Does higher education buy you success in life?

There are all kinds of lists of all kinds of things. The lists that are of greatest interest to educators are of course the lists of the best colleges.

Let us start by considering what some of the components of the ratings are. Thus, of the 250 best colleges 164^th is Trinity University in Texas which takes the first place in typical graduate debt at graduation of $35,230. There are many institutions where you graduate with over $30,000 in debt, but they start in position 48 in quality. In terms of the most expensive institutions it is no. 83 Connecticut College in Connecticut that costs $49,385 a year in tuition. Second most expensive is no. 54 Bates College in Maine with also $49,350 tuition. The best at that price is no. 26 Middlebury College at $49,210.

In terms of the best or number 1 college in this ranking elaborated by the  Center for College Affordability and Productivity is Williams College that only charges $37,640 and you graduate with a debt of $9,296.

That in the United States not everything depends on your purchasing power is the fact that among the 30 best colleges are the three military academies that do not cost you a penny, and you come out without one dollar of debt. Specifically, Westpoint is the 4^th institution, followed by MIT which costs $37,960 and you get out with a debt of $17,923. Another college that costs you nothing in tuition is Cooper Union in New York and it is amongst the 100 best. Other bargains in the 100 best are- in order of from lowest to higher in state tuition, but below $ 10 000 a year : University of Florida $3778 and ranking #93,University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill $5379 # 62, University of California, Los Angeles $7551 # 71, University of California, Berkeley $7656 ND # 65, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA costs $9470 and is # 44! In the category above the 100 best there are many bargains too. If you are not willing to put up with the discipline of the free Merchant Marine or the Cost Guard, you can become a resident of Ky and go to Berea College for $ 866 a year in tuition!

The full 250 best list is available in print inForbes, edition August 30, 2010. It shows that money does not necessarily buy you the best and certainly not in this very emotional market that is education. There are 6,600 accredited higher education institutions in the country, and over $453 billion a year are spent in this area, of which $84 billion are the debts that the students have to repay. Only if you like to buy a house in a big city it may cost you more than your education.

Many economists establish that over a working lifetime a college grad earns about $500,000 more than a high school graduate. The question is: Does that depend on personal perseverance or on better education. Bill Gates, the second richest man on earth is a Harvard University drop-out. People that are motivated and have good vocational training, be it a baker, a mechanic, a nurse practitioner or a MRI operator can be financially more successful and happier in their lives than a graduate from Princeton, the second university on the list. Life does not consist on starting flipping hamburgers and having always a party on the weekends. Everyone should do what s/he really likes to do since that will motivate anyone to improve in their own selected area of endeavor for life and good performance in any skill are will bring success. It can be through an academic program, a company apprentice program or an army vocational training program. The believers in 'free will' know perfectly well that they are their own masters. Just do it. Do not wait for others to do it for you. Nor do blame the others for your problems. Just do it with love and perseverance!

The Economist-Innovations in air-conditioning systems

Keeping cool and green


Innovations in air-conditioning systems mean cooling down buildings is going to require less energy

Jul 15th 2010
“AN ABSOLUTE dog’s breakfast” is how David Collins describes the standard of fan blades in air-conditioning systems. This might seem to be something that would vex only an engineer like Mr Collins, the boss of Synergetics Environmental Engineering, based in Melbourne, Australia. But it is a big problem. If blades were designed for better aerodynamic efficiency, instead of for being stamped from sheet metal as cheaply as possible, the electricity consumption of many cooling systems could, he says, be cut by a third.

Huge effort has gone into warming up buildings as efficiently as possible; less into cooling them down. Most air-conditioning units, like refrigerators, use tubes containing chemical refrigerants which vaporise as they draw heat out of the air passing over them. This chilled air is then circulated with a fan to cool a building, a train or a car. Regulations are outlawing certain refrigerants, such as chlorofluorocarbons, which contain ozone-depleting chemicals. New developments would make cooling systems greener still because they would use less power.

Most air-conditioners using refrigerants consume lots of electricity because they employ mechanical compressors, which are piston-like machinery that squeeze the heated vapours. This turns the refrigerant back into its cooler liquid state to be used again. In countries where electricity is cheaper at night some air-conditioning machines now take a different approach. As the evening beckons, they start making ice. During the day fans blow air over the ice. In southern Europe roughly one in 20 air-conditioned offices is now cooled with ice, cutting electricity bills by about 10%.

Even bigger savings could be made with “thermal coolers”. Instead of using a mechanical compressor running on electricity, thermal coolers are powered with hot water. A refrigerant vaporises, absorbing heat from the air to be cooled. Then a salty solution, commonly containing lithium bromide, absorbs the refrigerant vapours. When the container holding this liquid is bathed in hot water, the refrigerant separates from the salty solution and is recovered to be used again.

Sun up, heat down
Thermal coolers are an attractive option in places where hot water is available on the cheap as “waste heat”, for example from coal- or gas-fired power plants. Where winters are short or mild, piping this water for use in district-heating schemes is prohibitively expensive. But if it can be used for air-conditioning as well then the sums change. In Europe, hot water from 50 or so district-heating networks is now also used to power thermal air-conditioning, according to Ursula Eicker, a refrigeration expert at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

She expects that this number will rise as efficiencies improve. In recent years thermal coolers have worked well with water at about 90°C or hotter. Now some models can be powered by water that is less than 80°C. This is important because in sunny climates rooftop solar panels are capable of heating water to 80°C. At present solar-cooling equipment is expensive. SolarNext, a German firm, has built a solar system to cool (and heat) a building almost the size of two family homes for about €50,000 ($63,000). Uli Jakob, who led the project, says recouping such an outlay would take a decade or more of energy savings. But he expects costs will fall as production of solar-cooling equipment ramps up.

Cars also use water to cool their engines. Once heated, could the water power the air-conditioning too? Sorption Energy, based in Oxford, Britain, is working with Fiat to develop a small thermal cooler that might do the job (and save petrol in the process: by some estimates roughly 5% of all petrol burned in Europe’s cars is consumed by air-conditioning units). But drivers may have to wait until their engines warm up before the inside of their vehicles starts to cool down.
Evaporative coolers are a cheap alternative to refrigerative air-conditioning. The air near a splashing waterfall or fountain is cooler than the surrounding area because water droplets remove heat as they evaporate. Spraying water inside a cooling tower while air is blown through will have the same effect. Whereas refrigerative systems reduce the humidity of air (because some water vapour condenses and is drained away), evaporative coolers increase humidity. This means they tend to be more popular in dry climates.

However, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado have designed an evaporative system that sprays ambient-temperature water into warm air to cool it, but in a way that also lowers the humidity. NREL uses syrupy liquids which contain salty desiccants to soak up the humidity. Hot water is used to heat the syrups and dry them out. NREL’s technology, known as “desiccant-evaporative cooling”, is still being developed, but it requires little power, not least because the hot water can be obtained from solar panels. Ron Judkoff of NREL thinks the process will consume only about a fifth of the energy of conventional air-conditioners, depending how dry the climate is to begin with.

The big increasing number of data centres that house computer servers could be among the first to benefit from some of these developments in cooling technology. These data centres use a lot of energy. IBM reckons that in some centres about half of all the electricity consumed is spent cooling equipment. Mr Collins’s company, Synergetics, is working on what it calls a “surgical ventilation” system which uses small tubes with fans that whisk heat away from hot components inside servers before it warms nearby parts. This heat could then be used to power thermal air-conditioning. And, of course, the fans will be aerodynamically perfect.

Science and Technology

Turismo, la tercera fuente de divisas de México.

La fuente más importante de divisas en México es la exportación de petróleo crudo. El campo de Cantarel se está agotando y por ello la cantidad de petróleo a exportar está disminuyendo. Los precios suben, pero eso no es controlable….

La segunda fuente de divisas son las remesas de los mexicanos que trabajan en el extranjero pero envían el dinero para el sustento de sus familias. Ya que en Estados Unidos el desempleo aun es más del 9,5%, este dinero también disminuye significativamente. Y tardará en cambiar…. Según las últimas estadísticas aumentó el desempleo.

 La tercera fuente de divisas es el turismo del que analizaremos algunos aspectos.

Se divulga que US$ 14 mil millones ingresan al país en este concepto. También se sabe que el 90% del turismo viene principalmente de Estados Unidos y algunos de Canadá. El otro 10% en casi partes iguales viene de Europa y de Asia. Considerando que hay escasos vuelos a Asia, es asombroso este número de visitantes. Pero más asombroso es el hecho de que son muy pocos los servicios diseñados específicamente con ellos en mente. Así cualquier turista en Paris ve carteles en japonés y chino en las tiendas anunciando sus productos y sus precios. ¿Quién ha visto algo así en México? Y aún más alarmante es que las grandes atracciones turísticas no prestan información ni servicios al gran número de turistas del futuro. Hay 1300 millones de chinos. Si sólo un 10% viaja al extranjero es más que la población de México y más de un tercio de la población de Estados Unidos.

Considerando que Chichen Itzá es la atracción Maya más importante del mundo. Atrae una gran cantidad de visitantes directamente. Pero atrae aún más los que ya están en Cancún que aprovechan la oportunidad que en un día pueden ir y volver a Chichen Itzá para admirarlo. Pero aunque Chichen Itzá ofrece algunas facilidades, como el almacenamiento de mochilas etc., hacen falta muchísimas otras cosas. Así no es problema encontrar guías hablando el castellano, el maya y un inglés tolerable, incluso algunos guías dicen que pueden explicar los monumentos en alemán, francés e italiano. La última vez que visitamos el sitio había una gran afluencia de turistas de Europa del Este. La única manera de comunicar con ellos era a través del inglés que ni los guías ni los turistas realmente dominan. A mí se me ocurre la comparación de que es cómo hablarle a un burro en el lenguaje maya; ciertamente comprende algunas cosas pero ciertamente el burro no se puede afirmar que hable el maya. Si esto les ofende, encuentre Vd. una mejor analogía. En términos de idiomas hace falta que se fomente entre los guías el mandarín, el cantonés, el japonés, el coreano, el tagalo, etc. También en los parques arqueológicos hay que demarcar senderos con carteles de información y mapas  en varios idiomas a lo largo de ellos, como por ejemplo lo hacen en Tikal, Guatemala. 

Otro aspecto importante es que se debe de evitar que el turista pise los monumentos arqueológicos directamente. Si se les quiere dejar ver perspectivas diferentes hay que proveerlas con estructuras independientes de las ruinas. 

Son muchas otras las  maneras de preservar  la majestuosidad de los sitios. Si no se cuidan, desaparecerán…y para siempre… 

La Secretaria de Turismo se enorgullece por su reciente creación de lo que llama “Recorridos o Rutas Turísticas”. Esto sólo tendrá éxito si se prevé la suficiente infraestructura como información en diferentes idiomas y considerando las preferencias culturales de cada grupo. El fomentar entre los turistas de un país budista el recorrido de las misiones o  santuarios católicos en México no es el mejor uso de los recursos. 

Además, que un hotel dentro de esa ruta exija al huésped que, aparte de prepagar su habitación, tenga que depositar en efectivo un monto primero para la llave de la habitación, segundo para el control remoto de la TV y tercero por las toallas de la habitación no es admisible. Sí, hay ciertas “pérdidas“ en  lo que no está atado o clavado. Pero no todos los turistas son ladrones…y considerando las restricciones que hay  en equipaje hoy, no hay muchos que quieren otra toalla más.  Además todo eso tiene soluciones técnicas que debe de resolver el hotelero en interés de su negocio. 

La educación del sector servicio turístico también hay que fomentarla. Hemos experimentado que el mesero pone el vaso en la mesa sosteniéndolo con sus dedos en el borde superior, por donde se bebe. 

También hace falta que haya más oficinas de información para turistas. Llegamos al aeropuerto de Guadalajara, la segunda ciudad más grande de México,  sin lograr encontrar una oficina de información turística sobre esa área. También varias líneas aéreas dejan mucho que desear en su manejo de viajeros. Informamos a las autoridades aeronáuticas sobre maltrato. Esas no tuvieron otra ocurrencia que de pasar la queja al departamento jurídico de la línea en cuestión. Estos abogados nos citaron la ley y evidenciaba que tenían toda la razón de comportarse arbitrariamente con sus clientes-pasajeros. 

Evidentemente, hay gratas vivencias en este hermoso país que es México y con mucha gente muy amable y cordial. No obstante, la competencia para el turista es muy grande y se tiene gran éxito no sólo siendo los mejores sino también siendo innovadores. Entre estas innovaciones está el turismo ecológico, que ya fomenta Costa Rica; el turismo de salud, en que destaca India en general y Bangkok en particular. Todos esos servicios tienen que estar certificados por autoridades internacionales, lo que no es el caso en términos de cirugía y medicina en Rosarito y Tijuana, ni en Cuba. Pero por otra parte los dentistas de la frontera no solamente tienen buena fama sino gran  parte de sus clientes son del otro lado. Incluso las tarifas están establecidas en US Dólares, como también lo están sus cuentas bancarias. 

Esto son solamente algunas sugerencias para atraer más turistas a México. Aún hay mucho más para mostrar al mundo.

Infectious disease may explain why some countries have cleverer populations

Best I Q: Singapore 108, South Korea106, Japan and China at 105
Best life indicator Czechs 2.12, Sweden 2.15

Disease and intelligence

Intelligence tested

Infectious disease may explain why some countries have cleverer populations

Jul 2nd 2010

HUMAN intelligence is higher, on average, in some places than in others. And researchers at the University of New Mexico have come up with an explanation, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Comparing the average IQ in a particular country with its disease burden (based on the reduction in life expectancy caused by 28 infectious diseases) reveals a striking correlation. At the bottom of the IQ list is Equatorial Guinea, followed by St Lucia, with Cameroon, Mozambique and Gabon tied for third last. These countries also have among the highest burdens of infectious diseases. At the opposite end of the scale, Singapore, South Korea, China and Japan show the highest intelligence scores and relatively low levels of disease. America, Britain and a number of European countries also place in the top left-hand corner of the chart.
 See The Economist of this date for graphic and data.

Comments to:  vent999@gmail.com

How do I invite people to try Google Wave?

How do I invite people to try Google Wave?

Need a brain kicker?

Are you depressed about the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain)? Will Greek demonstrations come soon to U S A? The economic situation is bad enough and certainly can have all kinds of bad consequences for the United States as well. But do not despair. Read “Fast Company” June 2010 and specifically their 100 most creative people in business. No, they do not pay me and, yes, I pay my own subscription. “Fast Company” came on scene as a more modern and a competitor to Fortune, but they have found their niche in going into design, creativity and novelty. It is certainly inspiring to read about these 100 people that range from age 15 to their seventies with a predominance of early working age. There are all kinds of creators – from furniture to games and anything in between. The predominant theme is of course the internet, and many of the business models are based on free usage. Well, free means advertising generated revenue, but that is of course the American way. It has generated the Google’s that now dominate the internet, like it or not. It would be most interesting to have your reactions to these 100 creators and even some specific person among the crowd. Many women are amongst the 100! Please comment.
There are enough creative people in this world so that we do not need to despair about the PIGS present problems….nor about the future.

New energy buisness Oct 2010 !

Save the Date

The 23rd NREL Industry Growth Forum will be held October 19 — 21, 2010 at the Denver Marriott City Center in Denver, CO.

http://www.cleanenergyforum.com/

Educación es ofrecida a muchos.

Todos nacemos desnudos e ignorantes.
Es lo que aprendemos en la vida lo que nos diferenciara' ...
Educación es ofrecida a muchos... y en mi filosofía todos al empezar una clase absolutamente todos tienen la mejor nota.
Solo los que fallan en el aprendizaje bajan de nota...los que aprenden siguen con su buena nota.

Luego: a los de mala nota son a los que hay que re-educar....repetir...criticar...mostrar que fallan...y si son aun tan ignorantes de que no saben en que fallan hay que 'insistir con la verdad'...( si es que la hay - pero los hechos del pasado son verdades).

Si, en obtener educación se cometen errores... pero BUENA educación los enmienda y no los resiente! Aprende de ello!
Aprender a aprender no es sin sudor e incluso lagrimas o sangre! El dicho es: con sangre la lección entra!
No quiero sus votos por mi opinión...pero agradezco comentarios.

Periodicos - Zietungen + mehr

Hier ist eine Adresse, auf der das systematisch, einfach und umfangreich geht, nach Regionen und Ländern Zeitungen aller Welt zu lesen.
"http://www.omninternet.com/".
Probier das mal aus!

Herzliche Grüße,
G.

Apr 11, 2010,
Para el que quiera ver y leer las noticias.

Al abrir la página, aparecen como en un kiosco todos los diarios con sus portadas del día, de la fecha en que abres el web y puedes elegir el que quieras leer detalladamente.

www.kiosko.net

Weather

Sponsored by: ADT

Presupuesto de México

Es instructivo y muy recomendable la lectura del documento:
http://www.presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/presupuesto/Que%20es%20el%20Presupuesto%20Federal.pdf

La Educación de Elite

Ya hace décadas que se miden muchos eventos sociales que anteriormente se consideraban no medibles. Así por ejemplo desde los años sesenta hay modelos sobre comportamiento social que a través de modelos en la computadora pueden predecir numéricamente comportamientos sociales que anteriormente se creía imposible de lograr. Entre otros logros en cuantificar el comportamiento esta muy específicamente la elección del Presidente Kennedy. Basado en modelos en computadoras fue pronosticada a través de unas relaciones bien numéricas. Evidentemente también se aplica a la medición numérica a la educación. Esto ha sido bien aceptado porque hoy en día muchas de las instituciones de educación superior en su pagina el la Web anuncian su posición destacada en uno u otro de los servicios que periódicamente elaboran numéricamente el posicionamiento de las instituciones. Como en todo listado numérico hay un primero y secuenciación de seguidores y finalmente hay un último. Hoy en día incluso este ranking ya no solo se utiliza para el ofrecimiento entero de la entidad, sino que se subdivide de acuerdo a áreas de conocimientos. En esta subdivisión ciertamente puede haber desacuerdos, si una disciplina debe de estar en una u otra área. Ejemplo: biología genética – es medicina o es ciencias biológicas.
En general, se considera que hay 5 grandes áreas del conocimiento en las universidades: Ciencias, Ingeniería, Sociales, Medicina y Vida/ Biológicas. Es asombroso que solamente dos entidades destacan a nivel mundial en todas las 5 áreas entra las 20 mejores del mundo. Las que son destacadas en 4 las áreas entra las 20 mejores del mundo, hablamos solo de 4 de entidades. De tres áreas el numero no se va incrementando -5- las que tienen un área destacada a nivel de las 20 mejores mundiales. Las que tienen 2 áreas sobresalientes son 15 entre las 20 mundiales de elite. Y son 9 las universidades ente las 20 mas destacadas, que tienen 1 área de excelencia.
Ven abajo las estadísticas correspondientes.
Para esta presentación he seleccionado las entidades destacadas a nivel mundial en el área de la ingeniería, hasta la universidad numero 51. El rango lo determina la ponderación que se le da a los diferentes factores que se consideran los elementos que componen lo que es la excelencia. Esto puede ser el número de publicaciones de los profesores de la entidad, los títulos académicos que poseen, específicamente el % de doctorados de la facultad y el éxito que tienen en lograr fondos para proyectos de investigaciones. Abajo están los detalles de estos criterios.
Ciertamente con ponderación diferente de los factor, el orden puede alterarse- de 5 pasar a 3. También de año a año pueden cambiar los factores: menos publicaciones y más dinero para proyectos de investigación. Pero eso no posiciona una entidad de la posición 50 a la posición 3.
Estados Unidos domina la educación superior, ya que tiene el 80% de las 20 instituciones de elite. Le sigue el Reini unido con 11 y todas las otras solo tiene 3 -Japón- o menos.
Toma muchos años de excelencia académica para lograr grandes saltos. Y sin un plan de desarrollo académico es muy optimista esperar por un milagro que suceda por el simple hecho de que transcurra del tiempo. Si hay globalización, es en esta área donde es más pronunciada.
Los europeos se han dado cuenta de ello y establecieron el plan Pisa que aplica a los 27 países de la Unión Europea. Tiene varios aspectos. Pero quizás el más interesante es que un estudiante de cualquier universidad puede ir a estudiar por un ciclo académico en otra- en su país o en otro dentro de la U E – y las clases y los créditos aprobados en la institución visitada deben de ser reconocidos por la institución de origen.
También ha llevado a la creación de instituciones de elite, que reciben mayor apoyo en sus áreas destacadas que le apoyo estatal que obtienen otras entidades. Pero eso se gestiona a nivel de las 27 naciones de la U E. En Gran Bretaña, tanto Cambridge como Oxford- las instituciones con gran prestigio – se quejan que este esquema no se aplica y que prevalece la democracia: todos por igual. Evidente que esto no conduce a resultados de excelencia en todas las entidades. Hay por ello un mal uso de los escasos recursos. Como ya dijo Lincoln: a un hombre pequeño no se le hace grande simplemente por tratar de hacer al hombre grande más pequeño.
Fomentar excelencia no es democrático. Pero al correr de los años beneficiar a un gran numero de personas al lograr mejoras y adelantos.
Ser presidente tampoco es democrático: él es el que manda. Lo que debe ser democrático es el comino que se requiere recorrer para llegar a la presidencia.
Ejemplos de otras comparaciones:
Salud:
http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/california/san-diego

Health Outcomes Rankings en California:
Rank Mortality Rank Morbidity
1 Marin
1 Colusa

2 Santa Clara
2 San Benito

3 San Mateo
3 Marin

4 Orange
4 Amador

5 San Benito
5 Placer

6 Santa Cruz
6 El Dorado

7 Placer
7 Santa Cruz

8 Sonoma
8 Glenn

9 Ventura
9 Nevada

10 Colusa
10 Mendocino

11 Monterey
11 Orange

12 Contra Costa
12 Yolo

13 Santa Barbara
13 Tuolumne

14 San Luis Obispo
14 Calaveras

15 San Diego
15 San Mateo


Health Factors Rankings
Rank Health Behaviors Rank Clinical Care Rank Social & Economic Factors Rank Physical Environment
1 Santa Clara
1 Marin
1 Marin
1 Contra Costa

2 Santa Cruz
2 Inyo
2 Placer
2 Lake

3 Marin
3 Yolo
3 Santa Clara
3 Mono

4 Placer
4 Placer
4 Nevada
4 Plumas

5 San Benito
5 San Francisco
5 San Mateo
5 San Benito

6 Napa
6 Sonoma
6 El Dorado
6 Lassen

7 San Mateo
7 San Luis Obispo
7 San Luis Obispo
7 San Mateo

8 Nevada
8 Siskiyou
8 Orange
8 Imperial

9 Orange
9 San Mateo
9 Ventura
9 Solano

10 San Francisco
10 Santa Clara
10 Napa
10 Siskiyou

11 San Luis Obispo
11 El Dorado
11 Sonoma
11 Placer

12 Alameda
12 Amador
12 Contra Costa
12 Alameda

13 El Dorado
13 Humboldt
13 Calaveras
13 Sutter

14 Sonoma
14 Contra Costa
14 Santa Cruz
14 Mendocino

15 Monterey
15 Nevada
15 San Diego
15 Monterey


2010 County Health Ranking California Data

Health Outcomes Health Factors
FIPS State County Z-Score Rank Z-Score Rank
06000 California
06001 California Alameda -0,26 23 -0,32 15
06003 California Alpine 999 999
06005 California Amador -0,45 18 -0,16 22
06007 California Butte 0,26 35 0,13 33
06009 California Calaveras -0,30 22 -0,15 23
06011 California Colusa -1,05 3 0,47 46
06013 California Contra Costa -0,37 19 -0,46 13
06015 California Del Norte 1,30 56 0,27 38
06017 California El Dorado -0,65 10 -0,60 6
06019 California Fresno 0,42 41 0,76 53
06021 California Glenn 0,15 30 0,35 41
06023 California Humboldt 0,46 42 -0,11 26
06025 California Imperial 0,37 39 0,92 54
06027 California Inyo 0,86 50 -0,20 20
06029 California Kern 0,97 51 0,94 55
06031 California Kings 0,17 31 0,45 45
06033 California Lake 1,19 54 0,38 42
06035 California Lassen 0,49 44 -0,10 27
06037 California Los Angeles 0,02 26 0,42 44
06039 California Madera 0,58 48 0,53 47
06041 California Marin -1,39 1 -1,11 1
06043 California Mariposa 0,23 34 -0,14 24
06045 California Mendocino 0,22 33 -0,14 25
06047 California Merced 0,40 40 0,60 49
06049 California Modoc 0,58 47 0,23 36
06051 California Mono 0,28 36 -0,24 18
06053 California Monterey -0,47 16 -0,04 29
06055 California Napa -0,57 13 -0,51 10
06057 California Nevada -0,52 14 -0,74 5
06059 California Orange -0,94 7 -0,54 9
06061 California Placer -0,96 6 -0,93 2
06063 California Plumas -0,23 25 0,07 31
06065 California Riverside 0,07 27 0,35 40
06067 California Sacramento 0,20 32 0,15 34
06069 California San Benito -1,21 2 -0,18 21
06071 California San Bernardino 0,51 45 0,62 50
06073 California San Diego -0,49 15 -0,23 19
06075 California San Francisco -0,23 24 -0,48 12


Academic Ranking of World Universities

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is first published in June 2003 by the Center for World-Class Universities and the Institute of Higher Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and then updated on an annual basis. ARWU uses six objective indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, number of highly cited researchers selected by Thomson Scientific, number of articles published in journals of Nature and Science, number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index - Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance with respect to the size of an institution. More than 1000 universities are actually ranked by ARWU every year and the best 500 are published on the web.
http://www.arwu.org/
Statistics by Institution and the 5 Fields of relevance:
for the 20 top as well as the 100 top institutions
Institution* Country Number of Fields in Top20 Number of Fields in Top 100
Stanford University
5 5
University of Cambridge
5 5
Columbia University
4 5
Harvard University
4 5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
4 5
University of California, Berkeley
4 5
University of Oxford
4 5
Cornell University
3 5
University of California, Los Angeles
3 5
University of California, San Diego
3 5
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
3 5
University of Wisconsin - Madison
3 5
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
2 5
University of Pennsylvania
2 5
University of Washington
2 5
California Institute of Technology
2 4
Princeton University
2 4
The Johns Hopkins University
2 4
University College London
2 4
University of Chicago
2 4
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2 4
Yale University
2 4
Carnegie Mellon University
2 3
The University of Texas at Austin
2 3
University of California, Santa Barbara
2 3
University of Maryland, College Park
2 3
Karolinska Institute
2 2
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
2 2
University of California, San Francisco
2 2
Duke University
1 5
Northwestern University
1 5
University of Southern California
1 5
University of Toronto
1 5
Kyoto University
1 4
New York University
1 4
Pennsylvania State University - University Park
1 4
Purdue University - West Lafayette
1 4
The University of Tokyo
1 4


Statistics by Region
http://www.arwu.org/ARWUFieldStatistics2009.jsp
Top 20

Region SCI ENG LIFE MED SOC
Americas 14 17 16 16 18
Europe 4 2 4 4 2
Asia/Pacific 2 1 0 0 0
Total 20 20 20 20 20
Top 100

Region SCI ENG LIFE MED SOC
Americas 56 48 63 61 78
Europe 31 23 30 32 18
Asia/Pacific 14 29 7 7 4
Total 101 100 100 100 100



Statistics by Country
Top 20

Country SCI ENG LIFE MED SOC Subtotal
United States 14 16 16 16 18 80
United Kingdom 2 1 3 3 2 11
Japan 2 1 — — — 3
Switzerland 1 1 — — — 2
Sweden — — 1 1 — 2
Canada — 1 — — — 1
France 1 — — — — 1
Germany — — — — — —



Top 100

Country SCI ENG LIFE MED SOC Subtotal
United States 54 43 58 55 70 280
United Kingdom 8 8 10 11 11 48
Japan 6 5 3 2 — 16
Switzerland 3 2 4 2 — 11
Sweden 2 3 2 2 — 9
Canada 2 5 5 5 8 25
France 6 2 1 2 — 11
Germany 7 1 6 5 — 19
China 1 11 — 1 1 14
Netherlands 1 3 2 4 4 14
Australia 1 3 4 3 1 12
Israel 4 3 — — 2 9
Belgium — 2 3 2 1 8
Denmark 2 1 1 1 1 6
Singapore 1 2 — 1 — 4
South Korea 1 3 — — — 4
Italy 1 1 — 1 — 3
Finland — — 1 1 — 2
India — 2 — — — 2
Brazil — — — 1 — 1
Norway — — — — 1 1
Russia 1 — — — — 1
Spain — — — 1 — 1



Academic Ranking of World Universities
in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences – 2009
http://www.arwu.org/FieldENG2009.jsp
Methodology | Statistics
World Rank Institution* Country Score on HiCi Score on PUB Score on TOP Score on Fund Total Score
1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)


99 78 94 98 100.0
2
Stanford University


100 65 97 79 92.5
3
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


63 73 89 91 85.8
4
University of California, Berkeley


77 71 90 70 83.6
5
Carnegie Mellon University


53 55 90 100 81.1
6
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor


61 69 90 77 81.0
7
The University of Texas at Austin


73 63 86 71 79.8
8
Georgia Institute of Technology


35 81 86 91 79.7
9
University of California, San Diego


68 58 90 75 78.9
10
Pennsylvania State University - University Park


69 68 84 70 78.8
11
University of Southern California


60 51 91 83 77.4
12
California Institute of Technology


73 53 97 57 75.9
13
University of California, Santa Barbara


80 48 100 50 75.6
14
University of Maryland, College Park


56 60 82 79 75.3
15
1ª not in U S A
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne


55 62 87 73.8
15
University of Cambridge


55 63 86 73.8
17
Purdue University - West Lafayette


51 69 81 71 73.7
18
Cornell University


56 50 93 70 73.3
19
University of Toronto


61 65 84 51 71.2
20
Tohoku University


47 85 64 70.7
21
National University of Singapore


20 85 89 70.4
22
Northwestern University


66 52 93 48 70.2
22
The Ohio State University - Columbus


49 58 86 67 70.2
24
University of Florida


43 60 88 66 69.8
25
University of Wisconsin - Madison


49 56 83 67 69.1
26
Kyoto University


35 76 80 69.0
26
Princeton University


69 46 93 46 69.0
26
University of California, Los Angeles


45 55 94 60 69.0
26
University of Washington


53 52 88 61 69.0
30
The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine


40 68 82 68.7
31
Texas A&M University - College Station


20 67 76 90 68.6
32
The University of Manchester


45 64 79 68.0
33
Tokyo Institute of Technology


40 73 74 67.9
34
North Carolina State University - Raleigh


51 55 79 65 67.8
35
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities


51 54 90 54 67.4
36
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology


35 57 91 66.3
37
National Cheng Kung University


14 82 84 65.3
38
Harvard University


55 47 99 38 64.9
38
University of Pennsylvania


49 41 97 51 64.9
40
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology


35 58 85 64.4
41
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich


20 66 91 63.9
42
University of California, Irvine


49 44 89 52 63.6
43
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University


35 59 79 60 63.3
44
Tsinghua University


0 100 75 63.2
45
National Chiao Tung University


20 68 86 63.0
46
University of Oxford


40 50 83 62.8
47
University of California, Davis


40 54 87 50 62.7
48
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick


47 42 84 62.4
49
McGill University


37 53 81 61.9
50
University of Massachusetts Amherst


56 39 93 40 61.8
51-77
Arizona State University - Tempe


28 50 87 45
51-77
Catholic University of Leuven


20 56 85
51-77
Chalmers University of Technology


28 49 82




Ranking Methodology
Selection of Universities| Definition of Broad Subject Fields | Ranking Criteria and Weights
Definition of Indicators | Data Sources
Selection of Universities
The ranking list for ARWU - FIELD includes every institution that has any Nobel Laureates, Fields Medals, and Highly-Cited Researchers. In addition, major universities of every country with significant amount of articles indexed by Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) are also included. In total, more than one thousand institutions have been actually ranked in each broad subject field.
Definition of Broad Subject Fields
Institutions are ranked by five broad subject fields, including Natural Sciences and Mathematics (SCI), Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences (ENG), Life and Agriculture Sciences (LIFE), Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy (MED), and Social Sciences (SOC). Arts and humanities are not ranked because of the technical difficulties in finding internationally comparable indicators with reliable data. Psychology/Psychiatry is not included in the ranking because of its multi-disciplinary characteristics.
Ranking Criteria and Weights
Similar to ARWU, institutions are ranked according to their academic or research performance in each broad subject field. Ranking indicators include alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, Highly Cited Researchers, articles indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). Two new indicators were introduced, one is the percentage of articles published in the top 20% journals of each field, and the other is the engineering research expenditure.
For each indicator, the highest scoring institution is assigned a score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top score. The distribution of data for each indicator is examined for any significant distorting effect and standard statistical techniques are used to adjust the indicator if necessary.
Scores for each indicator are weighted to arrive at a final overall score for an institution. The highest scoring institution is assigned a total score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top total score. The scores are then placed in descending order.
Indicators and Weights for ARWU - FIELD

Code Weight SCI ENG LIFE MED SOC
Alumni 10% Alumni of an institution winning Fields Medals in mathematics and Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics since 1951 Not Applicable Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine since 1951 Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine since 1951 Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Economics since 1951
Award 15% Staff of an institution winning Fields Medals and Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics since 1961 Not Applicable Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine since 1961 Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine since 1961 Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Economics since 1961
HiCi 25% Highly cited researchers in 5 categories:
♦ Mathematics
♦ Physics
♦ Chemistry
♦ Geosciences
♦ Space Sciences Highly cited researchers in 3 categories:
♦Engineering
♦Computer Science
♦Materials Science Highly cited researchers in 8 categories:
♦Biology&Biochemistry
♦Molecular Biology&Genetics
♦Microbiology
♦Immunology
♦Neuroscience
♦Agricultural Sciences
♦Plant&Animal Science
♦Ecology/Environment Highly cited researchers in 3 categories:
♦Clinical Medicine
♦Pharmacology
♦Social Sciences,General(Partly) Highly cited researchers in 2 Categories:
♦Social Sciences,General(Partly)
♦Economics/Business
PUB 25% Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded in SCI fields Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index- Expanded in ENG fields Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index- Expanded in LIFE fields Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index- Expanded in MED fields Papers Indexed in Social Science Citation Index in SOC fields
TOP 25% Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of SCI fields to that in all SCI journals Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of ENG fields to that in all ENG journals Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of LIFE fields to that in all LIFE journals Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of MED fields to that in all MED journals Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of SOC fields to that in all SOC journals
Fund 25% Not Applicable Total engineering-related research expenditures Not Applicable Not Applicable Not Applicable
Note: SCI for Natural Sciences and Mathematics, ENG for Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences, LIFE for Life and Agriculture Sciences, MED for Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, SOC for Social Sciences
Definition of Indicators
Indicator Definition
Alumni indicates the total number of the alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prize in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics and Fields Medals in mathematics. Alumni are defined as those who obtain bachelor, Master’s or doctoral degrees from the institution. Different weights are set according to the periods of obtaining degrees. The weight is 100% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1991-2000, 80% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1981-1990, 60% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1971-1980, 40% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1961-1970, and finally 20% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1951-1960. If a person obtains more than one degrees from an institution, the institution is considered once only. Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine are used in both LIFE and MEDranking.
Award indicates the total number of the staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics and Fields Medals in mathematics. Staff is defined as those who work at an institution at the time of winning the prize. Different weights are set according to the periods of winning the prizes. The weight is 100% for winners in 2001-2008, 80% for winners in 1991-2000, 60% for winners in 1981-1990, 40% for winners in 1971-1980, and finally 20% for winners in 1961-1970. If a winner is affiliated with more than one institution, each institution is assigned the reciprocal of the number of institutions. For Nobel Prizes, if a prize is shared by more than one person, weights are set for winners according to their proportion of the prize. Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine are used in both LIFE and MED ranking.
HiCi indicates the number of highly cited researchers in twenty subject categories defined and provided by isihighlycited.com. These highly cited researchers are assigned to five broad subject fields. If a researcher is listed in more than one subject category, his/her weight for each category is the reciprocal of the number of categories listed. Specifically, researchers who are listed in Social Science, General Category are checked one by one, and they are reclassified into three groups according to their affiliation colleges/departments. People worked at health-related units such as medical school, school of public health and school of nursing are grouped for MED ranking, people affiliated to Psychology/Psychiatry departments are not considered for the ranking, other individuals in this category are totaled for SOC ranking.
PUB indicates the total number of papers indexed by Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index in 2007 and 2008. Only publications of ‘Article’ and ‘Proceedings Paper’ types are considered. Each paper published by an institution is assigned into one of the six broad subject fields according to journals the paper was published in (Classification of Journal Categories), including above-mentioned five broad subject fields and Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Sciences. If a paper is published in a multi-assigned journal (which is assigned to more than one ISI category), it is divided into related groups.
TOP indicates the percentage of papers published in the top 20% journals of each broad subject field. Top 20% journals are defined as their impact factors in the top 20% of each ISI category according to Journal Citation Report, 2008. Papers in the top journals of each ISI category are then aggregated into the six broad subject fields and the TOP is calculated as the number of papers in the top 20% journals of a particular broad subject field to that in all journals of the field. A threshold was set for the minimum number of papers in each broad subject field for calculating TOP indicator. The threshold was defined as 10% of the average number of papers by the top three institutions in each broad subject field. If the threshold of a particular field is less than 100, then 100 is used. If the number of papers of an institution does not meet the minimum threshold, the TOP indicator is not calculated for the institution and its weight is relocated to other indicators. Only publications of ‘Article’ and ‘Proceedings Paper’ types are considered.
FUND indicates the total engineering-related research expenditures in 2008. This indicator is only used for ENG ranking. If the data for all institutions of a country cannot be obtained, the Fund indicator will not be considered for the institutions and its weight will be relocated to other indicators. For this ranking, the amounts of engineering-related research expenditures are obtained only for institutions in USA and some institutions in Canada.
Data Sources
Indicator Data Source
Nobel laureates http://nobelprize.org/

Fields Medals http://www.mathunion.org/medals/

Highly cited researchers http://www.isihighlycited.com

Journal Citation Report, 2008. http://www.isiknowledge.com

Papers indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index http://www.isiknowledge.com

Others Engineering-related research expenditures by school, 2006. ASEE: Engineering College Profiles and Statistics.

http://www.arwu.org/ARWUFieldMethodology2009.jsp

Nur fuer Deutschland.
Das Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE) hat ein "ExcellenceRanking" entwickelt.
CHE Forschungsranking 2009 mit aktualisierten Ergebnissen
Eine de Institutinen ist:
TU München »
München »
Arcisstraße 21
D-80333 München
Phone: +49 89 289-28378
• The department on the internet »
• Higher education compass of the HRK »
Detailed information on examined courses:
Electrical Engineering and Information Engineering (D) »
Information Engineering (D) »
Electrical Engineering and Information Engineering (B) »
Information Engineering (B) »
Communications Engineering (Mas) »
Electrical Engineering and Information Engineering (Mas) »
Microwave Engineering (Mas) »

D Diplom B bachelos Mas master

http://ranking.zeit.de/che10/CHE_en?module=Fachbereich&do=show&id=9157

Anmeldung für die Kurse
Arabisch,
Chinesisch,
Japanisch,
Portugiesisch und
Russisch. erfolgt in der ersten Kursstunde.
Für die Kurse
Deutsch als Fremdsprache,
Englisch,
Französisch,
Italienisch,
Schwedisch und
Spanisch ist eine Voranmeldung unter www.elearning.tum.de notwendig.

Premios Nobel.

Al Premio Nobel se puede aspirar pero no se puede solicitar. Contra la opinión muy prevalente, el Premio lo otorgan las entidades señaladas en áreas como Literatura, Física, Medicina, Química, y otras. La selección esta basada en sugerencias de personalidades del área bien reconocidas, entre ellos premios Nobel anteriores. Hay reglas de juego bien públicas, basadas en las instrucciones contenidas en el testamento de Nobel. Entre ellas es requerimiento que la persona designada este viva en el momento de su nombramiento, que ocurre generalmente en el mes de octubre cada año. Si muere antes de la entrega del premio, que siempre sucede el 10 de diciembre, muerte de Nobel y comienzo de la validez de testamento, la familia puede recoger la designación así momo el dinero. La dotación financiera varia de año a año, pues esta basado en los resultados financieros que obtiene la Fundación Nobel que invierte y supervisa la fortuna Nobel. En Suecia no hay el requerimiento como lo hay en Estados Unidos que cada año se debe de distribuir por lo menos el 5% del capital de la Fundación, por lo que ninguna fundación americana puede ser eterna. Pero la Fundación Nobel ya tiene más de 110 años y ha incrementado sus pagos, ya que ha logrado mejores rendimientos del mismo capital inicial.

Últimamente han pasado por la prensa comentarios de un autor centro-americano muy celebrado en lengua castellana y reconocido por muchos otros. Los periodistas frecuentemente le preguntan si solicita el premio Nobel. Y el señor, bien conocedor de la temática, siempre les responde que no le interesa ese tópico. Tiene toda la razón. Si no hay suficientes nombramientos de entidades literarias, y no solo de Latino America, sino de otras partes del mundo, el señor no lograra’ el ser honrado con ese premio.
Hay ejemplos en la historia que demuestran lo difícil que es que el Comité correspondiente, en este caso de literatura, se ponga de acuerdo: A Borges lo nombraron muchas veces pero nunca tuvo el suficiente soporte para ser designado. Las deliberaciones del Comité de todas formas son secretas y no salen a luz público sino muchas décadas después del acontecimiento. En literatura en especial también se nota un interés en que se reconozcan diferentes culturas y aunque ha predominado en el pasado la concesión del premio de literatura a europeos, en la actualidad el comité procura ser mucho más global y se inclinan por lo tanto de saltar de continente en continente de año en año. Así en el caso del 2009 el premio se dio a la Sra. Mueller, nacida en Rumania pero que escribe principalmente en alemán. Ciertamente para el 2010 ningún destacado de la lengua germánica tendrá siquiera una posibilidad. Es difícil predecir quien será designado en el 2010, pero es muy poco probable que será siquiera un europeo.

Estas reglas no aplican tan evidentemente a los premios de ciencia, ya que allí el logra depende muchísimo mas del conjunto de soporte de trabajo del científico y estas condiciones están concentradas en los países que fomentan muchísimo la investigación y el desarrollo en sus universidades y empresas. La persona puede haber nacido en cualquier parte del mundo pero sus trabajos que son premiados en general los desarrollo en entidades muy bien equipadas y apoyado por un buen equipo de trabajo y con tecnología de punta. Es dificilísimo ahora hacer ciencia básica relevante como individuo. La complejidad del mundo hoy requiere muchos equipos tanto humanos como materiales.

Siguen otras aclaratorias sobre el Nobel adaptado de Wiki.
Sigue asimismo la historia sobre una polaca que gano el Nobel de literatura. Esta’ basado sobre un documental reciente.

El Premio Nobel se otorga cada año a personas que hayan hecho investigaciones sobresalientes, inventada técnica o equipamiento revolucionario o hayan hecho contribuciones notables a la sociedad. Los premios se instituyeron como última voluntad de Alfred Nobel, inventor de la dinamita e industrial sueco. Nobel firmó su testamento en el Club Sueco-Noruego de París el 27 de noviembre de 1895. Se sentía culpable por su responsabilidad como empresario enriquecido a través de una industria productora de dinamita cuyo principal mercado era la minería, pero también la guerra. Esa puede haber sido la motivación principal de su afamado testamento, quizás unida a la costumbre en ciertas culturas de realizar acciones para hacer trascender su nombre al morir. Otros ejemplos: Carnegie, Rockefeller y Luigi Ford. Hoy B. y M. Gates- aun vivos y con una edad de solo cincuenta y tres años.
La primera ceremonia de entrega de los Premios Nobel en Literatura, Física, Química y Medicina se celebró en la Antigua Real Academia de Música de Estocolmo (Suecia) en 1901. Desde 1902, los premios los entrega el Rey de Suecia. Inicialmente, el rey Óscar II no estaba de acuerdo en dar el premio a extranjeros, pero se dice que cambió de idea al darse cuenta del enorme potencial publicitario para el país.
Los premios se conceden en una ceremonia celebrada anualmente en la Sala de Conciertos de Estocolmo, siguiendo el banquete en el Ayuntamiento el 10 de diciembre, fecha en que Alfred Nobel murió. La entrega del Premio Nobel de la Paz se realiza en Oslo, Noruega. Los nombres de los laureados, sin embargo, suelen anunciarlos en octubre los diversos comités e instituciones que actúan como tribunales de selección de los premios.
Al mismo tiempo que se entregan los diplomas se entrega un importante premio económico, actualmente unos 10 millones de coronas suecas (algo más de un millón de euros). La finalidad de esta suma es evitar las preocupaciones económicas futuras del laureado, para que así pueda desarrollar mejor sus futuros trabajos, promoviendo así el desarrollo de la cultura, la ciencia y la tecnología alrededor del mundo.
Los diversos campos en los que se conceden premios son los siguientes:
 Física (decidido por la Real Academia Sueca de Ciencias)
 Química (decidido por la Real Academia Sueca de Ciencias)
 Fisiología o Medicina (decidido por el Instituto Karolinska-un hospital universitario )
 Literatura (decidido por la Academia Sueca – ciencias sociales y lengua )
 Paz (decidido por el Comité Nobel Noruego del Parlamento Noruego)
 Economía, creado en 1968 por el Sveriges Riksbank (Banco Central de Suecia). Oficialmente se llama Premio Banco de Suecia en Ciencias Económicas en Memoria de Alfred Nobel.
A la muerte de Alfred Nobel se produjo una situación curiosa con respecto a las instituciones responsables de conceder los premios, ya que Alfred Nobel las nombró sin previa consulta a las propias instituciones sobre su aceptación o sobre los criterios para la adjudicación de los premios. Sin embargo, tras muchas dudas dentro de estas mismas instituciones, todas ellas aceptaron.
El Premio Nobel de Economía no fue provisto de fondos con base en el "Testamento de Nobel" y por tanto técnicamente no es un Premio Nobel (y la actual familia Nobel no lo acepta como tal). Sin embargo, este premio se concede junto con los otros Premios Nobel. En 1968 se decidió no añadir ningún otro premio "en memoria de Nobel" en el futuro. En febrero de 1995 se acordó que el premio de ciencias económicas se redefiniría como un premio en ciencias sociales, abriendo así el Premio Nobel a grandes contribuciones en campos como las ciencias políticas, la psicología y la sociología. Además, el comité del premio de ciencias económicas sufrió cambios para que dos miembros no economistas participaran cada año en el proceso de selección (anteriormente el comité del premio estaba compuesto únicamente por cinco economistas).

New documentary on Nobel laureate Szymborska

By AGATA KLAPEC, Associated Press writer – Sun Feb 28, 2010.
WARSAW, Poland – A rare documentary about Nobel Prize winning poet Wislawa Szymborska portrays a lively yet distinguished woman who savors the world's contrasts, from 17th-century Dutch painting to boxing.
And, in a bit of unsuspected prescience, it shows a school document from 1937 that saw a classmate declare that she would one day win the Nobel Prize in literature, a feat she accomplished in 1996.
The 70-minute documentary "Sometimes Life is Bearable" by Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska, which aired Sunday, is the first time the notoriously media-shy writer has offered such insight into her life and fascinations. She let a crew from Poland's TVN television visit her at home in Krakow and accompany her on travels throughout Europe from Italy to Ireland.
Viewers see Szymborska, 86, enjoying her less-known literary hobby — composing saucy limericks — while visiting places including Moher, Ireland, and Corleone, Sicily.
She is shown visiting art galleries and browsing in small shops for kitschy objects of art for herself and for friends.
But, in a more serious vein, she also explains why, as a young poet in 1953, she mourned the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin
"I wrote it. A pity. I regret it," she said, recalling that, at the time, many Polish intellectuals had placed great faith and hope in communism in the aftermath of World War II.
"I didn't do that for career or for money," she said. "That's how I thought then."
In the film, Woody Allen, Czech playright-turned-president Vaclav Havel and British anthropologist Jane Goodall speak of their appreciation for Szymborska's verse, which deals with the profound or tragic in life through small details of daily existence, laden with empathy that is sometimes veiled in a joke, sometimes in irony.
"She is able to capture the pointlessness and sadness of life, but somehow still be affirmative," Allen said. "She fulfills my definition of what an important artist should be: profound, but always remembering that his obligation is to entertain the reader."
Szymborska's interest in Goodall's work with chimpanzees and her love for animals suggests she draws more fascination from nature than from civilization.
Her distance to the things worldly and distinction is, perhaps, best summarized in the film by a long, drawn-out search in her apartment's many cupboards for the Nobel Prize medal — eventually found buried deep in a distant corner and then placed in a drawer with old souvenirs and medals.
She still refers to the 1.3 million kroner prize — the highest honor for literature there is — as the "Stockholm Tragedy" that upset her life and writing rhythm, creating constant pressure for public appearances and interviews.
In more personal moments, the document details Szymborska's insatiable love of a good prank, too.
Appreciating Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece "The Milkmaid" in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, she suddenly jokes, with a gleam in her eye: "Now we take out the knife and cut it out."
But just before she cracked that joke, Szymborska read her poem inspired by the painting, which said that as long as the milkmaid pours the milk, the world does not deserve to end.

de interes ..de P C Mag

Network Tools for Small Organizations

Running a network isn't easy, especially if you're part of a small or even
one-person IT shop. But there are a collection of free and near-free-
network administration tools that can help you look like a champ in the
small office. PCMag's Business and Networking team has pulled together
a look at the best of them.

http://eletters.whatsnewnow.com/u.d?i4GptbuMhIyrT78-jmRQ=80

Hands on with Google Shopper

Google mobile labs just rolled out a pretty neat shopping assistant that
uses image scanning (including bar codes), voice recognition and good
old-fashioned text search to help you find the best prices and information
when you're shopping for just about anything. I grabbed one of our
Android phones and took it for a test run. It's pretty sweet. Click the link to
get my report and video.

http://eletters.whatsnewnow.com/u.d?kYGptbuMhIyrT78-jmRV=90

Google Probably Not Making Us Stupid, Pew Study Says

Does searching the web, using Google and Wikipedia to find answers
make us smarter or stupider than we were before? I think the former, but
sometimes I'm not so sure. The good news is that now we have a study
assuring us that Google is not making us getting dumber, and we can all
breathe a sigh of relief. I think. We have a summary of the report on
Appscout.

http://eletters.whatsnewnow.com/u.d?64GptbuMhIyrT78-jmRK=100

Germany opens R & D in New York. Good or bad ?

German Center for Research and Innovation Opens in New York

The German Center for Research and Innovation will foster international collaboration in research & development by bringing together scientists and experts from academia, industry, and government.

GCRI

Buzz and Facebook 400 million .

Facebook Redesign Puts Search Front and Center When Facebook turned 6 years old earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg proudly told the world that the leading social network now has more than 400 million users. To celebrate the birthday, Facebook began rolling out changes to its homepage. See some of the changes, which will be rolling out to all users over the coming weeks.

Google Buzz Aims to Sting Facebook Google Buzz, the search engine's latest stab at social networking, is intended as an alternative to Facebook and Twitter. The service lets Gmail's 176 million users post status updates and share Picasa photos, YouTube videos and links directly in Gmail. Here is a peek at some of its capabilities, including the Google Buzz for Mobile app.
Google said it plans to bring Buzz into Google Apps, which would put the search giant on a collision course with enterprise social networking companies such as Socialtext and MindTouch.

The 10 things every user should know about Google Buzz.

1. It has a little bit of everything

Google Buzz attempts to be the social network to best them all. The service allows users to share photos and videos, update their status, share their locations, send messages to a select group of followers, and much more. It also integrates tweets, so users can see what others are talking about on Twitter without going there. Google Buzz is designed to be a one-stop shop for all things social.

2. No limits

Twitter users who have a difficult time with brevity will be happy to know that Google Buzz doesn't limit the number of characters they can use in a status update. That allows users to copy-and-paste important text from something they find interesting or to simply provide more detail than they're allowed in Twitter.

3. The timeline isn't chronological

As users follow others and send out status updates themselves, they will notice that their timeline isn't necessarily chronological. For example, if a follower comments on a status update sent a few hours ago—before more recent status updates—it will rise to the top, so it can be more easily found. That might be a problem for some, especially Twitter users, who only expect to see chronological updates on display.
4. Some design quirks
Unfortunately, Google Buzz suffers from some design issues that might frustrate users. The page can get cluttered if a user is following too many people. And thanks to multimedia sharing, some might be overwhelmed by just how much content is on the site. These design issues are certainly not a deal-breaker, but they might confuse some novice users.
5. It can go mobile

Google Buzz works on a mobile phone. Users can update their status and set their locations from their mobile device . Most importantly, they can find other Google Buzz users around their location with the help of their phone's built-in GPS function. Admittedly, that functionality can be found in several other tools that integrate with social networks. But it's a nice option to have for those perpetually on-the-go.

6. It's more FriendFeed than Twitter

Although Google Buzz is undoubtedly targeting Twitter and Facebook, the service seems far more similar to FriendFeed than any other. Like Google Buzz, FriendFeed allows users to update their status, share photos and videos, and communicate with others on the site. FriendFeed offers far more customization, and integrating other social networks on the service is simple, but the way in which Google Buzz handles and displays content is awfully similar to FriendFeed. Rest assured, there are elements of Facebook and Twitter built into Google Buzz, but they're not as obvious.

7. Buzz is coming to businesses

According to Google, it plans to bring Buzz to the enterprise and educational institutions at some point in the future. The service seems ideally suited for the corporate world. By allowing users to easily communicate with one another and collaborate on products, Google Buzz could become a serious contender in the enterprise-productivity market. Unfortunately, though, Google wouldn't say when it will be offered to enterprise users.

8. Buzz suggestions are done right

One of the complaints some folks have with Twitter is its friend-suggestion tool. Rather than help its users find people that they might know or might like to receive updates from, Twitter handpicked individuals to include in the suggestion list. Unlike Twitter, Facebook does it right. Its friend-suggestion tool makes it extremely easy to find friends and acquaintances. The same can be said for Google Buzz. Rather than choose random folks to follow, it analyzes a user's list of followers to find others they might know. It adds value to the service.

9. It's all about real-time

Google Buzz delivers updates in real-time. When a user's follower updates their status, it automatically shows up on Google Buzz. To some, that might be overwhelming, since folks working in the software will see updates appear out of the blue. But being able to see what others are discussing immediately is a nice feature that should help users stay engaged with the service.

10. No Facebook integration—yet

Although Google Buzz boasts some integration with Twitter, users won't be able to share content with Facebook. It's a glaring omission. Facebook is the de facto leader in the social-networking market. If Twitter is integrated into Google Buzz, it would seem only natural that Facebook would be too. For now, it's not. And there's no telling if that will change anytime soon.

Tech.view Running out of juice

Tech.view. Running out of juice of juice. How will we recharge all the electric cars?
Jan 29th 2010 | From The Economist online

IN THE ten years since hybrid electric vehicles first hit the highways and byways of America, they have come to represent 2.5% of new car sales. Yet, in places like Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC, every other car seems to be a Toyota Prius. That is because hybrids like the Prius have sold overwhelmingly where well-heeled early adopters reside.

Expect the new generation of “Post-Prius” electrics—plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt from General Motors and those relying only on a battery such as the Nissan Leaf—to end up nosing around the same upscale neighbourhoods. With more than a dozen plug-in and pure-electric models arriving in showrooms over the next year or so, sales are expected to outstrip even those enjoyed by the Prius and other hybrids in their early days. A couple of million of the new electric vehicles could be bought by early adopters during the first few years.

Alamy
That would be a problem. Unlike the Prius and its ilk—which use their petrol engines, along with energy recovered from braking, to recharge their batteries while motoring—plug-in hybrids and pure electrics have to be recharged direct from the grid. The popular assumption is that they will be plugged into a wall socket in the garage late at night, taking advantage of cheap off-peak power. Unfortunately, things are not that simple.

For a start, the new generation of electric vehicles are not glorified golf-carts, but cleaner and more frugal alternatives to today’s petrol-powered family cars. When fully charged, the Volt (to be called the Ampera in Europe) can travel 40 miles (64km) on electric power, enough for three out of four commuters in America to get to work and back without needing to burn a single drop of fuel. Beyond that range, a 1.4-litre engine kicks in to generate electricity and simultaneously propel the car and recharge its batteries.

The medium-sized hatchback Leaf can carry five adults 100 miles on a single charge. To go farther, Nissan has put its faith in a network of rapid-charging stations it is developing with partners. The Leaf is expected to cost $25,000-30,000, about the same as a comparable diesel-powered car. But the battery pack will have to be leased separately (for around $150 a month).

One thing the new plug-ins and pure electrics have in common is a beefy lithium-ion battery pack that needs a lot of heavy charging. At the very least, that involves installing 220-volt wiring in the home. Trying to recharge a modern electric car with a standard American 110-volt supply takes too long to be practical (up to 18 hours in the case of the Leaf).

Of course, if not fully charged at night it may have to be recharged during the day—when electricity rates can be up to five times more expensive. Average peak rates in America are 33 cents a kilowatt-hour compared with seven cents off-peak. Charging at the peak rate is equivalent to buying petrol at $3.63 a gallon (80 cents a litre), instead of 77 cents a gallon off-peak, reckons Southern California Edison, a utility based in the Los Angeles area. In America, peak-rate charging totally destroys any economic advantage an electric car may have.

At least the electricity companies ought to be pleased at the prospect of selling more power, day or night. In theory, recharging electric vehicles during off-peak hours should help utilities “fill the valley”—the trough in electricity demand between midnight and six in the morning, and thereby get better utilisation from their coal- or gas-fired generating stations. But, again, things are not quite as they seem. No utility wants to run its network flat out. Scheduling maintenance becomes difficult, which can lead to more frequent failures. The net result is that additional capacity has to be installed at a cost that would not otherwise be justified.

A study done a few years ago by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, suggested there was enough idle generating capacity in America to recharge three quarters of the country’s 230m cars if they were plug-ins of one sort of another—provided they only connected to the grid during off-peak hours, and preferably in the coal-rich midwest. But the vast majority of new plug-ins will be located in a handful of urban centres on the east and west coasts, which, unlike the midwest, do not have huge reserves of cheap, coal-fired generating capacity. Nor can they import it easily from the middle of the country, given the fragile nature of the grid.

Southern California Edison has been operating a fleet of 300 electric vehicles to find out how customers will use and recharge them. Above all, it wants to make sure that a conversion to electric motoring goes smoothly, unlike a previous attempt in the mid-1990s. Back then, California thought electric cars like the Honda EV+ and the General Motors EV1 were the wave of the future, and thousands of public charging points were hurriedly installed in shopping centres, libraries and airports. But the enthusiasm collapsed when the motor industry successfully lobbied the California Air Resources Board in 2001 to get it to relax a mandate requiring 10% of new cars sold in the state to be emission-free by 2003. With no need to worry about zero-emission vehicles any more, GM and Honda promptly called in all their leased electric cars and crushed them.

This time the Californian utilities are being more circumspect. They are concerned about highly concentrated pockets of ownership and the effects of everyone deciding to recharge their electric vehicles at once—as they inevitably will do when they return home from work. The local electricity system could be easily overwhelmed, and wider swathes of the grid brought to its knees in the process. Preparing for this means beefing up local transformers as well as installing heavy-duty wiring and smart meters in homes to provide early warning of network troubles ahead. Sooner or later, those additional costs will have to be passed on to customers.

Much, of course, will depend on how quickly the new plug-ins and pure electrics become part of mainstream motoring. Generally speaking, it takes 15-20 years for a new technology to capture 10% of an established market, and a further 10-15 years for it to own 90%. That was the case when steam ships replaced clippers in the mid-19th century, and when petrol-engined taxis took over from horse-drawn cabs in the early 20th century. The same sort of lag occurred with the introduction in the 1970s of emission controls on cars. It takes years for the benefits of volume production to work their way through to the market, and for the supply chain to catch up.

If plug-in electrics follow a similar demand curve to other disruptive technologies, there could be 25m of them humming quietly around by 2025, and ten times that number by 2040. Hopefully, by then, the utilities will have learned to cope with recharging them.

Excuses for not doing what is needed- Europe

Reforming European economies. The cruelty of compassion.
Social cohesion has become an excuse for avoiding necessary reforms in Europe
Jan 28th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

SOCIAL cohesion is one of those values all decent Europeans can sign up to: less social conflict and less of the inequality that America and Britain (see article) put up with. Some countries, notably Germany, really do manage to marry social harmony and economic reform. In the past decade Germany has—thanks to good management and obliging unions—kept its public sector in check, partly freed its labour market, held down unemployment, and regained competitiveness. Elsewhere, though, the need to preserve social cohesion, parroted by European politicians from left and right, has become a self-defeating excuse to avoid reform.

In Greece, for instance, the hard-pressed Socialist government of George Papandreou talks up social cohesion as a reason to avoid unduly large public-sector pay cuts in its urgent fiscal retrenchment. Spain’s Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, touts it to justify the retention of labour-market laws that make it ruinously expensive to sack permanent employees. Italy’s right-wing government, under Silvio Berlusconi, is similarly loth to lift burdensome regulations on small businesses and services for fear of protests and strikes. Sweden’s centre-right leader, Fredrik Reinfeldt, is reluctant to be seen attacking his country’s generous social model by trimming benefits, pay and pensions. Even France’s conservative president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is unwilling to damage social cohesion (and risk trouble in the streets) by pushing hard for labour-market, pension and welfare reforms.

Two worrying common threads can be discerned in all this. One is that the natural desire for social cohesion is being abused to justify the protection of “insiders”—those in permanent jobs, in trade unions or in privileged professions. But the cost of protecting insiders falls largely on “outsiders”—the unemployed and those in temporary work, especially young people and immigrants. The gulf between insiders and outsiders destroys the very social cohesion that the policy is meant to preserve. And in the long run it is bad for everyone, because employers do not train temporary workers—a particular problem in economies like Italy and Spain, where new permanent contracts are rare. This lack of training is one of the main reasons why Europe’s productivity growth over the past two decades has persistently lagged behind America’s.

The second common thread is that social cohesion has become a reason to defend the privileges and perks of the public sector, which is also now the last bastion of trade unions. Across Europe many private-sector workers have seen their pay, pensions and other benefits frozen or cut by cash-strapped employers during the recession. Yet most governments, even Britain’s, have been reluctant to apply similar treatment to the public sector. One result is that the state is taking a rising share of GDP, which is sure to lead to heavier taxes. Another is that public-sector pay and benefits have shot ahead as a cosseted caste extends its privileges.

Follow the Irish—or Germans
Most governments seem too paralysed by their muddle-headed talk of social cohesion to act, despite the struggle to finance huge deficits. Yet they now have a striking example in Ireland. Faced with a gaping budget deficit and a recession, the Irish government has torn up its 30-year social compact with employers and unions. It has slashed public spending and made sharp cuts in pay. Indeed, pay is now falling across the whole economy. Not surprisingly, workers and unions are unhappy. This week, the public sector began a work-to-rule. But the harsh medicine seems to be working, as Ireland pulls out of recession, the public finances improve and the economy regains competitiveness lost inside the euro.

It is not always necessary to face down strikes. Italy and Spain could learn from Germany’s trick of reforming without strife. But that may be beyond deeply troubled countries like Greece, which probably has no alternative but to copy Ireland. What all European governments must grasp, though, is that many of the policies espoused in the name of social cohesion do not promote compassion over cruelty. Rather, they encourage decline, entrench divisions and thus threaten the harmony they pretend to nurture.

New money for corrupts

Fighting corruption in India-zero contribution-unconventional way to combat petty corruption
Jan 28th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

5th Pillar
A ZERO-SUM game is one in which the gains of one player are exactly balanced by the losses of another. In India a local non-governmental organisation has invented a new sort of zero sum which, it hopes, will leave everyone better off: the zero-rupee note.

What on earth is the point of that? The note is not legal tender. It is simply a piece of paper the colour of a 50-rupee note with a picture of Gandhi on it and a value of nothing. Its aim is to shame corrupt officials into not demanding bribes.

The idea was dreamt up by an expatriate Indian physics professor from the University of Maryland who, travelling back home, found himself harassed by endless extortion demands. He gave the notes to the importuning officials as a polite way of saying no. Vijay Anand, president of an NGO called 5th Pillar, thought it might work on a larger scale. He had 25,000 zero-rupee notes printed and publicised to mobilise opposition to corruption. They caught on: his charity has distributed 1m since 2007.

One official in Tamil Nadu was so stunned to receive the note that he handed back all the bribes he had solicited for providing electricity to a village. Another stood up, offered tea to the old lady from whom he was trying to extort money and approved a loan so her granddaughter could go to college.

Mr Anand thinks the notes work because corrupt officials so rarely encounter resistance that they get scared when they do. And ordinary people are more willing to protest, since the notes have an organisation behind them and they do not feel on their own. Simple ideas like this don’t always work. When India’s government put online the names of officials facing trial for corruption, the list became a convenient guide for whom to bribe. But, says Fumiko Nagano of the World Bank, transforming social norms is the key to fighting petty corruption and the notes help that process. They are valueless, but not worthless.

Columbia University ASOCIATED WITH 78 NOBEL LAUREATS.

Research universities Powerhouses Jan 7th 2010
From: The Economist print edition

The real dangers facing America’s most important universities

The Great American University: Its Rise to Pre-eminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected. By Jonathan R. Cole. PublicAffairs; 640 pages; $35. Buy from Amazon.com

WHAT do the following have in common: the bar code, congestion charging, the cervical Pap smear and the internet? All emerged from work done at America’s pre-eminent research universities. The central contention of Jonathan Cole’s book is that these mighty institutions are “creative machines unlike any other that we have known in our history”. They stand at the centre of America’s intellectual and technological global leadership, but are now under threat as never before.

Professor Cole has worked all his life at one of these institutions, Columbia, where he was provost for 14 years from 1989 until 2003. His book is really three, each a magisterial work. First, he sets out an admirably comprehensive history of how America’s great universities came into being. Then, he trawls for examples of the enriching inventiveness of these institutions, listing the extraordinary range of innovations in technology and in thinking that have sprung from their research. Finally, he outlines the forces that threaten America’s research universities.

The author describes how these institutions built upon Germany’s model of the 19th century, with its combination of research and teaching; how they benefited from America’s early enthusiasm for mass education as a route to social mobility; and how they hit the jackpot in the 1930s, when many brilliant academics in Germany and Austria fled to American universities (some of which had recently been purging Jews from their own academic bodies).

In the post-war era, the research universities—he reckons about 260 institutions might now claim the name, of which maybe 100 are key—became far larger and more complex. Many turned into “full service” universities, with a clutch of professional schools teaching business, medicine, law and engineering. A flood of federal and foundation funding increased the size of individual departments, bringing benefits of scale. Success bred success. In 2001, America produced a third of the world’s science and engineering articles in refereed journals, and in three of the past four years its academics received two-thirds of the Nobel prizes for science and economics. No wonder America’s great universities lure the world’s cleverest students and the finest academics, many of whom stay to enrich their new country.

Now these great factories of talent, ideas and technologies are threatened from without and within. Professor Cole makes several important points here, though his argument would have been strengthened with the addition of more statistics and tables. Increasing dependence on research funds distorts internal priorities, he says. Columbia University Medical Centre, for example, accounts for more than half of that university’s total budget, while humanities receive almost no external federal funding, and social sciences precious little.

Outside funding also breeds a sense of entitlement to interfere. Government has meddled increasingly. An especially noxious instance is the Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the September 11th 2001 attacks, which has had all kinds of adverse consequences for scientific researchers and librarians. Certain areas of study, such as climate change, stem-cell research and work on the Middle East, are particularly vulnerable to political pressure. Professor Cole tells how two respected scholars, Joseph Massad at Columbia and Nadia Abu El-Haj at Barnard College, were harassed by the Jewish lobby—and asks what would have happened had American universities given in to rampant institutional anti-Semitism and “resisted hiring the Jewish scientists and scholars from Nazi Germany”?

Most curious, to non-American ears, is another complaint: that the big universities are simply too big and too rich. Professor Cole frets about the growing gap between the richest (not Columbia, wealthy though it is by global standards) and the rest. The growth in Harvard’s endowment in 2006 was greater than the combined total endowment of all but the top dozen American universities. The ranking of research quality is highly correlated with the size of a university’s endowment. What if, muses Professor Cole, America ended up with four or maybe six wealthy giants with a lead so large that even the most entrepreneurial of the rest—Berkeley, say, or Chicago—struggled to compete, and became mere talent farms for the richest?

That is a worry most countries would love to have, as they see their brightest students and academics follow the money to the United States. A bigger concern should be the growing divide between research and teaching—especially undergraduate teaching—as research grows ever more complex. Professor Cole insists that one feeds the other, and so it often does. But he also notes that those hugely expensive medical schools often teach few or no undergraduate students. If the synergy between teaching and research is lost, the whole basis of America’s research universities is undermined. That, surely, is the greatest threat of all to these institutions.

Reflexión de como combatir la drogadicción.

El poner a toda Wall Street en el mismo cesto, Dr. A. no es justo. Cierto, Wall Street Journal es muy conservador especialmente desde que es propiedad del Sr. Murdoch. Por ello sorprende que publique la opinión que se deba de discutir la legalización de la marihuana.

Pero otro riquísimo miembro de Wall Street, el Sr. G. Soros bajo su organización filantrópica’ Open Society’ hace décadas que financia un grupo de académicos y expertos que através de sus estudios han propuesto la legalización de las drogas. Y no solo a nivel de EE UU, sino a nivel mundial. No sirve de mucho si no incluye Colombia, el mayor productor de cocaína, Bolivia el mejor agricultor de la hoja, Afganistán como el gran productor de opio y aun más el Triangulo Dorado lugar de la mejor calidad de opio.

Esos estudios han mostrado algún ejemplo de soluciones no tan logradas: sustitución de Heroína por otra medicina en Inglaterra, venta abierta en cafés de marihuana en Holanda, receta ‘médica‘ y permiso de cultivo en California, etc.

En España yo he visto a gente inyectarse en una avenida turística principal sin que nadie se incomodara.

En Suiza han designado plazas para los adictos. Si es de nacionalidad suiza se le proporciona útiles estériles para evitar SIDA, etc.

Nepal es el paraiso del fumador de maruhuana.

O sea que los Benchmarks existen para formular una política del siglo XXI.

De todas formas, para los traficantes de drogas el problema logístico mayor es el del dinero. Un kilo de coca es como un kilo de harina para tortillas. El dinero que eso genera de los consumidores- billetes de U S $ 10 y 20 - requiere una maleta de viaje mediana. Durante la época dorada de la construcción se podía convertir en casas ese dinero…y así ‘legalizar‘ ese dinero cuando se vendia la casa pagada toda en efectivo en su fase de erección. Eso ahora no es ‘racional’ ya que las casas no se venden … Así que vuelve el viejo problema de cómo poner en circulación las maletas de dinero…El impuesto de 3% por deposito de efectivo por encima de los 15000 pesos no muerde mucho a ese trafico.

El Colegio de México o aun uno que otro de sus investigadores podría fácilmente participar en las investigaciones que el Sr. Soros paga y de su propio bolsillo. No como se acostumbra en México, a través de las empresas controladas por los magnates superriscos…para mejor descuento fiscal y repartición de la carga entre los accionistas- a los que no se les pregunta si están de acuerdo. Pero si esas empresas usan en sus membretes eso de ‘empresa socialmente responsable’. Ah ¿si?

El Sr. Soros es de izquierdas. Su profesor más influyente de la London School ya lo era.

Buckley, el comentarista- fundador de Front Line y de New Republic así como creador de la nueva ideología conservadora de EE UU también ya abogaba - sin éxito – por la legalización de la droga.

Si se logra la legalización, se resuelven muchos otros problemas, Bajaría la criminalidad necesaria para poder obtener la droga. Desalojaría gran parte de la sobrepoblación de las prisiones y reduciría las cargas de procesos judiciales. Y sobre todo, reduciría mucho la corrupción del sistema político democrático. ¿De donde sacan en los municipios y en los estados esos muy amplios recursos para las campañas y las compras de votos? El I F E es generoso y costoso, pero no tanto…

No pretendo proclamar que la legalización de las drogas curara todos los males sociales, pero si eliminara' muchos. Y ¡eso seria ya un gran beneficio!