World Health Organization: risk of cancer from cell phones

This sounds serious enough to be considered by all fans of spending loads of time hanging on a cell phones:

(CNN) -- Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

Before its announcement Tuesday, WHO had assured consumers that no adverse health effects had been established.

A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, made the decision after reviewing peer-reviewed studies on cell phone safety. The team found enough evidence to categorize personal exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."

What that means is they found some evidence of increase in glioma and acoustic neuroma brain cancer for mobile phone users, but have not been able to draw conclusions for other types of cancers

"The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The type of radiation coming out of a cell phone is called non-ionizing. It is not like an X-ray, but more like a very low-powered microwave oven.

"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain," Black said. "So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones."

Wireless industry responded to Tuesday's announcement saying it "does not mean cell phones cause cancer." CTIA-The Wireless Association added that WHO researchers "did not conduct any new research, but rather reviewed published studies."

The European Environmental Agency has pushed for more studies, saying cell phones could be as big a public health risk as smoking, asbestos and leaded gasoline. The head of a prominent cancer-research institute at the University of Pittsburgh sent a memo to all employees urging them to limit cell phone use because of a possible risk of cancer.

"When you look at cancer development -- particularly brain cancer -- it takes a long time to develop. I think it is a good idea to give the public some sort of warning that long-term exposure to radiation from your cell phone could possibly cause cancer," said Dr. Henry Lai, research professor in bioengineering at University of Washington who has studied radiation for more than 30 years.

Results from the largest international study on cell phones and cancer was released in 2010. It showed participants in the study who used a cell phone for 10 years or more had doubled the rate of brain glioma, a type of tumor. To date, there have been no long-term studies on the effects of cell phone usage among children.

"Children's skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain of children and young adults. Their cells are at a dividing faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger." said Black of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

In February, a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, revealed radiation emitted after just 50 minutes on a mobile phone increases the activity in brain cells. The effects of brain activity being artificially stimulated are still unknown.

Neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta says Tuesday's announcement, "dealt a blow to those who have long said, 'There is no possible mechanism for cell phones to cause cancer.' By classifying cell phones as a possible carcinogen, they also seem to be tacitly admitting a mechanism could exist."

Manufacturers of many popular cell phones already warn consumers to keep their device away from their body.

The Apple iPhone 4 safety manual says users' radiation exposure should not exceed FCC guidelines: "When using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 millimeters (5/8 inch) away from the body."

BlackBerry Bold advises users to, "keep the BlackBerry device at least 0.98 inch (25 millimeters) from your body when the BlackBerry device is transmitting."

Inside Job

I know this is late news, but just in case someone is interested:

The Inside Job film received last year the Oscar to the best documentary film, and it received great reviews just about everywhere. I had been interested for a long time, but finally, last saturday I managed to watch it in full (its ca. 2 h). And I must say I am deeply, deeply impressed by the message.

The movie is outstanding from a technical point of view, but what is most impressive is the clarity of the message: it explains the origin and development of the economical crisis, starting with a short overview of the situation in Iceland, then moving to the US and the subprime crisis. It shows parts of interviews with many of the main figures involved in the crisis, and it provides a summary of how it reached the current situation.

Sadly, the message is mixed: on the one hand, after watching it you feel strongly compelled to react and blow away a system which allows such kind of robbery (as this crisis, make no mistake, is a plain robbery, by using the wise words of Michael Moore). On the other hand, it ends by letting us know that the Big Hope of Obama has surrounded himself by many of the guys who were at the very origin of the crisis, in order to help him "solve it". Foxes helping to fix a crisis in a chicken farm.

This is just a short video interviewing the author of Inside Job; if you are even barely interested, I wholeheartedly suggest you to watch the movie in full, it is truly well worth the effort.

"White horse", new single from Jessica 6

Listen carefully; the more I hear from their forthcoming album, the more I am convinced they are a smash in the makings.

The crazy pricing of the new Sigma SD1 DSLR camera

During the last days, after the price of the new flagship DSLR camera, the SD1, from Sigma was announced ($ 9,700), the internet has been taken by storm in scandal for such a big price in a camera which does not seem to deserve it. And while reading this article at Luminous Landscape, I found what seems to me the perfect analogy in an example from the cars industry.

Some years ago, Ferdinand Piëch, the head of Volkswagen, decided that they would release a top-notch model, with a real maximum quality, but under the Volkswagen brand, rather than Audi.

It was the Phaeton, a car in which Volkswagen intended to evidence they could produce cars to compete with the most luxury brands, including top models from Mercedes or BMW, or Audi of course (owned by Volkswagen).

Initial reviews were homegeneously raving the car and its qualities, but they quickly realized that its price (around 90,000 euros, if memory serves me right) was possibly too high for a car, no matter how good, sold under a brand known for middle quality cars.

The Phaeton remains available from Volkswagen (now at a reduced price, 80,000 euros), but if you look at its sales figures, they have never been anywhere close to those of class S Mercedes, or 7 series BMW.

The morality of the story is quite clear: if you ask for very high prices, EVEN if the quality of your product is corresponding to the price, the consumer expects you to release the product under a premium brand, not an average brand. Because for anybody willing to spend big money on such product, the quality will matter of course, but the fact of buying something from a premium brand will matter as much.

Translate the story to the Sigma SD1 case and it's quite easy to predict a big flop, EVEN if its quality was up there next to, say, a Pentax 645 D. Which, I'm afraid, won't be the case.

New songs from Jessica 6's forthcoming album "See the light"

Jessica 6, a band composed by previous members of Hercules & Love Affair, has made available a couple of songs from their new album, "See the light". One of them, "Prisoner of love", features the voice of Antony, but besides is a perfect single and a little wonder of pop, with an extremely catchy keyboard hook. It is available at Pitchfork. "White horse" continues the vein of 80s synths pop and is also very enjoyable if you are into this kind of music.

It is always difficult to forecast success in the current world of modern music, and more so if we take into account that the charts are these days topped by nobodies like Lady Gaga or Jennifer Lopez. But still, I think that Jessica 6 have all required features to have a smash hit any day.

Prince to play three small venue shows in LA on May 25

The Prince fans living near LA received great news today: Prince will play three shows in small venues tomorrow, May 25th, according to ticketmaster. These gigs are not exactly cheap, but if he plans to do non-hits tracklists, in the vein of the recent Troubadour shows, these performances might become absolutely essential. So I hope you guys living around, will have a terrific night of puple funk.

The Greek crisis, explained in a documentary: Debtocracy

After the Inside Job documentary, a new movie has been released explaining the situation in the deep Greek economic crisis.

Here you have the full movie, in the international version:

Prince to play at Malahide Castle (Dublin) on July 30, 2011

This seems to be officially confirmed, if you look at the ticketmaster page in Ireland.

The socialist crisis in Spain

After the catastrophic results at the recent elections, the Spanish socialists are debating on their causes.

There are many, and of course the economic crisis is a big problem, but in my opinion the main cause is called Zapatero.  Ten years ago or so, in a process of primary elections, the socialists decided to put Zapatero, instead of Bono, as the leader of the party. It was a wrong choice in my opinion, as I discussed with a few friends at the time.

Zapatero has evidenced to be an inconsistent leader, a smoke seller, a bad organizer, and overall an unfulfilled promise.

But the key problem of Zapatero was even more clear, a few days ago, after watching an appearance of Felipe González, the former socialist leader and president of the government. For those who can understand Spanish, just watch this video, the full tv debate "Al rojo vivo", corresponding to May 17th, 20110. There you will see a fully working, first rate political brain with clear ideas, someone enabled to analyze problems and propose solutions.

Then try to watch any similar video from Zapatero. And you will realize there is not such a video, because Zapatero is nowhere near the capabilities of González.

And that is the very reason why the Spanish socialists are, today, in the miserable status they are.

The results of Spanish local & regional elections

After having a quiet look at yesterday's elections, a few reflections:

First, the socialists are fired from must about every regional government or big city hall. I think these are bad news, as a single party ruling everywhere is never a good idea.

Second, the corruption scandals in the region of Valencia were quite cheap for president Camps, since he has been still elected by the majority. This does not make sense in my book, regardless of the corruption being done by the right or the left parties. Corruption should always be payed at a big price in elections. But for whatever reason, it is not the case in my country.

Third, along the same lines, a famous entrepreneur transformed into politician, popularly known as "Sandokán", received five places in the local city hall of Córdoba, despite being widely recognized as a nobody in politics, and despite being involved in a strong case of corruption in Marbella.

Fourth, it seems we are leading to a longtime of conservative governments in most places in Spain. The only positive side I see, in all this, is that the moderate part of the Partido Popular is getting reinforced by these results, instead of the extremists following the lead of Aznar and others.

And fifth, the very successful, recent manifestations of the "Real democracy, now" movement have not been translated into clear vote trends, other than a significant increase in the white votes, which appear to be directly caused by the main mantras of this movement.

Patio de C/ Pastora

Further on pictures of patios (now you'll understand why I was not posting too much lately), we visited on last Sunday another wonder, an astonishing patio located in a brand new house in C/ Pastora.

Patio de C/ San Juan de Palomares

This is one of the most beautiful patios you can see in Córdoba. After the family living there left it, it was purchased by the city hall, which is taking care of it during the last two years. And this time, it was particularly impressing. Just judge by yourself (and sorry for the noisy pictures: they were taken at night and I preferred to avoid using flash).

Letter to Obama, from Nobel Prize Pérez Esquivel

The Argentinian Nobel Prize for the Peace, Pérez Esquivel, wrote recently this letter, addressed to Obama, after assassination of Bin Laden:

Letter to Obama, by Pérez Esquivel

Pressenza Buenos Aires, 5/12/11

Dear Barack Obama, I am writing to you fraternally, and to express concern and indignation at witnessing the destruction and death spread across various countries in the name of “freedom and democracy”, two bastardised and meaningless words that are used to justify the killing which is today celebrated like a sports event.

Indignation at the attitude of sections of the population in the USA, of European heads of state and other countries which came out in support of the killing of Bin Laden, ordered by your government and your satisfaction in an alleged justice.

They did not seek to detain him and try him for the crimes which he has supposedly committed, which casts greater doubt on them; the objective was to kill him.

The dead cannot talk and for fear that the accused could say things which were not desirable for the USA, he was killed to ensure that “death of a dog would end the madness”, without considering that it only increases it.

When they awarded you the Nobel Peace Prize, which we are both recipients of, I sent you a letter which said: “Barack, I was very surprised that they awarded you the Nobel Peace Prize, but now that you have it, you must use it for Peace among peoples. You have every opportunity to do so, to end wars and start to reverse the serious situation which your country and the world are living in.”

However, you have increased hatred and betrayed the principals established in the electoral campaign before your people, such as ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and closing the prisons in Guantanamo and Abu Graib in Iraq. You have not managed to do any of this and, on the contrary, you decided to start another war against Libya, supported by NATO and the shameful United Nations resolution. This lofty organisation, diminished and unable to think for itself, lost its way and submitted to the whims and interests of the dominant powers.

The founding base of the UN is the defence and promotion of Peace and dignity among peoples. Its preamble states: “We, the peoples of the world….” today absent from this organisation.

I want to recall a mystic and teacher who had a great influence in my life, the Trappist monk from the Getsemani Abbey in Kentucky, Thomas Merton, who said “The greatest necessity of our time is cleaning the enormous amount of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and turns all political and social life into an illness of the masses. Without this domestic cleaning, we cannot begin to see. If we cannot see, we cannot think.”

Barack, you were very young during the Vietnam War, perhaps you don’t remember the North American people’s fight to oppose the war.

Those who died, were injured and mutilated in Vietnam still suffer the consequences even today.

Thomas Merton said, looking at a postmark which had just arrived “The U.S Army, key to peace”. No army is the key to peace. No nation has the key to anything but war. Power has nothing to do with peace. The more men increase military power, the more they violate and destroy peace.”

I have shared with and supported the veterans of the Vietnam War, particularly Brian Wilson and his companions who were victims of this war and of all wars.

Life has a certain je ne sais quoi, an unexpected and surprising fragrance and beauty that God gave us for all humanity and which we must protect to leave future generations with a fairer and more fraternal life, re-establishing the balance with Mother Earth.

If we don’t act to change the current situation of suicidal arrogance which drags peoples down and which extinguishes hope, it will be difficult to get out and see the light; humanity deserves a better destiny.

You know that hope is like the lotus which grows in the mud and flowers in all its glory, showing its beauty.

Leopoldo Marechal, a great Argentinian writer, said that; “you get out of the maze by going up.”

And I think Barack, that after following your mistaken paths, you find yourself in a maze unable to find the exit and you bury yourself deeper and deeper in violence and uncertainty, consumed by the power to dominate. You think that the world is at the USA’s feet because it has strength and weapons and you invade countries with complete impunity. It’s a painful reality, but there is also the resistance of the peoples who don’t give in to the powerful.

There are so many atrocities which have been committed by your country in the world, too many to list. It’s a challenge for historians who will have to investigate and understand the behaviours, politics, large and small which have led the USA to the monoculture of minds which doesn’t allow them to see other realities.

Bin Laden, the alleged ideological author of the attack on the Twin Towers, has been identified as the Devil incarnate who terrorised the world, and your government’s propaganda identified him as the “axis of evil”, using this to declare the wars that the industrial military complex wanted, to place its products of death.

You know that investigators of the September 11 tragedy stated that the attack had a lot of “auto-coup” about it, like the plane into Pentagon and the prior evacuation of offices in the towers. An attack which provided a motive to begin the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan and now against Libya, lying that everything is done to save the people, in the name of “freedom and defending democracy”, and with the cynicism of saying that the death of women and children is “collateral damage”. I saw this in Iraq, in Baghdad, with the combing of the city and the children’s hospital and in the refuge for children who were victims of this “collateral damage.”

Words are empty of value and meaning, where killing is called death and the USA has finally “killed” Bin Laden. I am not in any way trying to make excuses for him, I am completely against all terrorism, both by such armed groups, and the state terrorism that your country carried out in various parts of the world, supporting dictators, imposing military bases and armed intervention, using violence to maintain its position on the global axis of power. Today is there only one “axis of evil”? What would you call it?

This is why the people of the USA live in such fear of the reprisals by those they call the “axis of evil”. The simple hypocrisy of defending the indefensible.

Peace is a dynamic of life in relations between people and communities; it’s a challenge for the human conscience, it’s a difficult, daily and hopeful path, where people build their own lives and their own history. Peace cannot be given, it is built and this is what you’re lacking son, courage to assume the historic responsibility with your people and with humanity.

You can’t live in the maze of fear and domination of those who govern the USA, ignoring International Treaties, Pacts and Protocols of governments which sign but do not ratify any and don’t fulfil the agreements, but talk in the name of freedom and right.

How can you talk about Peace if you do not want to honour anything, except your own country’s interests?

How can you talk about freedom when you keep innocent people prisoners in Guantanamo, in the USA, in Iraqi jails, like Abu Graib and in Afghanistan?

How can you talk about human rights and peoples’ dignity when you constantly violate them and blockade those who don’t share you ideology and who must endure your abuse?

How can you send armed forces to Haiti after the devastating earthquake and not humanitarian aid for its suffering people?

How can you talk about freedom when or massacre people in the Middle East and Foster wars and torture, in ongoing conflicts which bleed the Palestinians and Israelis?

Barack, look up out of your maze, you can find a guiding star, although, as Eduardo Galeano said, you know you can never reach it.

Try to be consistent with what you say and do, it’s the only way not to lose your path. It’s a challenge in life.

The Nobel Peace Prize is a tool to be used for people, never for personal vanity.

I wish you great strength and hope, and let’s hope that you have the courage to correct your path and find the wisdom of Peace.

5th May, 2011

Translated from Spanish by Kirsty Cumming

Real democracy, now: an unexpected guest in Spanish local elections

During the last days, media are filled with information about spontaneous manifestations of a new movement, called Real democracy, now, in Spain. They are very heterogeneous, but their main idea is that the two main traditional parties in Spain, Partido Popular and Partido Socialista, do NOT represent people, but rather the interests of big powers. They stimulate people to carefully reflect before voting and consider other alternatives for the vote.

Most media, and certainly the political parties, are being deeply surprised and shocked by the power of this movement, and at this time it is unclear what will be the effect on the result of the forthcoming local elections in Spain.

I am not sure what to think about this. On the one hand, I share many of the ideas of these guys, and that is precisely the reason why I decided, many years ago, to not vote in political elections. On the other hand, I smell this movement could be utilized by political parties in their own benefit, as it is already seen in the cases of the Partido Socialista or Izquierda Unida (neither of which represent the ideology of the movement).

We will see the final outcome, but for the time being, I think it is refreshing to see so many people shouting loud and clear that they think the current system, called "democracy", is not a real democracy. It was stated by Mafalda very longtime ago as well, and it's been a core idea in my political opinions for pretty much my complete adulthood.

Two legendary Prince shows at the Troubadour club, LA

It's all over the web by now: Prince played two shows at the Troubadour club in LA, and according to comments and reports from fans, both were mindblowing: the first in a jazzy vein (with a large participation of Renato Neto, the second genius of the band), the second show more guitar focused. Some recordings have quickly surfaced (apparently made with phones) and, despite their raw, unedited sound, I can understand why the people attending appreciated them so much.

I don't know whether these shows, and their quality, are related in some way with the recently reported issues between Prince and Live Nation. But whatever the case, it seems obvious that we had another legendary night of stunning music in princeland.

Now let's hope this means a clear change in the tracklist of forthcoming shows at The Forum, and also that good recordings surface to document that Prince remains the master onstage.

Another housequake in Princeland?

Yesterday I hinted a housequake in Princeland, meaning a mindblowing soundboard recording of the 1984 birthday gig of Prince and The Revolution.

Today, I have read rather confusing news about Prince firing Live Nation (or maybe Live Nation firing Prince, we will see as this is unconfirmed at this time).

And curiously, it happens at the same time when Warner Brothers Records has been sold to a millionaire, Blavatnik, who reportedly intends to buy also EMI and then merge both companies, in an attempt to make them profitable. This could have deep consequences regarding the possible remasters of Prince catalogue, although it is completely unsure what could these consequences be.

I don't know where all of this is leading, but I do know that all these news together are close to another housequake in Princeland, this time maybe for not so good.

Microsoft vs Apple: Do the math

Microsoft did a webpage to demonstrate that Macs are more expensive than Windows computers; it is called Do the math, and it it was less ridiculous, it would deserve some kind of arguing. But it is self-disqualifiying, so I won't make any further comment.

The times, they are a'changing

Our first daughter, Alba, was born barely 12 years ago. She came out of the delivery room with two enormous eyes wide open, on top of my wife.


Right now, she and my wife finished preparing the luggage, as she leaves tomorrow for a 4 days trip, in anticipated celebration of the end of primary school. She got a mobile phone and just cleaned the memory of her camera to have plenty of space for pictures in the coming days.


Tomorrow I will bring her at 8 AM to catch the bus. She doesn't know yet which teachers will go with them. The wheather forecasts promise brilliant sunny days for her first time out of home.


The times, they are a'changing.

El Jueves on killing Bin Laden

El Jueves is a satiric Spanish magazine, which oftens nail it. They did it again this week:

The Obama quote says "It's him! No doubt!!"

The Guardian: NATO units left 61 African migrants to die of hunger & thirst

If this is true, there are plenty of reasons to feel ashamed for the responsibles, and someone should investigate and punish:

NATO units left 61 African migrants to die of hunger & thirst

Patios de San Basilio

Last Friday I was acting as a Ciceron with an invited scientist here in Córdoba, and we had the opportunity of visiting the patios of the San Basilio quartier after lunch. It had been a longtime since my last visits to these patios, so I enjoyed them even more.

Prince and The Revolution: From the soundboard - 1984 Birthday Show

The housequake in Princeland I hinted some days ago is out there:

Ladies & gentlemen, be ready to be completely blown away by Prince and The Revolution, during the legendary 1984 birthday show. That show was one of the most appreciated by hardcore Prince fans, already in its previous incarnations as a fan recording.

Previously, the set "26" from 4DaFunk was the best available from this show, with a clear sound quality improvement over previous versions.

But now we have a full, pristine, crystal clear soundboard recording, released by an anonymous fan (who will never receive acknowledgement enough), with the audio treated by Free Boot Generation & 4DaFunk (in their first joint release, if memory serves me correct), and with great artwork provided by SquirrelGrease.

This is one of the Prince fan releases that put your socks off, that get you in funk nirvana and that is just about the best evidence to show to the judgement:

Yes, members of the jury: Prince onstage, in 1984, and in the superb company of The Revolution, was absolutely untouchable. Recordings like this make me think that "inspiration" is no word enough to describe the state of the whole band. The whole show is awesome, from begining to end, but there are parts which simply are the uberdefinition of quality & soul: the begining of Something in the water (does not compute) or the groove in Erotic City... but there are many, many, many more gems to discover here.

This release is a class in itself, and it shows how things should always be done in Princeland: from fans working together, for fans, no money involved, and with a level of attention and class in the whole set (from the exquisite care in the audio treatment and edition, to the fantastic artwork, to the extreme respect to recover the spirit of the show from the raw soundboard recording) that is really a model to follow.

All in all, this is clearly the release of the year (if not of the decade) in Princeland, and we all have reasons to rejoice about these levels of magnificence, released for free, strictly out of love for good purple music.

Patios de Córdoba 2011: C/ Juan Tocino, 3

No words required; just let me say that the owners are a bit unhappy because of the few flowers because of the rainy wheather, and still you will see it is beautiful: