My first mobile application

I'm learning some technologies. I'm tempted to write new, but they're not new. I'm learning Ruby on Rails and mobile development. I still have to keep learning Java, and Grails, but I have a project in mind and I wanted to separate clearly from my day to day job, for lots of reasons.
Some other day I'll posts my thoughts about mobile development. But today I wanted to share that I have deployed my first application to my iTouch. It was easier to develop (it's some kind of game for my daughters to add and multiply, and it's really rough) than to deploy. But I did it.
And here goes an screenshoot (it's not a picture, but you get the point).

Thoughts about a death

Sometimes you start to write because you need to write but you don't know what you want to express. This is one of those times.

A couple of days ago, a pregnant woman was killed, and another woman was wounded by a man in a church in Madrid and afterwards the man committed suicide. Doctors performed a caesarean to the woman assassinated and the baby is alive. The man had a letter saying Satan was chasing him, and seems to be a homeless with police records.

Those are the facts. 

Death and birth. Church and Satan. There is something deeply perturbing. I am catholic, but I don't usually pay attention to Satan, hell, evil, the beast and those kind of things. Besides, this case is about a mad shooting two women. But nonetheless, these things make you think about life.

There is another point to think about. When the piece of news broke, and people didn't knew the details, there were lots of comments about male against women violence, and even invented bad things I'm not going to write here. How can anybody read/listen/watch something so tragic and care so little to invent things to try to drive their point home? 

I understand we always want to know as much as possible, but a young woman, pregnant after two miscarriages, killed in a church in the middle of a Mass and some people needed to be stars for a moment, without giving a d**mn for the dead woman. We have deep problems.

The rain in Spain(II): Government

Let's start with politics. I guess it's less known abroad, but it's probably more important than the economic situation. First the government. Forget about the past. Let's start by the end. Today August 2nd 2011, one of the more complex days from an economic point of view for the hole world. Every stock market falling through like a knife in the butter. Spanish bonds at what lots of people understand as intervention level (400 basis points over German debt). This guy was planning to take a few days off. He announces he's considering postponing those days...

... and at the end of the day he decides to leave on holidays.

Somebody just at the level of the common sense would have either not announce the postponing (considering that to postpone would be alarming for the people in the country, and that could lead to something worse like a bank run), either he would stay. What not many people would do is announce to stay but leave.

This is just an example. But we could explain he negated there was crisis up to June 2008, and he announced recovery later that year. He continued spending money we didn't have for a couple of years. And many other things. We could even explain this government negotiated with terrorists, apparently offering political concessions to the terrorists in exchange of stop murdering.

This is the government. But the other main political party is not better.

The rain in Spain(I)

I love this video:



A few days ago I received a message from one of my tweeps about the weather in Europe and in particular in Spain. This summer, the weather has been a bit strange so far. But I couldn't help thinking about a different climate. The political and economical climate.

I know people outside Spain are worried about the situation in Spain. What can I tell about it?.

Yes Spain have problems. Several kind problems. Fiscal at federal/state/local level. Economical problems:Zombie banking sector. More than 20% unemployment in the overall population and more than 45% unemployment in young people. Bursting of a real state bubble. Political problems too. Corruption all over the place. Politics far from Main street. We have two regions with a serious problem of independentism. And moral problems too. Again corruption all over the place, people full of rights and with no obligations, and a feeling that everything not strictly forbidden is allowed.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and there are also some good news. But overall, big problems.

It seems similar problems are all over Europe and also in the States. I'm not quite sure, but maybe it's that I live here.