanders on Plaza Rovira i Trias in Gràcia. I got no answers in the Comments section, so I have no idea whether anyone is coming. However, I will be there between about 7 PM and 8:30 or so just to see if anyone shows up. I'll be the guy in the gray sweater with brown shortish hair, a beard, and black-framed glasses sitting behind a bottle of Estrella.
Here's Nation Master's collection of mortality statistics; remember I promised to look up comparative domestic accident death rates, and found a lot more. Looks like here they've got rankings of almost everything.
Just a few examples (all statistics deaths per 1 million people per year, as of 2004):
Alcoholic liver disease: 1. Hungary 498; 6. Germany 127; 17. US 41; 30. Spain 27; 44. UK 14.
Assault with sharp object: 1. Colombia 72; 36. US 6; 44. Spain 4; 52. Germany 2; 56. UK 1.
Assault with handgun: 1. Dominican Republic 16; 8. US 4; Spain, Germany, UK all less than 1.
Car occupant collision with another car: 1. Hungary 39; 6. Spain 27; 15. US 17; 26. Japan 8; 30. Germany 6; 37. UK 1.
Diarrhea and gastroenteritis, presumed infectious: 1. South Africa 178; 27. Japan 8; 30. Spain 6; 37. Germany 2; US and UK less than 1.
Drowning: 1. Latvia 138; 10. Japan 63; 47. Spain 20; 50. US 15; 53. Germany 13; 61. UK 2.
Motorcyclist, collision with car: 1. Bahamas 13; 3. Japan 7; 10. Spain 5; 20. Germany 3; 21. US 3; 39. UK less than 1.
Obesity: 1. Austria 27; 5. US 10; 7. Germany 8; 8. Spain 8; Japan and UK less than 1.
Self-harm: 1. Lithuania 417; 7. Japan 215; 20. Germany 112; 27. US 82; 30. Spain 77; 57. UK 7.
Remarks: Looks like you're more likely to be murdered in the US and more likely to die in a road accident in Spain. You're about as likely to die of infectious diarrhea or gastroenteritis in Spain as you are to be shot with a handgun in the US. And what do people in the UK die of? Looks like we have to take these figures with a shaker or two of salt, too, since different countries obviously use different standards when they classify causes of death.
Conclusion: When you start to take many factors into account, and considering that our figures are not completely reliable, it's difficult to say that Country X is more dangerous than Country Y. Probably the best indicator of how likely you are to die in one place rather than another is life expectancy, and all Western countries are between about 75 and 81 years. That is, if you're Spanish and you go to the States for a year, or to Japan, or to England, your probability of dying during that time is most likely nearly exactly your probability of dying if you'd stayed in Spain during that year.
Just a few examples (all statistics deaths per 1 million people per year, as of 2004):
Alcoholic liver disease: 1. Hungary 498; 6. Germany 127; 17. US 41; 30. Spain 27; 44. UK 14.
Assault with sharp object: 1. Colombia 72; 36. US 6; 44. Spain 4; 52. Germany 2; 56. UK 1.
Assault with handgun: 1. Dominican Republic 16; 8. US 4; Spain, Germany, UK all less than 1.
Car occupant collision with another car: 1. Hungary 39; 6. Spain 27; 15. US 17; 26. Japan 8; 30. Germany 6; 37. UK 1.
Diarrhea and gastroenteritis, presumed infectious: 1. South Africa 178; 27. Japan 8; 30. Spain 6; 37. Germany 2; US and UK less than 1.
Drowning: 1. Latvia 138; 10. Japan 63; 47. Spain 20; 50. US 15; 53. Germany 13; 61. UK 2.
Motorcyclist, collision with car: 1. Bahamas 13; 3. Japan 7; 10. Spain 5; 20. Germany 3; 21. US 3; 39. UK less than 1.
Obesity: 1. Austria 27; 5. US 10; 7. Germany 8; 8. Spain 8; Japan and UK less than 1.
Self-harm: 1. Lithuania 417; 7. Japan 215; 20. Germany 112; 27. US 82; 30. Spain 77; 57. UK 7.
Remarks: Looks like you're more likely to be murdered in the US and more likely to die in a road accident in Spain. You're about as likely to die of infectious diarrhea or gastroenteritis in Spain as you are to be shot with a handgun in the US. And what do people in the UK die of? Looks like we have to take these figures with a shaker or two of salt, too, since different countries obviously use different standards when they classify causes of death.
Conclusion: When you start to take many factors into account, and considering that our figures are not completely reliable, it's difficult to say that Country X is more dangerous than Country Y. Probably the best indicator of how likely you are to die in one place rather than another is life expectancy, and all Western countries are between about 75 and 81 years. That is, if you're Spanish and you go to the States for a year, or to Japan, or to England, your probability of dying during that time is most likely nearly exactly your probability of dying if you'd stayed in Spain during that year.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Definitely go read this (long) piece by Alvaro Vargas Llosa in Foreign Policy on what he calls Latin American idiots--that is, Chavez-style populist / nationalist caudillos.
La Vangua interviews some American diet doctor who says the US diet is the least healthy in the world. I doubt it, since American life expectancy is about 78 years, about the same as the UK and Germany, and slightly higher than Ireland, Denmark, and Portugal, while Russia's is 67. Also, there is no country with anywhere near America's size and diversity that ranks higher. In addition, in this list of percentage of population suffering undernourishment, the US does not appear. Such countries as Brazil, China, Russia, Mexico, and India do.
Now, it is very easy to eat a rotten diet in the US, Hamburger Helper and boxed generic macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza and Hardee's triple bacon cheeseburgers. However, all supermarkets sell a wide variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, and dairy products, not to mention your staples like beans, rice, corn or sunflower oil, and flour, and your reasonably healthy processed foods like Raisin Bran and canned corn and peanut butter and hot dogs.
Speaking of health: If we really want to launch a campaign against lies and deception on the web, this site, the 24th-ranked blog in the TTLB ecosystem, ought to be target number one. Check out the credentials of the person running it:
About Me
Welcome! I am a Certified Aromatherapist, Reiki Master, Dr. of Reflexology, Holistic Health Practitioner and Master Herbalist. I also hold certifications in homeopathy, color/crystal therapy and sound therapy. I hope you find the Holistic Health Information on this site to be of help to you. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions, need assistance or have an herbal or essential oil recipe to share!
How totally bogus.
More wackiness: Some people at the La Caixa offices on the Diagonal have been complaining about something called semicircular lipoatrophy on their thighs, which they claim is caused by "static electricity." Yeah, right. Links to stuff that looks scientific here, here, here, or here. They all say that 1) the causes are unknown, but likely involve pressure or injury to the thighs, and 2) it's benign.
La Vangua interviews some American diet doctor who says the US diet is the least healthy in the world. I doubt it, since American life expectancy is about 78 years, about the same as the UK and Germany, and slightly higher than Ireland, Denmark, and Portugal, while Russia's is 67. Also, there is no country with anywhere near America's size and diversity that ranks higher. In addition, in this list of percentage of population suffering undernourishment, the US does not appear. Such countries as Brazil, China, Russia, Mexico, and India do.
Now, it is very easy to eat a rotten diet in the US, Hamburger Helper and boxed generic macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza and Hardee's triple bacon cheeseburgers. However, all supermarkets sell a wide variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, and dairy products, not to mention your staples like beans, rice, corn or sunflower oil, and flour, and your reasonably healthy processed foods like Raisin Bran and canned corn and peanut butter and hot dogs.
Speaking of health: If we really want to launch a campaign against lies and deception on the web, this site, the 24th-ranked blog in the TTLB ecosystem, ought to be target number one. Check out the credentials of the person running it:
About Me
Welcome! I am a Certified Aromatherapist, Reiki Master, Dr. of Reflexology, Holistic Health Practitioner and Master Herbalist. I also hold certifications in homeopathy, color/crystal therapy and sound therapy. I hope you find the Holistic Health Information on this site to be of help to you. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions, need assistance or have an herbal or essential oil recipe to share!
How totally bogus.
More wackiness: Some people at the La Caixa offices on the Diagonal have been complaining about something called semicircular lipoatrophy on their thighs, which they claim is caused by "static electricity." Yeah, right. Links to stuff that looks scientific here, here, here, or here. They all say that 1) the causes are unknown, but likely involve pressure or injury to the thighs, and 2) it's benign.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Libertad Digital has a list of building collapses in Spain since 2000. It's pretty long. I'll bet more people are killed by collapsing buildings in Spain than by spree shooters in the US.
A few excerpts:
June 28, 2000: Three killed as building collapses in Esparreguera, Barcelona province, after a propane gas explosion.
March 7, 2001: One dead when building collapses in Madrid, possibly because of construction work on ground floor.
January 17, 2002: Old building in Zaragoza collapses, killing one.
March 16, 2002: Two killed when building collapses in Valencia. Possible cause: aluminosis.
June 3, 2002: Two killed when 1960s building collapses in L'Hospitalet, Barcelona province.
April 4, 2003: One killed when old building collapses in Orense.
August 14, 2003: Gas explosion and building collapse kill four, injure 30 in Sevilla.
November 9, 2004: House collapses, kills man in Cádiz.
February 3, 2005: Two killed as gas explosion causes building collapse in Lleída.
November 10, 2005: Five killed when old building collapses in Piera, Barcelona province.
August 3, 2006: Two die in gas explosion, building collapse in Alicante.
February 21, 2007: House collapses, kills two in Córdoba.
A few excerpts:
June 28, 2000: Three killed as building collapses in Esparreguera, Barcelona province, after a propane gas explosion.
March 7, 2001: One dead when building collapses in Madrid, possibly because of construction work on ground floor.
January 17, 2002: Old building in Zaragoza collapses, killing one.
March 16, 2002: Two killed when building collapses in Valencia. Possible cause: aluminosis.
June 3, 2002: Two killed when 1960s building collapses in L'Hospitalet, Barcelona province.
April 4, 2003: One killed when old building collapses in Orense.
August 14, 2003: Gas explosion and building collapse kill four, injure 30 in Sevilla.
November 9, 2004: House collapses, kills man in Cádiz.
February 3, 2005: Two killed as gas explosion causes building collapse in Lleída.
November 10, 2005: Five killed when old building collapses in Piera, Barcelona province.
August 3, 2006: Two die in gas explosion, building collapse in Alicante.
February 21, 2007: House collapses, kills two in Córdoba.
It's May 1, International Communist Day, and so we don't have to go to work. When I came over here twenty years ago, Mayday was still a big deal; they had big old parades and demonstrations and stuff. After the Soviet Union folded, Mayday lost importance, probably due to a loss of Soviet funding (yes, the Spanish Communist Party and the PSUC were both financed by Moscow), and now nobody pays any attention at all.
In fact, we should probably start a movement to get Mayday kicked off the holidays list, and add something like Sant Jordi. The way it works in Spain is that there are 10 national holidays (New Year's; Reyes; Good Friday; Mayday; the Assumption of the Virgin (August 15); Columbus Day (often called "la Virgen del Pilar", October 12); All Souls' Day (November 1); Constitution Day (December 6); the Immaculate Conception (December 8); and Christmas. Note that there are two days dedicated to the Virgin, and three if you count Oct. 12.) Then your region gets to set four days, which in Catalonia are Easter Monday, Saint John's on June 24, the Catalan National Day on September 11, and St. Stephen's on December 26. Your city gets to set one, which in Barcelona is la Virgen de la Mercè, September 23.
Down with Mayday! Make Sant Jordi a holiday!
Meanwhile, a building collapsed in the old city of Palencia this morning, and it looks like a major tragedy. The trigger was a gas explosion. At least six people are dead and several more are missing, with 15 more injured people in the hospital. This happens occasionally in Spain, old, poorly constructed buildings coming down, often set off by a gas explosion, which in turn is often set off by an electrical fire. This one was about 50-60 years old, they said. Spain has a modern building code and inspectors and all that, but there are still a lot of older buildings that don't meet today's safety standards, especially not the electrical wiring. We had to rewire the last place we rented; the electrician told us that the wiring was original, and that the building dated from the '30s. We also have to rewire the house in Vallfogona, which of course was built before electricity, and so has a real primitive wiring job, a total chapuza when it was installed back in the sixties or whenever and actively dangerous now.
Pasqual Maragall is apparently going to bolt the Socialist Party. He's pissed off that the deal that Zapatero cut with Artur Mas of CiU to get the Catalan statute passed by the Spanish parliament included his own defenestration as regional premier. Therefore, he lashed out at the Zap-Mas statute, calling it "not worth the effort." Maragall is trying to float something called the European Democratic Party, which would apparently be something like the American Democrats. He is trying to recruit "centrists" in Italy and France to join in the fun. This will go nowhere.
Feature stories about the US in La Vanguardia: Eusebio Val has a lightweight Sunday piece on the deer problem in the US. He mentions that one thing Spaniards often like about the US: "American life may surprise a European by the intense sensation of nature that one feels even inside large urban areas," mentioning squirrels and rabbits and such critters. Here in Barcelona there are no critters but rats, pigeons, and a few other birds, and there aren't that many of them out in the country, either.
Andy Robinson is all pissed off that rich people in Manhattan can afford expensive organic food but working-class people in Nebraska shop at Wal-Mart. He points out that many people in Nebraska are fat, and that a lot of food sold at Wal-Mart is processed crap. Of course, many people in Catalonia are fat, and a lot of the food sold at my local Caprabo and Dia is processed crap, too. Some of the canned meat products Dia sells wouldn't pass for human consumption in the US, and my cats won't eat them, either. 52.7% of Spanish adults are either overweight or obese, which means that rather than eating the "Mediterranean diet," they eat the frozen-lasagna-and-beer diet.
(To be fair: It's generally easier and cheaper to eat well in Spain than in the US, especially if you do most of your own cooking, and very especially if you actually like the "Mediterranean diet". Note that word "generally," as you can also eat extremely badly in Spain. Important exception: Non-Mediterranean ethnic restaurants are generally better in the US.)
I've noticed that the Antena 3 evening news seems to be rather more populist than TV1 or TV3, and it runs a lot of good film footage even if the story's not too important. Where do they get this footage? US local news. They run stories about four-alarm fires in Chicago and tornadoes in Texas and bank robberies in California and the like, since US local news always has a crew wherever anything happens. (Spanish news generally doesn't. They always show up when the riot is already over.) Antena 3 viewers are shown a portrait of American life that is much more--exciting, shall I say--than it really is.
In fact, we should probably start a movement to get Mayday kicked off the holidays list, and add something like Sant Jordi. The way it works in Spain is that there are 10 national holidays (New Year's; Reyes; Good Friday; Mayday; the Assumption of the Virgin (August 15); Columbus Day (often called "la Virgen del Pilar", October 12); All Souls' Day (November 1); Constitution Day (December 6); the Immaculate Conception (December 8); and Christmas. Note that there are two days dedicated to the Virgin, and three if you count Oct. 12.) Then your region gets to set four days, which in Catalonia are Easter Monday, Saint John's on June 24, the Catalan National Day on September 11, and St. Stephen's on December 26. Your city gets to set one, which in Barcelona is la Virgen de la Mercè, September 23.
Down with Mayday! Make Sant Jordi a holiday!
Meanwhile, a building collapsed in the old city of Palencia this morning, and it looks like a major tragedy. The trigger was a gas explosion. At least six people are dead and several more are missing, with 15 more injured people in the hospital. This happens occasionally in Spain, old, poorly constructed buildings coming down, often set off by a gas explosion, which in turn is often set off by an electrical fire. This one was about 50-60 years old, they said. Spain has a modern building code and inspectors and all that, but there are still a lot of older buildings that don't meet today's safety standards, especially not the electrical wiring. We had to rewire the last place we rented; the electrician told us that the wiring was original, and that the building dated from the '30s. We also have to rewire the house in Vallfogona, which of course was built before electricity, and so has a real primitive wiring job, a total chapuza when it was installed back in the sixties or whenever and actively dangerous now.
Pasqual Maragall is apparently going to bolt the Socialist Party. He's pissed off that the deal that Zapatero cut with Artur Mas of CiU to get the Catalan statute passed by the Spanish parliament included his own defenestration as regional premier. Therefore, he lashed out at the Zap-Mas statute, calling it "not worth the effort." Maragall is trying to float something called the European Democratic Party, which would apparently be something like the American Democrats. He is trying to recruit "centrists" in Italy and France to join in the fun. This will go nowhere.
Feature stories about the US in La Vanguardia: Eusebio Val has a lightweight Sunday piece on the deer problem in the US. He mentions that one thing Spaniards often like about the US: "American life may surprise a European by the intense sensation of nature that one feels even inside large urban areas," mentioning squirrels and rabbits and such critters. Here in Barcelona there are no critters but rats, pigeons, and a few other birds, and there aren't that many of them out in the country, either.
Andy Robinson is all pissed off that rich people in Manhattan can afford expensive organic food but working-class people in Nebraska shop at Wal-Mart. He points out that many people in Nebraska are fat, and that a lot of food sold at Wal-Mart is processed crap. Of course, many people in Catalonia are fat, and a lot of the food sold at my local Caprabo and Dia is processed crap, too. Some of the canned meat products Dia sells wouldn't pass for human consumption in the US, and my cats won't eat them, either. 52.7% of Spanish adults are either overweight or obese, which means that rather than eating the "Mediterranean diet," they eat the frozen-lasagna-and-beer diet.
(To be fair: It's generally easier and cheaper to eat well in Spain than in the US, especially if you do most of your own cooking, and very especially if you actually like the "Mediterranean diet". Note that word "generally," as you can also eat extremely badly in Spain. Important exception: Non-Mediterranean ethnic restaurants are generally better in the US.)
I've noticed that the Antena 3 evening news seems to be rather more populist than TV1 or TV3, and it runs a lot of good film footage even if the story's not too important. Where do they get this footage? US local news. They run stories about four-alarm fires in Chicago and tornadoes in Texas and bank robberies in California and the like, since US local news always has a crew wherever anything happens. (Spanish news generally doesn't. They always show up when the riot is already over.) Antena 3 viewers are shown a portrait of American life that is much more--exciting, shall I say--than it really is.
Monday, April 30, 2007
We haven't had a blog roundup for a week or so, so let's do one.
¡No Pasarán! has a whack at the EU; also look for many smaller posts on the French election. Eursoc, meanwhile, carves up François Bayrou. By the way, Barcelona's own huge egotist, Pasqual Maragall, is trying to float some kind of international Euro-progressive party that would include Bayrou. I'll believe that when I see it.
Angie Schultz neatly disposes of an anti-gun-nut.
The Big Chorizo has a good roundup of links on what he's calling the Spanish real-estate crash, along with some opinions. Ibex Salad has more.
Playing Chess with the Dead is keeping up with the Madrid bombings trial, and has all the details.
Pave France toasts cowardly French policy in Afghanistan. There's a lot more here, so check it out.
Akaky is one of the best satirists in the blogosphere.
The Brussels Journal scalds hypocritical Euro-Greens.
Colin Davies has a three-year compilation of his posts on the EU.
Expat Yank blasts a lousy BBC piece that fails to explain anti-Americanism around the world.
LA-Madrid Files has more on America-bashing reactions to the Virginia Tech murders.
Guirilandia rambles about contemporary Barcelona, and includes a photo of a typical chapuza. He's also got a hilarious post about the dumbest hash dealer in Catalonia.
Notes from Madrid gives some anti-pickpocket safety advice, along with a first-person story.
¡No Pasarán! has a whack at the EU; also look for many smaller posts on the French election. Eursoc, meanwhile, carves up François Bayrou. By the way, Barcelona's own huge egotist, Pasqual Maragall, is trying to float some kind of international Euro-progressive party that would include Bayrou. I'll believe that when I see it.
Angie Schultz neatly disposes of an anti-gun-nut.
The Big Chorizo has a good roundup of links on what he's calling the Spanish real-estate crash, along with some opinions. Ibex Salad has more.
Playing Chess with the Dead is keeping up with the Madrid bombings trial, and has all the details.
Pave France toasts cowardly French policy in Afghanistan. There's a lot more here, so check it out.
Akaky is one of the best satirists in the blogosphere.
The Brussels Journal scalds hypocritical Euro-Greens.
Colin Davies has a three-year compilation of his posts on the EU.
Expat Yank blasts a lousy BBC piece that fails to explain anti-Americanism around the world.
LA-Madrid Files has more on America-bashing reactions to the Virginia Tech murders.
Guirilandia rambles about contemporary Barcelona, and includes a photo of a typical chapuza. He's also got a hilarious post about the dumbest hash dealer in Catalonia.
Notes from Madrid gives some anti-pickpocket safety advice, along with a first-person story.
At least three people were killed in a shooting incident at the Ward Parkway shopping mall in Kansas City yesterday. This one strikes a bit close to home, since Ward Parkway is about a mile and a half from my parents' house near 91st and Lee in Leawood. (The mall is between 85th and 89th streets, Ward Parkway, and State Line Road.) We shop at the Target, buy gas at the gas station, and bank at one of the banks there; I bought my first pair of track spikes at the mall in about 1982, and in high school we used to go to the movies there.
Not that I'm worried. Mass shooting incidents are so rare in the US that you're much more likely to be killed in a car wreck on your way to the mall than at the mall itself. If you're going to be murdered in Kansas City, you are most likely a gang member, a prostitute, or a domestic violence case, not a random victim. Speaking of which, there is a serial killer operating in KC murdering prostitutes along the Independence Avenue strip; the bodies turn up in the Missouri River. Catching this guy, a known threat to humanity, and giving him the injection, ought to be a bigger priority than taking steps to stop random shootings, which are completely unpredictable and very rare. KC has had several serial killers within the last 20 years, including Bob Berdella and John Robinson; much more worrying than crazy Michael Douglas guys with assault rifles. And if we really want to stop the kind of crime that hurts the poor the most, we should bust up the gangs and legalize drugs. Finally, we need to be much stricter about jailing men who abuse women, since they probably commit more acts of violence against the defenseless than anyone else. We can actually prevent murders by sticking these bullies where they belong, behind bars.
However, none of this stuff ever makes the news outside the US. TV3 ran the Ward Parkway shootings as their top world story, and it's one of La Vanguardia's five international stories and--get this--El Periódico's top international story, on their websites right now. I dunno. Some nut shoots three people at a mall in Missouri and it's bigger than Afghanistan and Iraq and Darfur and the Congo and Russia and Somalia and Iran.
Not that I'm worried. Mass shooting incidents are so rare in the US that you're much more likely to be killed in a car wreck on your way to the mall than at the mall itself. If you're going to be murdered in Kansas City, you are most likely a gang member, a prostitute, or a domestic violence case, not a random victim. Speaking of which, there is a serial killer operating in KC murdering prostitutes along the Independence Avenue strip; the bodies turn up in the Missouri River. Catching this guy, a known threat to humanity, and giving him the injection, ought to be a bigger priority than taking steps to stop random shootings, which are completely unpredictable and very rare. KC has had several serial killers within the last 20 years, including Bob Berdella and John Robinson; much more worrying than crazy Michael Douglas guys with assault rifles. And if we really want to stop the kind of crime that hurts the poor the most, we should bust up the gangs and legalize drugs. Finally, we need to be much stricter about jailing men who abuse women, since they probably commit more acts of violence against the defenseless than anyone else. We can actually prevent murders by sticking these bullies where they belong, behind bars.
However, none of this stuff ever makes the news outside the US. TV3 ran the Ward Parkway shootings as their top world story, and it's one of La Vanguardia's five international stories and--get this--El Periódico's top international story, on their websites right now. I dunno. Some nut shoots three people at a mall in Missouri and it's bigger than Afghanistan and Iraq and Darfur and the Congo and Russia and Somalia and Iran.
Friday, April 27, 2007
The story below about Mr. Martinez, the drunk truck driver, exemplifies several words that are important if one wants to understand the Spanish character, especially in its working-class version.
Machismo: Many Spanish men just naturally assume that there is a masculine code they must live up to. Among other things, men should be able to handle a couple of wimpy copas of brandy before work in the morning.
Cojones: What every macho Spaniard has a big brass pair of. "Porque me sale de los cojones": Just because I feel like it.
Chulería: A chulo just naturally assumes that he can do anything he wants and the hell with everybody else.
Marica: Homosexual, faggot. Men who are not sufficiently macho or chulo are always at risk of being called maricas.
Bajarse del burro: Literally, "to get down off your donkey." Something like "climb down" in English. To admit you were wrong. No macho, chulo Spaniard ever gets down off his burro.
Fantasma: Literally, "ghost." A fantasma is a person who will claim that obviously false things are true in order to back up his machismo.
Chapucería: A chapuza is a half-ass job, done both incompetently and carelessly. Spaniards are not lazy. Many of them are chapuceros, though.
Cachondeo: Ridiculous absurdity. The idea that a lawyer can plead his client not guilty of drunk driving on the grounds he is an alcoholic, for example.
"Vuelve usted mañana": Literally, "Come back tomorrow." You hear this both from bureaucrats and the private sector. Example: Letting a guy rack up six drunk driving arrests before you get around to taking him to court.
Note: One must keep in mind that different countries have different national mottoes, such as "Vive la France," "Deutschland über Alles," or "Rule Britannia." Spain's national motto is "We Laugh at Death."
Machismo: Many Spanish men just naturally assume that there is a masculine code they must live up to. Among other things, men should be able to handle a couple of wimpy copas of brandy before work in the morning.
Cojones: What every macho Spaniard has a big brass pair of. "Porque me sale de los cojones": Just because I feel like it.
Chulería: A chulo just naturally assumes that he can do anything he wants and the hell with everybody else.
Marica: Homosexual, faggot. Men who are not sufficiently macho or chulo are always at risk of being called maricas.
Bajarse del burro: Literally, "to get down off your donkey." Something like "climb down" in English. To admit you were wrong. No macho, chulo Spaniard ever gets down off his burro.
Fantasma: Literally, "ghost." A fantasma is a person who will claim that obviously false things are true in order to back up his machismo.
Chapucería: A chapuza is a half-ass job, done both incompetently and carelessly. Spaniards are not lazy. Many of them are chapuceros, though.
Cachondeo: Ridiculous absurdity. The idea that a lawyer can plead his client not guilty of drunk driving on the grounds he is an alcoholic, for example.
"Vuelve usted mañana": Literally, "Come back tomorrow." You hear this both from bureaucrats and the private sector. Example: Letting a guy rack up six drunk driving arrests before you get around to taking him to court.
Note: One must keep in mind that different countries have different national mottoes, such as "Vive la France," "Deutschland über Alles," or "Rule Britannia." Spain's national motto is "We Laugh at Death."
Thursday, April 26, 2007
El Periódico reports that a gentleman named Antonio Martínez, truck driver by profession, was arrested on the morning of April 7 in the town of Mont-roig del Camp after police noticed him weaving. He blew 0.53, more than three times the legal limit of 0.15. Officers testified that he smelled of alcohol, could not walk a straight line, and could not speak clearly.
So far, so good. This happens everywhere all the time.
Mr. Martinez was transporting 14 tanks of propane and 70 tanks of butane on his truck when arrested.
Whoa. This is a bit unusual. I still suppose it could happen just about anywhere but a Germanic country or some place like Singapore.
He told the court that he normally had two drinks with breakfast, two drinks with lunch, and "four or five" beers after work, and that the day of his arrest he had been drinking between 4 and 6 AM before beginning work. Mr. Martínez has been arrested six times and convicted twice for drunk driving; the second conviction occurred April 4, only three days before his arrest in Mont-roig.
It's getting worse. Getting regularly hammered at 4 AM before transporting explosive gas in a truck would be rather unusual even in, say, southeastern Oklahoma.
Mr. Martínez did not actually lose his drivers license until his second conviction. In this case, the prosecutor is asking for a six-month jail sentence, which he will actually have to serve as it will be a third conviction, along with a license suspension of 3 1/2 years and an €6500 fine. Mr. Martínez's lawyer is asking for him to be acquitted on the ground that he is an alcoholic, which under Spanish law is an extenuating circumstance; the lawyer has also asked that Mr. Martínez, should he be convicted, be sent to rehab instead of jail.
Either of the two punishments would be extremely lenient anywhere else in the First World, but I'm still willing to admit that something of the sort just might happen in, say, Italy or Greece.
However, Mr. Martínez rejected the possibility of rehab and said he would prefer to go to jail, thereby surprising his own lawyer, when he told the court, "I am not an alcoholic and therefore I don't think I should submit to a rehab program." He added that he was not drunk, but rather "en condiciones," on the day of his arrest, and as evidence stated that he had already delivered 13 tanks on the morning of April 7. Mr. Martínez further declared that he "had been driving for 15 years and never had an accident," and that "I don't have a problem with alcohol. My hands don't tremble."
Only in Spain.
So far, so good. This happens everywhere all the time.
Mr. Martinez was transporting 14 tanks of propane and 70 tanks of butane on his truck when arrested.
Whoa. This is a bit unusual. I still suppose it could happen just about anywhere but a Germanic country or some place like Singapore.
He told the court that he normally had two drinks with breakfast, two drinks with lunch, and "four or five" beers after work, and that the day of his arrest he had been drinking between 4 and 6 AM before beginning work. Mr. Martínez has been arrested six times and convicted twice for drunk driving; the second conviction occurred April 4, only three days before his arrest in Mont-roig.
It's getting worse. Getting regularly hammered at 4 AM before transporting explosive gas in a truck would be rather unusual even in, say, southeastern Oklahoma.
Mr. Martínez did not actually lose his drivers license until his second conviction. In this case, the prosecutor is asking for a six-month jail sentence, which he will actually have to serve as it will be a third conviction, along with a license suspension of 3 1/2 years and an €6500 fine. Mr. Martínez's lawyer is asking for him to be acquitted on the ground that he is an alcoholic, which under Spanish law is an extenuating circumstance; the lawyer has also asked that Mr. Martínez, should he be convicted, be sent to rehab instead of jail.
Either of the two punishments would be extremely lenient anywhere else in the First World, but I'm still willing to admit that something of the sort just might happen in, say, Italy or Greece.
However, Mr. Martínez rejected the possibility of rehab and said he would prefer to go to jail, thereby surprising his own lawyer, when he told the court, "I am not an alcoholic and therefore I don't think I should submit to a rehab program." He added that he was not drunk, but rather "en condiciones," on the day of his arrest, and as evidence stated that he had already delivered 13 tanks on the morning of April 7. Mr. Martínez further declared that he "had been driving for 15 years and never had an accident," and that "I don't have a problem with alcohol. My hands don't tremble."
Only in Spain.
We should do another Trilingual Barcelona Blog Reunion; José from Barcepundit organized a regular meeting a couple of years ago, and it kept going for a good long time until finally petering out. It didn't help much when the bar we were meeting at closed down.
How about we try it again next Thursday, May 3, between 7 and 10 PM, at the Café Flanders in the Plaza Rovira i Trias in Gràcia? All bloggers and blogreaders who can make it are invited, of course, and bring your friend or wife or mom or whatever too.
I picked the bar because I know the owners, they have a table for eight or ten inside, if the weather's nice we can sit outside, the food is edible though not great, and it's not expensive. They have Stella, Hoegaarden, and Leffe dark on tap. It's also wheelchair-accessible and not too far from bus line 74. Metro Joanic or Fontana.
You think Don Imus could get away with saying "Hoegaarden" on the air? Probably not, at least not if it was the answer to the riddle "Where do nappy-headed women plant tomatoes?"
How about we try it again next Thursday, May 3, between 7 and 10 PM, at the Café Flanders in the Plaza Rovira i Trias in Gràcia? All bloggers and blogreaders who can make it are invited, of course, and bring your friend or wife or mom or whatever too.
I picked the bar because I know the owners, they have a table for eight or ten inside, if the weather's nice we can sit outside, the food is edible though not great, and it's not expensive. They have Stella, Hoegaarden, and Leffe dark on tap. It's also wheelchair-accessible and not too far from bus line 74. Metro Joanic or Fontana.
You think Don Imus could get away with saying "Hoegaarden" on the air? Probably not, at least not if it was the answer to the riddle "Where do nappy-headed women plant tomatoes?"
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Not too much going on, just the usual. Terrorist massacres in Iraq. Iran working on nuclear bombs. Starvation continues in Darfur along with civil war in the Congo. Big international news: French runoff election. One poll gives Sarko a 51-49 lead over Royal, which I don't buy, since he's going to sweep Paris and the countryside. The Virginia Tech furor has died down, and I think the global warming furor has peaked, too; people simply don't buy the disastermongering, and ordinary folks' resentment of Hollywood parlor pinkos all jumping aboard this new trend is causing a backlash. The story about Al Gore's energy-wasting house hurt him badly among Spanish public opinion, which now sees him as a typical American hypocrite--they think we're all hypocrites, of course. My response: Isn't everybody, especially Alec Baldwin?
Big news around here: Real estate companies took a serious hit on the stock market yesterday, losing between about 5% and 13% of their value, except for Astroc, which is down 66% in two weeks. Housing construction is a very important part of the Spanish economy, one of the sectors that is providing the most growth, and the big builders are down between 4% and 7%. The decline in real estate and construction shares carried over to the banks, with BBVA and BSCH, Spain's largest corporations, both down 3% on the day.
I seriously doubt there's going to be a crash either in the stock market as a whole or in housing prices, though; the Spanish economy is growing at about 4%, unemployment is dropping, and immigration is raising demand--remember that Spain has gained four million immigrants over the last six years. Interest rates are probably going to stay low, around 4%, says the Bank of Spain. The stats show housing prices are currently climbing by 7.5% a year, and the number of mortgages is growing by 18% a year. So a correction, probably, some people cashing in, sure, but no disaster. Of course, anyone who takes investment advice from me, a guy whose assets consist of a blender and a Cincinnati Reds cap, deserves to lose his money.
Ibex Salad has more; he calls Astroc an "overhyped minor player" and says that if there is a bubble, it's not in housing prices but in the share value of the real estate companies.
Big news around here: Real estate companies took a serious hit on the stock market yesterday, losing between about 5% and 13% of their value, except for Astroc, which is down 66% in two weeks. Housing construction is a very important part of the Spanish economy, one of the sectors that is providing the most growth, and the big builders are down between 4% and 7%. The decline in real estate and construction shares carried over to the banks, with BBVA and BSCH, Spain's largest corporations, both down 3% on the day.
I seriously doubt there's going to be a crash either in the stock market as a whole or in housing prices, though; the Spanish economy is growing at about 4%, unemployment is dropping, and immigration is raising demand--remember that Spain has gained four million immigrants over the last six years. Interest rates are probably going to stay low, around 4%, says the Bank of Spain. The stats show housing prices are currently climbing by 7.5% a year, and the number of mortgages is growing by 18% a year. So a correction, probably, some people cashing in, sure, but no disaster. Of course, anyone who takes investment advice from me, a guy whose assets consist of a blender and a Cincinnati Reds cap, deserves to lose his money.
Ibex Salad has more; he calls Astroc an "overhyped minor player" and says that if there is a bubble, it's not in housing prices but in the share value of the real estate companies.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Blogging the French elections: Eursoc, Pave France, ¡No Pasarán!, and Rainy Day. Don't miss Nidra Poller at Pajamas Media.
I have a minor problem--the link to the archives is broken and I don't know how to fix it. Help, please.
It's Sarkozy vs. Royal in the second round of the French presidential elections. Sarko got 31%, Royal 26%, Bayrou 19%, and Le Pen 11% in the first round. Turnout was extremely high, 84.6%, much higher than the 71.5% that turned out in the 2002 elections.
Several comments. 1) The French electorate has shown very good sense in voting for moderate conservative pro-American Sarkozy and sensible centrist Bayrou--add up the two and they're very close to an absolute majority 2) The very high turnout showed that the French remember the 2002 disaster when Le Pen came in second and made it to the runoff, and didn't want it to happen again 3) The wacky left-wing parties, the Trots and Commies and Greens and Jose Bove, didn't do well at all, showing that the French Left vote is also more responsible than it was in 2002 4) The surveys show Bayrou's vote going 1/2 to Sarko and 1/3 to Royal in the second round, and the Le Pen voters have nowhere else to go, so Sarko ought to pull out a solid win in the runoff 5) My guess is Segolene Royal is a flash in the pan; she has no real political achievements, no intellectual substance, little support from her party establishment, little ability to speak in public, and an embarrassing tendency to commit political gaffes. I don't see her ever getting elected, or even renominated by her party, bar a Zap-style disaster.
Today is Sant Jordi (St. George's Day); as in England and Russia, St. George is Catalonia's patron saint. In addition, here it's the equivalent of Valentine's Day; women are supposed to buy men a book and men are supposed to buy women a rose. The booksellers and the florists have a sweet deal set up; Sant Jordi is by far the bookshops' biggest day of the year, and I'll bet it's the difference between staying in business and not for a lot of places. All the bookshops put up huge outside displays and have local authors show up and sign books for customers all day, and there are little flower stands on many corners. Since today is a very pretty Catalan spring day, Barcelona looks especially attractive with the sun and the flowers added to the everyday street life.
Since I know my taste in books better than my wife does, I just buy my own a few days before so I don't have to fight the crowds on the 23rd.
Wanna see total racism and xenophobia summed up in two paragraphs? Check out this letter from today's La Vanguardia.
I've read an article about the problems Italian cities have with their Chinese neighborhoods. In Barcelona, we have been complaining for a long time that Chinese merchants are extablishing themselves massively in the Eixample and the Plaza Tetuan. They are invading the neighborhood, just as they have done in Rome, Milan, London, and so many European cities.
The Chinese mafia supplies money to buy and rent commercial spaces, and shopkeepers who have been there forever have to go somewhere else. Then, they buy and rent housing in the area, and the native residents of the neighborhood see how their apartments lose value and the only new residentss who come are Chinese. Finally, the chosen neighborhood becomes the city's Chinatown. I call on the political parties to define their position on this problem that we residents of the Eixample suffer from.
(signed)
R. Perez Maldonado
Barcelona
It's Sarkozy vs. Royal in the second round of the French presidential elections. Sarko got 31%, Royal 26%, Bayrou 19%, and Le Pen 11% in the first round. Turnout was extremely high, 84.6%, much higher than the 71.5% that turned out in the 2002 elections.
Several comments. 1) The French electorate has shown very good sense in voting for moderate conservative pro-American Sarkozy and sensible centrist Bayrou--add up the two and they're very close to an absolute majority 2) The very high turnout showed that the French remember the 2002 disaster when Le Pen came in second and made it to the runoff, and didn't want it to happen again 3) The wacky left-wing parties, the Trots and Commies and Greens and Jose Bove, didn't do well at all, showing that the French Left vote is also more responsible than it was in 2002 4) The surveys show Bayrou's vote going 1/2 to Sarko and 1/3 to Royal in the second round, and the Le Pen voters have nowhere else to go, so Sarko ought to pull out a solid win in the runoff 5) My guess is Segolene Royal is a flash in the pan; she has no real political achievements, no intellectual substance, little support from her party establishment, little ability to speak in public, and an embarrassing tendency to commit political gaffes. I don't see her ever getting elected, or even renominated by her party, bar a Zap-style disaster.
Today is Sant Jordi (St. George's Day); as in England and Russia, St. George is Catalonia's patron saint. In addition, here it's the equivalent of Valentine's Day; women are supposed to buy men a book and men are supposed to buy women a rose. The booksellers and the florists have a sweet deal set up; Sant Jordi is by far the bookshops' biggest day of the year, and I'll bet it's the difference between staying in business and not for a lot of places. All the bookshops put up huge outside displays and have local authors show up and sign books for customers all day, and there are little flower stands on many corners. Since today is a very pretty Catalan spring day, Barcelona looks especially attractive with the sun and the flowers added to the everyday street life.
Since I know my taste in books better than my wife does, I just buy my own a few days before so I don't have to fight the crowds on the 23rd.
Wanna see total racism and xenophobia summed up in two paragraphs? Check out this letter from today's La Vanguardia.
I've read an article about the problems Italian cities have with their Chinese neighborhoods. In Barcelona, we have been complaining for a long time that Chinese merchants are extablishing themselves massively in the Eixample and the Plaza Tetuan. They are invading the neighborhood, just as they have done in Rome, Milan, London, and so many European cities.
The Chinese mafia supplies money to buy and rent commercial spaces, and shopkeepers who have been there forever have to go somewhere else. Then, they buy and rent housing in the area, and the native residents of the neighborhood see how their apartments lose value and the only new residentss who come are Chinese. Finally, the chosen neighborhood becomes the city's Chinatown. I call on the political parties to define their position on this problem that we residents of the Eixample suffer from.
(signed)
R. Perez Maldonado
Barcelona
Saturday, April 21, 2007
It's been at least two weeks since we did a blog roundup, so it's about time for another.
On France and tomorrow's election: A Fistful of Euros and Pave France,
Natalie at Biased BBC comments on coverage of the Duke lacrosse case.
The Brussels Journal has a must-read hit piece on Zapatero. Definitely check it out.
Don't miss Colin Davies's thoughts from Galicia.
Davids Medienkritik reports on German media reaction to the Virginia Tech shootings.
Eursoc doesn't like the EU's new law banning speech that "incites racial hatred." I don't much care for it, either.
Fausta keeps us up to date on Cubazuela and Chavstro.
La Liga Loca has the must-see weekend football preview.
Publius Pundit has photos of an interesting new form of protest in Russia.
The Bad Rash has taken in a parrot.
On France and tomorrow's election: A Fistful of Euros and Pave France,
Natalie at Biased BBC comments on coverage of the Duke lacrosse case.
The Brussels Journal has a must-read hit piece on Zapatero. Definitely check it out.
Don't miss Colin Davies's thoughts from Galicia.
Davids Medienkritik reports on German media reaction to the Virginia Tech shootings.
Eursoc doesn't like the EU's new law banning speech that "incites racial hatred." I don't much care for it, either.
Fausta keeps us up to date on Cubazuela and Chavstro.
La Liga Loca has the must-see weekend football preview.
Publius Pundit has photos of an interesting new form of protest in Russia.
The Bad Rash has taken in a parrot.
Not a whole lot of news from around here, which is why I've been lax in posting. The big international news is the French election. The latest surveys put Sarkozy between 27% and 30%, Royal between 22% and 26%, Bayrou between 15% and 20%, and Le Pen between 13% and 16%. All the other candidates, mostly far-left, are way behind. The fun will be to see whether Bayrou can knock Royal out of second place, as Le Pen did to Jospin in the last election. By the way, it's an international disgrace that more than one-eighth of French voters support Le Pen.
Latest bit of Catalunacy: Josep Huguet of ERC, who is the counselor (=minister) of Innovation, Universtites, and Business and in charge of the Tourism department, just showed what stupidity extreme Catalan nationalism is capable of by, get this, calling on Catalan passengers to boycott Madrid's Barajas airport and fly through Frankfurt or London instead. Yeah, that's going to look just great in the rest of Spain. Remember last time ERC called for a boycott (if I remember correctly, of products not labeled in Catalan), a bunch of Spainiacs like my former boss hit back with a boycott of Catalan products, especially cava, and some serious damage was done to the Catalan wine industry.
Huguet's words: "Barcelona, for political reasons, is forced to turn over its market to the service of another airport...Madrid wants to move from Second Division to First, and in order to achieve it, it is forcing Barcelona to stay in Third...Madrid will never catch up to the big hubs, not even by opposing Barcelona...(Boycotting Barajas) is an important instrument in the hands of Catalan society, which would sent a signal to Madrid to turn over the management of El Prat to Catalonia." Envy and spite, I say.
They ran another one of those citizens-interview-politician things Thursday night, this time with Mariano Rajoy. As with Zapatero, he said nothing new or interesting. The reviews I've heard are pretty good--he came off all right, didn't look like an extremist or a dumbass or a jerk.
Latest bit of Catalunacy: Josep Huguet of ERC, who is the counselor (=minister) of Innovation, Universtites, and Business and in charge of the Tourism department, just showed what stupidity extreme Catalan nationalism is capable of by, get this, calling on Catalan passengers to boycott Madrid's Barajas airport and fly through Frankfurt or London instead. Yeah, that's going to look just great in the rest of Spain. Remember last time ERC called for a boycott (if I remember correctly, of products not labeled in Catalan), a bunch of Spainiacs like my former boss hit back with a boycott of Catalan products, especially cava, and some serious damage was done to the Catalan wine industry.
Huguet's words: "Barcelona, for political reasons, is forced to turn over its market to the service of another airport...Madrid wants to move from Second Division to First, and in order to achieve it, it is forcing Barcelona to stay in Third...Madrid will never catch up to the big hubs, not even by opposing Barcelona...(Boycotting Barajas) is an important instrument in the hands of Catalan society, which would sent a signal to Madrid to turn over the management of El Prat to Catalonia." Envy and spite, I say.
They ran another one of those citizens-interview-politician things Thursday night, this time with Mariano Rajoy. As with Zapatero, he said nothing new or interesting. The reviews I've heard are pretty good--he came off all right, didn't look like an extremist or a dumbass or a jerk.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Someone named B posted this in the Comments section, and I thought it was something important to clear up.
I will be living in Catalonia for the last several months of this year, sending my 10-year-old to a private school precisely because we have no Catalan. I have assumed that speaking only Spanish and English won't be an insurmountable problem, since locals would realize we're American and unlikely to have been exposed to Catalan. The flap reported in your blog makes me wonder if I should be more concerned than I am. Any recommendations?
B. | 04.17.07 - 8:07 pm
Here's my answer.
B, as I said, there is virtually no conflict among individuals over the language issue in Catalonia. You have nothing to worry about. Half of the people prefer to use Spanish, in the first place. The great majority of those whose first language is Catalan will be happy to use Spanish with you, and the few jerks who won't are not people you'd want to spend time with, whatever language they speak. Also, if you know Spanish, then Catalan is pretty easy to understand and you'll pick it up quick, just by osmosis.
As others have said, look at it as an opportunity to enrich your family culturally. Agreed, Catalan is not a skill that would do anyone much practical good outside Catalonia. But being able to understand Catalan exposes you to a different culture, different books, different theater, different traditions, and so on, and that's an interesting and valuable experience. Also, learning any foreign language is good exercise for the brain. It helps you understand how your own language works, too.
My criticism of the Catalan language laws has nothing to do with disrespect for Catalan language and culture. I have no problem with the regional government encouraging Catalan, either, though I'm opposed to encouraging it with tax money. It's because I believe those laws are unconstitutional and will sooner or later be thrown out by the Constitutional Court, and I believe they're wrong because they discriminate against people who do not know Catalan or prefer to use Spanish.
One thing, B. You will have to send your child to a private school if you want him to be educated in Spanish. I believe this to be discrimination, but for now we have to live with it since it's the law.
John | 04.18.07 - 8:56 am
I will be living in Catalonia for the last several months of this year, sending my 10-year-old to a private school precisely because we have no Catalan. I have assumed that speaking only Spanish and English won't be an insurmountable problem, since locals would realize we're American and unlikely to have been exposed to Catalan. The flap reported in your blog makes me wonder if I should be more concerned than I am. Any recommendations?
B. | 04.17.07 - 8:07 pm
Here's my answer.
B, as I said, there is virtually no conflict among individuals over the language issue in Catalonia. You have nothing to worry about. Half of the people prefer to use Spanish, in the first place. The great majority of those whose first language is Catalan will be happy to use Spanish with you, and the few jerks who won't are not people you'd want to spend time with, whatever language they speak. Also, if you know Spanish, then Catalan is pretty easy to understand and you'll pick it up quick, just by osmosis.
As others have said, look at it as an opportunity to enrich your family culturally. Agreed, Catalan is not a skill that would do anyone much practical good outside Catalonia. But being able to understand Catalan exposes you to a different culture, different books, different theater, different traditions, and so on, and that's an interesting and valuable experience. Also, learning any foreign language is good exercise for the brain. It helps you understand how your own language works, too.
My criticism of the Catalan language laws has nothing to do with disrespect for Catalan language and culture. I have no problem with the regional government encouraging Catalan, either, though I'm opposed to encouraging it with tax money. It's because I believe those laws are unconstitutional and will sooner or later be thrown out by the Constitutional Court, and I believe they're wrong because they discriminate against people who do not know Catalan or prefer to use Spanish.
One thing, B. You will have to send your child to a private school if you want him to be educated in Spanish. I believe this to be discrimination, but for now we have to live with it since it's the law.
John | 04.18.07 - 8:56 am
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