Rebelión Decenas de personas protestan, junto a sus perros, contra el proyecto municipal de Bogotá. Foto: EFE / LEONARDO MUÑOZ" width="250" height="163"> Se conoció popularmente como la ley de la infidelidad: un proyecto legislativo que pretendía multar con 20 salarios mínimos al colombiano adúltero. Hubo tormenta cuando el senador que tuvo la brillante idea anunció que estaba trabajando en ella, que no era broma y que estaba dispuesto a sacarla adelante, y un pequeño huracán cuando meses más tarde, en abril del 2008, presentó el proyecto ante el Congreso. El fiscal general declaró que no veía a sus hombres «persiguiendo a presuntos infieles», y en la calle la gente empezó a preguntarse si tal vez iban a crear una brigada de funcionarios dedicados a pescar a los amantes con las manos en la masa. Los juristas expertos dijeron que difícilmente pasaría el filtro del Tribunal Constitucional, pero no fue necesario llegar hasta allá: el proyecto fue desechado en la primera votación.
Aquí hay guerrilla, narcotráfico, hay paramilitares desmovilizados y vueltos a movilizar; hay millones de desplazados, violencia en el campo, altos índices de pobreza y un presidente deseoso de perpetuarse en el poder; es Colombia y hay todo eso, y políticos que más o menos se preocupan y hacen leyes para tratar de arreglarlo, o al menos para atenuarlo, y a su lado hay otros, no se sabe por qué, con unas extrañas ganas de trepar a los anales de lo raro, lo exótico o lo directamente absurdo. ¿El inefable espíritu de Macondo? ¿Cosas del país de la banana? Un ejemplo fresco: el proyecto de un concejal de Bogotá para prohibir la entrada de perros y gatos en los parques públicos de la capital. Hace algunos días, centenares de mascotas se manifestaron con sus dueños para lamentarse, reírse y pedir la marcha atrás de ese exabrupto.
Esto no es Noruega
El genio de la segunda brillante idea argumenta que los excrementos de los animales son un peligro para los niños, y afirma que su proyecto no veta la entrada en los parques, solo en las zonas de juego. Y lo dice como si legislara en Noruega, como si lo más natural al salir a la calle fuera encontrar zonas de juego perfectamente delimitadas. No; esto es Bogotá, Colombia, y aquí no hay de eso. Así que los que tienen mascota salieron a quejarse, y al día siguiente el diario El Tiempo –el de mayor circulación– publicó en portada la foto de un labrador negro con un cartel atado al cuello: «¡Amo a los niños! Quiero ir al parque. Por favor. Soy el mejor amigo del hombre». No hay que culpar al dueño. Ni al perro. Las propuestas ridículas generan respuestas ridículas.
En la misma línea absurda está la tercera brillante idea: un proyecto de ley que está en trámite en el Congreso (de momento, sin obstáculos) con el fin de instaurar un toque de queda permanente para los niños colombianos. De salir adelante, los menores de 16 años no podrán estar en la calle entre las diez de la noche y las seis de la mañana, se supone que para evitar la proliferación de pandillas juveniles y poner algo de freno al consumo de alcohol y drogas. El proyecto, por supuesto, ha sido mil veces criticado: columnistas de prensa y militantes de la izquierda han puesto el grito en el cielo y han dicho que es el acabóse, que no se puede prohibir por prohibir. La realidad es que está a punto de ser aprobado.
«Regreso a las cavernas»
Adúlteros, perros, gatos, niños… y también hay un proyecto para vetar la venta de licores alrededor de las universidades (con lo cual cientos de pequeños comercios probablemente quebrarán). Todas son iniciativas que caben bajo el paraguas de lo absurdo, pero hay otro rasgo que las emparenta: son ideas de la derecha. Al país le pesa cada vez más la diestra y por eso el diario El Espectador ha sugerido, con alarma, una especie de «regreso a las cavernas», el surgimiento de «un Estado sobreprotector y ultraconservador» y, sobre todo, de alguna manera, «un simple reflejo del autoritarismo y personalismo que existe en el poder». Y el poder es Álvaro Uribe.
Uribe: el presidente que cita a Dios y a la Virgen más que cualquier pastor estadounidense; el que lleva seis años intentando, en vano, volver a prohibir la dosis personal de droga –despenalizada por el progresista Tribunal Constitucional de los años 90–; el que sorprendió a propios y extraños cuando un día le preguntaron por las relaciones prematrimoniales y contestó: «Hay que aplazar el gustico». No solo es el presidente, sino, parece, una fuente de inspiración. Entre aplazar el gustico y acechar infieles hay poco trecho.
As part of a new series: "Beauty and the Recession" we examine consumer tips for cosmetics
stock photography
Alicia's discovery works wonders for consumers wanting whiter teeth without breaking the bank.
With the recession in full swing, many consumers are turning to the internet to take advantage of special trial offers allowing them to save hundreds of dollars. Alicia, an ordinary, modest mother of two, living near Gilroy, CA is one such consumer. Alicia recently discovered a clever way of combining two different teeth whitening product trials, -- a teeth whitening pen and a teeth whitening kit -- to get one full "super" whitening, comparable to what you might attain at a local dentist for $400 or more. Even more surprising, she used nothing but trial offers where she paid just a few dollars in shipping charges to try these products.
Alicia's story of how she wound up with yellow teeth sounds all too familiar to some:
Well, honestly, I did quite a few things that probably contributed to my dingy teeth. I can't start my day without a tall Latte from Starbucks. And I love a glass of red wine with dinner. I can't claim to have brushed my teeth twice a day every single day, but I honestly think I was pretty good. I never floss even though I know it's important. Finally, I'm embarrassed to say that I missed my dentist appointments for 7 years in a row. I'm sure if I got my teeth cleaned at the dentist regularly it would help. With 2 kids and a such a hectic schedule, who has time to go to the dentist?
About 6 months ago, I looked in the mirror one day and was just shocked at how bad my teeth had gotten. I brushed morning and night using the whitening tooth pastes. I also tried using whitening strips, but nothing worked. I called my dentist to get a quote on a teeth whitening and he said $750! That wasn't even covered by dental insurance.
I'm no doctor or medical expert, but I heard that the quality of the at home kits were improving to the point where they were the same as what dentists used. So I did some research online. I discovered that there were 2 types of at home kits: teeth whitening pens and teeth whitening kits. My idea was that I'd use the teeth whitening pen and the teeth whitening kit together. After all two is usually better than one. After looking around online, my husband helped me find a few special offers (and coupon codes) where you could try these products by only paying a few dollars for shipping. I was able to try both products for less than $5 in shipping charges.
Alicia found products that produced results which were as good as, if not better than what she expected from the dentist. Even better, because these teeth whitening companies are desperate for new customers in this recession, she was able to take advantage of trial offers.
But Alicia didn't stop there - after finding the special trial offers, Alicia made use of the kind of ingenuity many consumers have turned to during this recession, and also looked for special discount codes that reduced the total shipping to under $5 for both products.
Most clever, perhaps, is the fact that combining two different trial products, and using them one after another, allowed Alicia to get what could effectively be described as a "super whitening" without breaking the bank.
I was surprised by the results after the first 3 days – but once I saw my teeth after a week, I was totally blown away ... I knew I was onto something.
The trick is to use TWO trial products that compliment each other TOGETHER to give yourself a whitening that's better than you ever could have expected.
Thank you to Alicia for this week's consumer tip. Alicia has shared her discovery with thousands of people over the internet. If you're interested in using Alicia's trick, we've provided links and coupon code information below. Remember, to get results like Alicia's, you will want to use BOTH products together. The coupon codes reduce shipping costs to under $5 (as of June 27, 2009):
Step 1: Click here for Brite Teeth Pro (Only $2.49 s&h)
Step 2: Click here for Easy White (Only $1.83 s&h)
CREE QUE EL REAL MADRID HA HECHO BIEN
El ex presidente del Gobierno José María Aznar ha calificado de "demagogia" las críticas que se están dirigiendo contra el Real Madrid por el precio que está dispuesto a pagar por el fichaje de Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Si hay dinero para pagarlos, me parece bien los fichajes"
Aznar, quien se ha referido a este asunto en una entrevista en Telecinco ha subrayado que se está en un mercado libre y, por tanto, le parece bien que se fiche a los jugadores que se consideren oportunos si hay dinero para pagarlos. "Me parece un poquito de demagogia", ha señalado ante las críticas por el precio y por el hecho de que se haya concedido un crédito al Real Madrid para poder afrontar una operación de estas características.
Sí ha reconocido que puede llamar la atención pagar 96 millones de euros, pero "como se pagan cuarenta por otras cosas", ha señalado. Aznar ha insistido en que lo más importante de la banca es que pueda prestar dinero a quien lo puede devolver, ya que los problemas surgen cuando se presta a quien no puede hacerlo, como ha subrayado que se está demostrando en la actual crisis económica y financiera.
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Missing for 50 years - US nuclear bomb | |||||||
More than 50 years after a 7,600lb (3,500kg) nuclear bomb was dropped in US waters following a mid-air military collision, the question of whether the missing weapon still poses a threat remains. In his own mind, retired 87-year-old Colonel Howard Richardson is a hero responsible for one of the most extraordinary displays of aeronautic skill in the history of the US Air Force. His view carries a lot of weight and he has a large number of supporters - including the Air Force itself which honoured his feat with a Distinguished Flying Cross. But to others, he is little short of a villain: the man who 50 years ago dropped a nuclear bomb in US waters, a bomb nobody has been able to find and make safe. 'Top-secret flight' Shortly after midnight on 5 February 1958, Howard Richardson was on a top-secret training flight for the US Strategic Air Command. It was the height of the Cold War and the young Major Richardson's mission was to practise long-distance flights in his B-47 bomber in case he was ordered to fly from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to any one of the targets the US had identified in Russia.
The training was to be as realistic as possible, so on board was a single massive H-bomb - the nuclear weapon he might one day be instructed to drop to start World War III. As he cruised at 38,000 feet over North Carolina and Georgia, his plane was hit by another military aircraft, gouging a huge hole in the wing and knocking an engine almost off its mountings, leaving it hanging at a perilous angle. At his home in Mississippi, Colonel Richardson said: "All of a sudden we felt a heavy jolt and a burst of flame out to the right. "We didn't know what it was. "We thought maybe it was something from outer space, but it could only be another plane." The colonel thought his number was up. His bomber started plummeting to earth and he struggled with the flight deck to get any kind of response. "We had ejection seats - I told 'em: 'Don't hit the ejection seats just yet. I'm gonna see if we can fly.'" As he dropped to 20,000 feet, he somehow got the damaged craft under control and levelled out. He and his co-pilot then made a fateful decision which probably saved both their lives and the lives of countless people on the ground.
Colonel Richardson told me that the decision was instantaneous - and he still has no doubt it was the right thing to do. They would ditch their nuclear payload as soon as possible in order to lighten the aircraft for an emergency landing and also to eliminate the danger of an enormous explosion when they made their unsteady arrival at the nearest available runway. "The tactical doctrine for Strategic Air Command gave me the authority to get rid of it (the bomb) for the safety of the crew - that was the number one priority," Colonel Richardson said. He managed to direct the B-47 a mile or two off the coast of Savannah and opened the bomb doors, dropping the bomb somewhere into the shallow waters and light sand near Tybee Island. He then managed a perfectly executed descent from which he and his crew walked away unscathed. The pilot of the other aircraft, an F-86 fighter jet, also survived, after his ejector seat shot him clear of his aircraft.
Immediately after the crash, a search was set up to find the unexploded nuclear weapon, buried somewhere too close for comfort to the US's second-largest seaport and one of its most beautiful cities. Numerous other searches have followed, both official and unofficial, and each of them has also proved unsuccessful. So the bomb remains tucked away on the sea-bed, in an area which is frequently dredged by shrimp fishermen, any one of whom could suddenly find that they have netted something a touch larger and scarier than a crustacean. How dangerous the bomb is after all these years is a matter of hot debate. The US Air Force insists it is safest to leave it wherever it is, and Colonel Richardson is adamant that it is incapable of a nuclear explosion because it lacks the vital plutonium trigger. 'Practice mission' He said these were routinely left out of the bombs used on training flights. "This was just a practice mission. We were continually working out any problems, that's why we had to practise - we wanted to be perfect," he said. But his case has been vigorously contested by opponents who raise apocalyptic fears of a thermonuclear explosion which could destroy much of the US eastern seaboard. Fears have also been expressed that the bomb could be located and recovered by a terrorist group, and are even some who believe that may already have happened. For Colonel Richardson, the event which shaped his life has not ended quite the way he thought it would. "I've been living with it now for 51 years. "We had an accident and I landed the aircraft safely... I did get a Distinguished Flying Cross from a general for that. "I thought that would be the story. That's not the story - everything's about the nuclear weapon." Hear more from Gerry Northam on Broken Arrow, broadcast on Radio 4 at 2000 BST, Monday 22 June. | |||||||
21 DE JUNIO DE 2009
El Bar Velódromo tornarà a obrir les seves portes el proper 6 de juliol. Aquest diumenge l'alcalde de Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, ha fet una obertura simbòlica d'aquest local que data de 1933 - Albert Domènech
per cert (ara que em miro el video) , la Violeta la Burra s'ens fà vella
I più recenti dati statistici diffusi dalle autorità ucraine in materia di demografia sono estremamente allarmanti. Nel solo 2008 la popolazione ucraina è diminuita di ben 229.000 unità per eccesso dei morti e degli emigrati sui nati vivi, ed è scesa per la prima volta dal 1970 sotto i 46 milioni di abitanti. Nel 1992, anno di massimo sviluppo demografico nella storia del paese, l’Ucraina aveva 52 milioni di abitanti, dunque la perdita è stata di oltre sei milioni in 16 anni. Quel che è peggio, la tendenza al calo demografico sta accelerando e se non interverranno fattori nuovi in controtendenza gli esperti prevedono che per la metà del secolo (2050) la popolazione ucraina non supererà i 30 milioni di abitanti. Negli ultimi due-tre anni il relativo boom economico aveva fatto sperare in una inversione di tendenza anche in campo demografico, ma la crisi piombata sul paese come nel resto del mondo a metà 2008 ha dato un severissimo colpo a queste speranze – anzi, fa ritenere che il trend potrebbe a questo punto perfino peggiorare, anche perché legato alla perdurante incertezza politica e all’altalenare della collocazione internazionale del paese. Con tutto ciò che questo significa in termini di aspettative concrete degli abitanti circa il proprio futuro e il contesto della propria vita: già l’indipendenza e la fine dell’inserimento dell’Ucraina nel contesto dell’Unione sovietica hanno prodotto, a distanza di neppur due anni, l’avvio di una spirale discendente nella natalità che non si è ancora fermata a tutt’oggi.
Manifesto pro-natalità in Russia
Un discorso simile si potrebbe fare anche per la Russia, che nel 1992 aveva poco meno di 149 milioni di abitanti e nel 2008 è scesa a poco meno di 142 milioni, con una perdita di sette milioni in sedici anni: ma nel caso russo i fattori in gioco sono piuttosto diversi, e anche i numeri hanno un significato diverso: tanto per cominciare, in questi sedici anni l’emigrazione dalla Russia è stata proporzionalmente molto minore che in Ucraina (e concentrata soprattutto nei primi tre-quattro anni), mentre la differenza negativa tra morti e nati vivi è stata più forte; in secondo luogo, negli ultimi anni soprattutto c’è stato un certo aumento delle nascite (nel 2008 c’è stato il dato più alto di tutto il periodo) grazie anche a una politica di forti incentivi per le madri che mettono al mondo il secondo figlio, ma non si è per nulla invertito il drammatico trend della mortalità che colpisce la popolazione maschile adulta per via dello “stile di vita” (alcol, fumo, violenza, stress lavorativo) oltre che per le condizioni economiche in cui una parte consistente del paese si trova ancora; e infine in Russia, a differenza che in Ucraina, è presente un forte afflusso di immigrati da altri paesi che però vengono solo in piccola parte registrati e contati tra la popolazione. Le previsioni degli esperti per gli anni a venire sono catastrofiche: il paese potrebbe ancora, di qui al 2050, ben 34 milioni di abitanti, scendendo sotto i 108 milioni per la metà del secolo: a meno che le politiche complessive del governo – in materia sanitaria e di welfare – non incomincino ad agire sulla mortalità, oltre che sulla natalità, facendo tornare a livelli “normali” l’attuale aspettativa di vita dei russi (73 anni per le donne e solamente 59 per gli uomini). E a meno che non si incomincino a considerare “cittadini” a pieno titolo anche gli immigrati.
We thought maybe it was something from outer space, but it could only be another plane 
