Anything and everything. En español también.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Murga Uruguaya con Chávez como personaje

El grupo Agárrate Catalina de Murga Uruguaya canta sobre Chávez. Me pareció bastante divertido, véanlo.

Para todos los que se acaban de enterar que la palabra Murga existe (como yo :)) pueden ver su significado en Wikipedia

La murga uruguaya es un género teatral-musical que consiste en un coro de unas 13 a 15 personas, que, acompañados por una "batería de murga" integrada por: bombo, platillos y redoblante; entona canciones y realiza cuadros musicales (con personajes y línea argumental) donde la temática principal ronda alrededor de los acontecimientos salientes del año, con crítica política y social.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Intercable y su limitación

Así como lo había notado yo hace unos meses, otras personas también lo han notado.

Intercable ofrece un plan de acceso a Internet ilimitado de una velocidad de 1024 Kbps (con 128 Kbps de subida). Esta publicidad es engañosa, ya que resulta que ellos te limitan la velocidad en ciertos puertos que no son los utilizados por HTTP, por ejemplo, los puertos utilizados por aplicaciones P2P. Si bien muchos de los archivos que los usuarios comparten no son legales, esta limitación no está en el contrato.

Quizás la limitación no me molestara tanto si fuera poca, pero es que no hay punto de comparación entre 100KB/s y 4KB/s. Esta segunda es prácticamente la velocidad que había en 1999 cuando la gente bajaba canciones en Napster.

El pana Yogi me mandó una página bien-llamada Interestafa que me parece es de interés para todos los usuarios de Intercable. Hay que hacerse escuchar, no puede ser que esto suceda impunemente. Ya mismo voy a llamar a quejarme en Intercable.

El otro punto que quería hacer con este post es que lo más probable será que me cambie a ABA de CANTV. En verdad la desición es bastante sencilla. Estoy harto de quejarme con Intercable en cuanto a las velocidades de P2P y que me peloteen de aquí para allá, que me digan que ellos sólo aseguran la velocidad de navegación, etc. etc. Son unos carajos poco serios, o bien vivos.

La otra razón por la que me cambiaré es que CANTV está realizando un plan de migración donde la velocidad más baja será 1024 Kbps (¡con 512 Kbps de subida!).

Thursday, December 07, 2006

How to act Smarter than you are

I just read an excellent post by Scott Adams about how to act smarter than you are. First you have to wear glasses (Anastasia already seems smarter than a few months back), then you have to stop talking too much, or people will notice that you don't know as much as you appear. Also, you have to agree with everyone, that way you seem to be as smart as the guy that you are talking with, but smarter because you said a brainy word. And that is another point. You have to know a few brainy words that only appear in respected publications.

Read the whole thing here.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Meebo Me

I had heard about this a while ago, but I never got into trying it out. And I have to say that I'm very amazed.

It is a widget you can embed on any Webpage, and if you're logged in at Meebo you can chat with any user that logs into your page, and they can chat back with you.

When a user logs into the page, he can set the username they want and then chat with you. This is what you would see in Meebo's page.


By the way, if you haven't tried Meebo, you should do it right now. You can log into your Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN/Windows Live Messenger and AIM accounts in the same page and at the same time.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

New Ayreon album coming!

Well, a friend and a fellow Ayreon fan just gave me a link to Arjen Lucassen's site, where the most recent headline says that there's a new Ayreon album in the works!

He has been in his studio nearly every day (and night) since then, getting the ideas translated into songs. The musical ideas are so extremely varied that only one project could possibly hold them all: Ayreon.
Well, the least I can say is that I'm very excited, given the fact that The Human Equation was an incredible album with one of my favorite singers: Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth. I'm looking forward for the next singers!

Check out Ayreon if you have the chance. It rocks!

Friday, November 24, 2006

La flojera y la indiferencia... Y la estupidez

En CANTV Los Cortijos 1 existen unas escaleras de emergencia que se les puede acceder desde adentro de las oficinas. ¿Que quiero decir con esto? Cuando uno quiere usar las escaleras no es necesario pasar por las puertas de vidrio que se activan con el carnet.

Ejemplos de uso de estas escaleras

  1. Se me quedó el carnet y quiero movilizarme por el edificio fácilmente.
  2. Voy al baño y lo están limpiando. Como las escaleras quedan al lado de éste, sencillamente me voy para otro piso por ellas.
  3. Los ascensores tardan en llegar y quiero entrar directamente a las oficinas.
  4. Soy un espía y quiero entrar directamente a las oficinas.

En todo caso, resulta que esas escaleras sólo deberían usarse para emergencias (la estomacal no incluída) al estilo de incendio, terremoto, ataque terrorista, etc. Por lo que se instaló un dispositivo de seguridad o 'alarma' que molestará a todas las personas del edificio con un tono agudo repetitivo por unos cuantos segundos cada vez que se abra la puerta de la escalera de seguridad. ¡Ah! También será avisado el personal de seguridad que podrán revisar las cámaras si no hay nada mejor que ver. Eso es diversión para ellos, por lo que está encouraged.

Como pudiera predecir cualquier animal, el día que colocaron el dispositivo (y se avisó que se iba a colocar desde hacía unas semanas) comenzaron a abrir la puerta. Todo el día sonando el pito, y si las personas son como Homero o Bart no iban a aprender sólo por el pito, habría que decirles y enseñarles y entrenarlos (con influencias no sonoras) sobre el correcto no uso de la puerta de emergencia.

Es por esto que se decidió hacer lo que se haría cualquier otro lugar. Colocar un papelito que te diga no abrir la puerta. Este papelito era una hoja rayada escrita a lapiz con una letra más fea que la de Nanu (chiste interno), y eso es decir bastante. Pero no teman, eso pronto se sustituyó por esto.


Igual no crean que eso detuvo a la gente. Si piensan lo contrario es que no conocen a la flojera, la indiferencia y la estupidez. La gente siguió abriendo la puerta sea la razón que fuera.

La razón de escribir esto no fue todo lo antes mencionado (aunque debería haber sido suficiente). Mi razón es algo que sucedió hoy. Resulta que un par de personas que iban pasando por ahí iban a ir a otro piso, pero la puerta de vidrio que está al lado de las escaleras de emergencia la estaban arreglando (no podían pasar por esa puerta). Lo que me inagino dijeron fue lo siguiente:
  • Individuo 1: ¡Uy que fastidio! Vamos a tener que caminar 15 metros hacia la puerta más cercana.
  • Individuo 2: Queeeeee... ¡Ah! Pero si aquí al lado está la puerta de la escalera que suena a cada rato con un mensaje que no se use sino para emergencias... ¡Esto es una emergencia!
  • Individuo 1: ¡Excelente!

No hace falta tener 5 dedos de frente para saber que la alarma sonó. El razonamiento de estos índividuos probablemente les llevó a pensar que sólo sonaría por 10 segundos y ya... Pero resulta que nunca dejó de sonar. Estuvo la alarma sonando por lo menos 15 minutos (que pareció una eternidad). Y eso me llevó a escribir esto. La gente es sencillamente estúpida. Les dicen que no hagan algo, les muestran razones por lo cuál no deben hacerlo, les dan señales visibles y audibles de que algo está mal, y siguen haciéndolo. Fuck the people.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Skype joins the Google Pack?


Yep. It's strange. I have no idea since when this is happening, but Google is promoting the use of Skype when you download the Google Pack (A free collection of essential software).

Bearing in mind that Google has its own voice communication product (Google Talk) it seems like an odd strategy to promote your main competitor's product. But they have hinted this behaviour. Check out a post from the Google Talk Official Blog that is called Talking with Skype

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Microsoft Virtual Earth goes 3D

A view from Seattle


A view from the famous Space Needle in Seattle


If you visit Microsoft Virtual Earth in IE you will see a new option. 3D view. Well, this view is enabled in some US cities. More info at Inside Microsoft.

I just noticed I have the same post title...

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Windows Media Player 11 Released


Now these guys do know how to make a release. While IE7 was made available only in English at launch day, WMP11 is available in several languages (including Spanish). What they did mess up is the big banner you follow for the download to start. The text is in German (I'm assuming) and it should be in Spanish.

You should get it (Spanish). Awesome media player.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Spazio Digitel from HELL

El sábado fui con mi papá a el Spazio Digitel del C.C.C.T. para hacer un traspaso de la cuenta para que esté a mi nombre y poder realizar los pagos con mi tarjeta de crédito en vez de con la suya. Poco sabía yo lo que iba a suceder.

Primero llegamos como a las 11:15 am para el Spaizo. Ahí haces una pequeña cola para agarrar un ticket. Decía 13 clientes en espera (era el 433) y la chama me dice que en dos horas aproximadamente. Le digo que no hay problema y nos vamos a pasear por ahí. Estuvimos un raaaato largo en Tecni-Ciencia leyendo guevonadas, caminando, lo usual. Fui a las maquinitas un rato pero me dio ladilla gastar dinero y luego como a la 1:15 voy a ver como está la cola. Iban por el 427.

Ahora déjenme explicarles el maravilloso sistema de Digitel. Existen 14 'ventanas' para atender a los clientes. De estas 14 ventanas sólo hay 7 con personal atendiendo. Ahora, aproximadamente la mitad de estas personas está aprendiendo, por lo que sólo 2 o 3 son expertos en el soporte, y siempre están ayudando al resto (a cada rato les preguntan, por lo que tienen que parar lo que hacen y responderle a los nuevos). Estas ventanas atienden a 3 distintas series de casos (del 200 al 299, del 300 al 399 y del 400 al 599) y generalmente se realizan pagos. Ahora, los pagos no se pueden hacer en estas ventanas, existen 2 ventanas para pagar, llamémoslas taquillas. De estas taquillas sólo funciona 1. Claro, estas taquillas no sólo están para las personas del 200 al 599, sino que existe otra serie del 600 al 699 que utiliza estas taquillas, mas no las ventanas de soporte. Ahora viene la parte 'graciosa'. Cuando a un cliente lo mandan para la taquilla, la ventana queda inhabilitada, es decir, no atienden a más nadie hasta que el cliente regrese de la taquilla. Si mandan a varias personas a la vez a las taquillas ¿qué creen que sucede? ... LA ESPERA SE HACE MALDITAMENTE ETERNA. Pero eso no es todo, los carajos como a la 1:30 se empiezan a ir en cambote a almorzar, por lo que sólo quedan 4 taquillas de 14. 4/14.

Bueno, ya después de esto se imaginan la hora que me vinieron a atender. Supuestamente deberían haberme atendido a la 1:30 y me terminaron atendiendo a las 2:30. Y para más colmo me toca una chama que NO SABE NADA, TIENE QUE PREGUNTARLE A OTRA CHAMA TODO LO QUE HACE. Y por supuesto esto no termina aquí. Resulta ser que para completar la operación que fui a hacer necesita hacer algo un departamento ahí de Digitel que NO TRABAJA LOS SÁBADOS. Ah por cierto, salí de ahí a las 3:30 (4 horas de mi vida perdidas).

¡Qué maravilla! Tengo que volver a ir a ese INFIERNO de lugar llamado Spazio Digitel para terminar lo que fui a hacer.

MALDITA SEA LA ATENCIÓN AL CLIENTE DE DIGITEL

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Virus en la red de CANTV

Se identificó el Virus que atacó a un montón de máquinas en CANTV como el W32.XTC y supuestamente se previene con la Actualización de seguridad para Windows XP KB921883. Esta se instaló en mi máquina el 9 de Agosto de 2006. ¿Cómo es posible que esta actualización tan antigua no haya sido instalada automáticamente en las máquinas de la red Corporativa?

*Sigh*

Menos mal que yo estoy al día con las actualizaciones.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Internet Explorer 7 has finally arrived... in English


I'll wait for the Spanish version to come out to upgrade to it.

I've used the RC versions and I have to say it is a very much needed update. It probably won't make me switch back (Get Firefox!) but it is nice to have some competition again.

You should give IE7 a try. It will also be available through Windows automatic updates.

Oh, and I forgot, it is only for Windows XP and Server 2003.

Update: from the IE7 Worlwide Site: 'Internet Explorer 7 is now available in Finnish, German, Japanese, and Spanish. To download Internet Explorer 7 in one of these languages, visit a worldwide download page'. The funny thing is that in the Spanish IE7 site I can only download RC1 version.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Bubble 2.0?

For those of you wondering what Bubble means, check it out on wikipedia: Bubble (economics)

It happened with the 'dot coms' and there could by signs of happening again in all the Web 2.0 hype. Check these:

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Obnoxious error message


Well, I have the new testing version of Google Talk (1.0.0.98) and whenever I turn on my laptop without a connection I get that MessageBox. I hope it stays on the testing versions and doesn't get released for final versions.

Monday, October 02, 2006

You should read these!

Recently, a friend from work started her blog (in Spanish). She's really fun, and a bit strange ;) You should check it out (Vanessita en la Luna). While you're at it, you should also check out a mutual friend's blog (Si no queda otro remedio). Have fun!

(What a crappy blog this is in comparison :D)

Monday, July 10, 2006

Apple ads

I'm guessing that you hace seen the Apple ads by now. If not, go here then. I'm no fan of Apple, and I'm less fan of their attitude. I agree that the ads are very well targeted to the normal user and could fool a lot of people, but what I think of them is very well put by two sources. Tim Buckley with his excellent Ctrl-Alt-Delete comic has strip about them. And today I saw another excellent parody at Nathan Weinberg's Inside Microsoft Blog. It's an embedded video. If embedding doesn't work, go here.

Cheers.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Lots of new places!


I recently saw that there was a new version for Google Earth, so I wanted to check it out if new places had arrived. My surprise is that now I can see the building I live on, and there are plenty of other places inside Venezuela. Puerto La Cruz, Barcelona, Margarita, Punto Fijo, Valencia, and a lot of others. On top there is a screenshot of the Dunes resort in Margarita Island. It's nice.

Oh, and I installed Ubuntu Dapper at home, just to get the hang of Linux. It's nice, but I'm definitely not convinced. More on that later... Or not...

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Testing the new Office 2007

I decided to download the Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2. Let me tell you that it is incredibly elegant and way, way more superior tan the previous products. How I hope I could have the Money to spend on an Office product (for home use).

If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a shot. It’s definitely worth it.

Actually, this post was created with Word 2007 and uploaded into the blog. It’s a new feature, and very Handy. I’ll even add a screenshot.

Edit: the image didn't upload itself, so I had to do it manually. I still have to figure that out.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Angra & The Rudess Morgenstein Project

I just got home from Angra's concert tonight. As always (in concerts in Venezuela), the sound isn't perfect, and usually sucks in the first songs, but later it recovers. Angra gave a great performance of near two hours, and I enjoyed it a lot. But as a prog-head that I am, I enjoyed Rudess a hell lot more.

Jordan is simply God among all keyboard players, and he performed flawlessly (that I could hear) tonight. Some great music he played with Rod Morgenstein, who was dripping wet at the end. Here's a song they played. Enjoy!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Gmail Chat belongs to All Mail?

Certainly not.

Let's be clear, I love Gmail Chat... BUT... I just clicked All Mail and I see all my chats there... That's not cool... That's not even a nice feature... It's 'All Mail', it doesn't say chat there... Damn it...

Friday, March 17, 2006

Sending big files

I had been using YouSendIt to send big files over the internet (RAR'ed albums mostly), and I was happy for a while. But then I noticed it was crap. You had no way of knowing how much you had uploaded and usually the transfer ended in an error, so I had to start all over again.

The best thing that happened to me was finding out about SendSpace which is a sort of clone of yousendit, but way better than it (not sure which one is which's clone). You have a meter to know how the transfer is going, complete with transfer rate and estimated time (besides %)

So there you go... Use SendSpace if you need to transfer something bigger for email. Up to 1.3GB!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Bored at home

Well, without computer at home it would have been worse, thank God my dad brought his computer over the (long) weekend.

First let me tell you about the long weekend. In my country we celebrate Carnival. Not like in Brazil, but still we celebrate that we don't go to school or work. One way people celebrate it over here is throwing eggs, water balloons and other stuff to passerbies, cars or whatever it seems like fun. So don't try to walk on an empty street and if you're in your car, be sure to keep your windows up. This is the most fun when you're a kid of course, when you're an adult you become a lot less fun and bitter, or maybe that's just me.

About the computer... Well, I'm still not sure what's wrong with it, if it's the power supply or the processor. I left it with someone to check it out, but I guess I'll have to wait until Wednesday when everyone gets back to work. One thing I know from sure is that I'm not going to put the PC on the same spot it was, because it's way too small and gathers a lot of heat.

I wanted to talk about my day a little, I am too bored to not talk about it. I woke up and searched for my dad's laptop. Good thing he brought it, and when I wanted to log on Valheru, the site was down... What a surprise, when I have nothing better to do, it's always down. So I'm way too bored to make me some food and I just ate bread with nothing else. I went to the barber shop and when I got back I was hoping Valheru to be back up, but it seems that the destiny is not on my side today, so I just went to the fridge and got onto drinking beer. My count is 3 beers until now, and I've been chatting on MSN, playing Sudoku and just having a boring time in Hot Or Not.

I think I'm going out to Burger King before I die or something. Later.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Crap

As a friend well put it: 'Your computer had a fever and you told it STFU!'.

That's what happened to me last night. So now I have to find out what burnt. My best hope is the Power Supply. I hope everything else is fine.

Sigh.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

FIFA World Cup 2006

Today I got an email from a friend about a nifty program made in MS Excel. It's basically a 'multi-language automatized scheduler' for the World Cup.

It's a very nice program made by a Salvadorean. Visit his site in English or Spanish.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Birthday

Today's my birthday. Nothing much has happened, other than I went to eat on a fancy restaurant with my parents. The food was awesome, and I got to stay some time off work :)

Later I guess the usual suspects will go to my house and we'll just talk and drink and stuff. If you're one of the usual suspects (which I doubt), and see this before we get together (which I doubt) then I'll see you there.

Later...

Monday, January 16, 2006

The Dilbert Blog

My friend Guille just made me aware of a really cool blog to read. It's called The Dilbert Blog, and it's written by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert (surprise!). I recommend it for a funny read, especially if you like intelligent humour. Go have a read!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Constant change

I've been away from blogging for a while now, because I really didn't feel like writing anything. The holidays passed, good and bad things happened, and the year is over. And I didn't have any vacation because I still don't have a full year working with the company.

But mainly, the reason I'm writing this post is to get the hang of it again. It's a good habit to write in a foreign language also (even if noone reads it).

I recently got pushed to create a MySpace account (you can check it here) and started looking into HTML and CSS. So I changed the look of this page, and it will probably undergo a few more changes (Blogger is easy to customize through CSS compared to MySpace... and MySpace's layout is horrible).

Well, that's it for now. I'll write later.