severe contest between intelligence and ignorance

What makes the "severe contest between intelligence and ignorance" of the online The Economist more severe?

Wilson blamed this state of affairs on “commercial restrictions”, which raise up barriers to intercourse, jealousies, animosities and heart burnings between individuals and classes in this country, and again between this country and all others and declared that the political battle was a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy timid ignorance obstructing our progress.
The Economist's personal take on the severe contest is that it describes the endless struggle between those who fight by proving and demonstrating the rightness of an idea (such as free trade) and those who fight by preying on uncertainty and insecurity to stoke up populist fears. The world of ideas thrives on the courage to embrace challenging (and often unpopular) opinions and the intelligence needed to discover the right answer. The other side of the conflict draws on the fear of change or challenge and ignorance of guiding principles and facts. The battle is endless because the rightness of an idea must be re-proven again and again in the court of public opinion: the forces of timidity and ignorance are never destroyed but merely quelled at best.
As publishers, how can we help to make this severe contest more severe? Surely, the answer is different for every age. In 1842, Wilson’s solution was to launch a newspaper. What about today, with all the technologies and communications infrastructure that we have at our finger tips? I don’t think that anyone has yet come up with a satisfactory answer to that question: a lot of innovation lies ahead, particularly for online publishing. But here are some thoughts about the ingredients we might need:
1. Diversity of thought, ideas and opinion. Our editors and guests can provide some of this. Our readers can provide more: the more fine minds that we convene and help to engage with each other, the more severe the contest.
2. A place or mechanisms for ideas and opinions to connect and compete with each other to prove and demonstrate their rightness, or fitness. This needs lots of innovation in online publishing – and in particular in social computing.
3. Impact. The severe contest is all about beating (or at least quelling) the forces of timid ignorance. A large enough publishing venture is needed for the right ideas to make a difference.
4. Global reach. All the most important and pressing issues are global in nature, more so now even than when Wilson published our first issue in 1843. If our problems are global, the ideas we find to solve them need to be global too – and they have to influence and shape the behavior of a global audience.
How well are we doing by these yardsticks? Or are these measures of severity wrong or incomplete?

Our recent survey on 'real names' vs. pseudonyms in pen names

We have wanted to encourage (not require) readers to use their real names when commenting on The Economist web site. Our hope is that increased use of real names will help the quality of online discussion. We recently conducted a survey to learn what our online readers thought about this.

You strongly objected to compulsory use of real names, and for some this is not advisable or safe. We agree with this response. You rightly reminded us that what looks like real names on the site may not be so. It is neither feasible or sensible for us to ask people to prove the 'realness' of their online names.

Some said they feel personally safe to use their own name, but worry for others' safety and care for the candor and liveliness that safety makes possible. We received some insightful responses about the complexities of striving for freedom of speech, privacy and civility, among relative strangers online.
"Real names increase trust but hurt privacy."
"I'd rather put up with the occasional rudeness than with lack of encouragement for people to express their views freely."
On the whole, we were encouraged that you view the use of real names as helpful to the community because it increases accountability and thoughtfulness in posting, as long as this remains an option.
"Using people's real names encourages users to view fellow commenters as real people, rather than pixels on a screen."
It was heartening to hear how strongly many of our readers feel about protecting the vitality of free speech and respecting the privacy of individuals.

We have not made any changes to the site on this topic yet, but will keep you posted when we do. Meanwhile, we are continuing to work behind the scenes on other improvements.

Premio Principe de Asturias 2009

El premio Príncipe de Asturias y Marcos Ana
06/07/2009 en Rebelión por Pascual Serrano
Última modificación 07/07/2009 12:26

Distintas personas y colectivos han creado una plataforma para apoyar la candidatura del poeta comunista Marcos Ana al Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia. No me disgustaría que le fuese concedido pero creo que no se lo merece. No se lo merece el príncipe de Asturias por supuesto. Marcos Ana, con 89 años, es la persona que más tiempo seguido ha pasado en las cárceles franquistas, veintitrés. Fue condenado a muerte, torturado y encarcelado por oponerse a la dictadura franquista. Sus poemas y su libro “Decidme cómo es un árbol”, son un ejemplo de humanidad y coherencia. Felipe de Borbón no tiene el mérito suficiente para que una persona de la envergadura moral de Marcos Ana tenga que soportar en su curriculum un premio con su nombre. Los galardones valen tanto como lo que evocan, en muchas ocasiones toman su denominación de ejemplos de personas que son un referente en la materia valorada. Por eso existe un Premio Cervantes para la literatura o un Premio Ramón y Cajal de investigación científica. Un premio Príncipe de Asturias para Marcos Ana supondría conceder a una persona que representa la lucha contra la dictadura franquista, el sufrimiento por defender sus ideas y la sensibilidad para seguir reivindicando el diálogo y la convivencia, un premio denominado con el nombre de otra persona que no cuenta con ninguno de esos méritos y cuyo cargo procede de la misma dictadura que encarceló a Marcos Ana y de los principios de desigualdad y privilegio contra los que tanto luchó y lucha todavía el poeta.

Es evidente que quienes están apoyando la candidatura de Marcos Ana lo hacen con todo el cariño y admiración. Pero es bueno comparar el valor y el sufrimiento del poeta durante la dictadura con el del padre de la denominación del premio; comparar la lucha por la democracia de Marcos Ana con la complicidad y sumisión de la monarquía. Que ahora quieran denominar con el nombre del príncipe Borbón un premio para Marcos Ana es un infausto ejemplo de burla y tomadura de pelo a los ciudadanos y a la historia.

Yo propongo que cuando Felipe de Borbón haya trabajado veintitrés años por la democracia y la justicia en España –ojo, trabajando- le concedan el “Premio Marcos Ana".

SE ENTREGARÁN EN OVIEDO EN OCTUBRE 2009
Los Premios Príncipe de Asturias de 2009

17 de junio de 2009.
Comenta
El acto de entrega de los Premios Príncipe de Asturias 2009 se celebrará el próximo 23 de octubre a las 18,30 horas, en el Teatro Campoamor de Oviedo. Este es el palmarés de este año.
Todos los galardonados de los Premios Príncipe de Asturias acudirán a la ceremonia
- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes:Norman Foster

Sus obras se encuentran por todo el mundo. Bancos, aeropuertos, rascacielos, oficinas, puentes, museos y hasta estudios de televisión. El británico Norman Foster, galardonado hoy con el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes, es uno de los arquitectos más influyentes y prestigiosos del planeta. ¿Quieres saber más?

¿Conoces las construcciones más representativas de Norman Foster? No te pierdas nuestra selección de sus mejores obras.

- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Cooperación Internacional: OMS

Para el jurado, la entidad galardonada con el Príncipe de Asturias de Cooperación Internacional es una "de las instituciones más respetadas por su labor de salvaguardia del derecho fundamental de todo ser humano a la salud".

- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Ciencias Sociales: David Attenborough

Attenborough (Londres, 1926) es uno de los divulgadores científicos de la naturaleza más conocidos de la televisión mundial y sus trabajos están considerados como pioneros en los documentales que ha llevado a cabo en un medio para el que ha escrito y presentado casi una decena de series.

- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Comunicación y Humanidades: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) tiene más de 450 años y una larga tradición en la educación científica. De sus aulas han salido tres premios Nobel. Es una institución de vanguardia humanista en América Latina. ¿No la conoces?
- El Acta:
Reunido en Oviedo el Jurado del Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Comunicación y Humanidades 2009, integrado por D. José Antonio Álvarez Gundín, D. Alejandro Echevarría, D. Javier Gómez Cuesta, D. Javier González Ferrari, D. Álex Grijelmo, D. José Luis Gutiérrez, D. Daniel Innerarity, D. Miguel Ángel Liso, D. Manuel Lombardero, D. Ramón López Vilas, D.ª Catalina Luca de Tena, D. Francisco Luzón, D. Hans Meinke, D.ª Ana Rosa Migoya, D. Jaime Montalvo Correa, D.ª Beatriz de Moura, D. Pedro Páramo, D. José Luis Pardos, D. José Ramón Pérez Ornia, D. Alberto Pico, D. José Antonio Sánchez, D. Jesús de la Serna, D. Enrique Ybarra, presidido por Ricardo Senabre y actuando como secretario D. Juan Luis Iglesias Prada, acuerda conceder el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Comunicación y Humanidades 2009 a la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
A lo largo de los cien años de su existencia, la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México ha sido el modelo académico y formativo para muchas generaciones de estudiantes de diversos países y ha nutrido el ámbito iberoamericano de valiosísimos intelectuales y científicos. La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, que acogió con generosidad a ilustres personalidades del exilio español de la posguerra, ha impulsado poderosas corrientes de pensamiento humanístico, liberal y democrático en América y ha extendido su decisivo influjo creando una extraordinaria variedad de instituciones que amplían el mundo académico y lo entroncan en la sociedad a la que sirven.
Oviedo, 10 de junio de 2009
¿ es necesario recalcar aun mas que es una concesion POLITICA?

- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Investigación Científica y Técnica: Raymond Samuel Tomlinson y Martin Cooper

El jurado ha valorado del primero su aportación al desarrollo del correo electrónico como padre de la arroba y de Cooper su impulso pionero a la telefonía móvil. ¿Quieres conocerles mejor?

- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras: Ismaíl Kadaré

El escritor libanés se impuso en las últimas rondas de votaciones del jurado a las candidaturas del holandés Cees Noteboom, el italiano Antonio Tabucchi, el británico Ian McEwan y el checo Milan Kundera. Un premio a la creatividad literaria y al compromiso político.

- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de los Deportes: Yelena Isinbayeva

La atleta rusa Yelena Isinbayeva, plusmarquista mundial de salto con pértiga, es la quinta mujer que ha logrado este premio y por primera vez en la historia de los galardones en esta especialidad dos mujeres han llegado a la votación final. La atleta ha firmado durante su carrera veintisiete récords mundiales de salto con pértiga. Este es uno de los galardones que mayor expectiva despierta en el público cada año por la notoriedad pública de los premiados.

- Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia: Berlín, en el XX aniversario de la caída del Muro

El jurado del Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia considera a Berlín y a sus ciudadanos "un nudo de concordia en el corazón de Alemania y de Europa que contribuye al entendimiento, la convivencia, la justicia, la paz y la libertad en el mundo".

Más información de los Premios Príncipe de Asturias, use un buscador.


Schumacher recibe el premio Príncipe de Asturias
El siete veces campeón de la Fórmula 1, el alemán Michael Schumacher, fue condecorado en Oviedo con el premio “Príncipe de Asturias”. El premio fue entregado por los príncipes de España Felipe de Borbón y Letizia Ortiz.
“Estoy muy honrado por recibir este premio. Como ya había dicho, quedé sorprendido cuando supe de esta mención. Estoy muy agradecido a los jurados por este reconocimiento por mi carrera como deportista como por mi compromiso social. Sé que Asturias es una región de España, la conozco porque he ido bastantes veces en coche por sus carreteras y sus campos, pero si me preguntan por su historia la verdad es que la desconozco. Realmente me siento honrado por recibir este premio tan prestigioso”, dijo Schumacher.
El alemán llegó a Oviedo acompañado por su esposa Corina. Schumacher obtuvo los campeonatos de 1994 y 1995, con Renault, y los de 2000 a 2004, con Ferrari. A fin del año pasado se retiró de las competencias cumpliendo ahora funciones de asesor del conjunto de Maranello.

Ranking.
En términos de universidades que el resto del mundo- los que no están ni en 1er Plano ni en el jurado de premio - considera relevantes, aquí la liga a un ranking del 2008.
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/results
Entre las 100 no hay ni una de España ni de Latino America. Esto merece un poco de análisis …
Como siempre, hay sus más y sus menos en esto del ranking. Pero casi todo el mundo sabe el ranking del Barça y / o del Azteca…
O sea que es mucho mas importante el deporte-espectáculo que educación superior… Si, el footballista Márquez puede hacer bastante por México. Pero mas puede un premio Nobel Mexicano!

Fly your own for $ 139 000

Icon amphibious aircraft featured in Neiman Marcus catalog
Kirk Hawkins, the founder of Icon, described the Icon A-5, a two-seater amphibious aircraft that is featured in the Neiman Marcus catalog this year. The aircraft features retractable wings and sells for a base price of $139,000. CNBC (10/15)

busco universdades en las que México ofrece becas

El buscar universdades en las que México ofrece becas no es la mejor manera de lograr el propósito de una educación de excelencia.
Hay miles de oportunidades de financiar sus estudios: OEA, Fullbright, Marshall Plan, etc. Y todas las universidades tienen sus propios planes de apoyo financiero para estudiantes QUE SE LO MERECEN.

El Prez B. Obama es un ejemplo que todos conocen: ni el ni su familia tenian el dinero que cuesta Columbia University, donde hizo su Bachillors, Ni el dinero que costaron sus 3 años de Leyes en Harvard. Pero era muy buen estudiante...

Así que para lograr apoyo hay que ser buen estudiante...pero no solo en NOTAS, sino en actividades CÍVICAS o deportes. Y luego hay que ser admitido por una universidad de excelencia. Una vez admitido, la universidad y todo su aparato de fomento ayudara al financiamiento...

Una de mis leyes dice: nadie deja de estudiar por falta de dinero, deja de estudiar por falta de empeño!

Demuestren me que es errónea mi ley! Pero con hechos...no por lo que dicen...

Solo de los valientes es el mundo- no de los que NO se atreven...

paper batteries? Yes!

A battery made from cellulose Paperweight Oct 14th 2009 From Economist.com

A lightweight battery that could be used to identify and track objects

Shutterstock The raw material
MANY an engineer has dreamed of making a battery as light, thin and flexible as paper. Such a device would dramatically trim the weight and dimensions of whatever it powered. Now Albert Mihranyan of Uppsala University in Sweden and his colleagues have built a battery that is, in essence, made of paper. It is lightweight and slim, and although still unsuitable for everyday use, could be employed to trace products supplied to shops or baggage passing through airports.

Batteries work by electrochemistry. Each contains two electrodes (an anode and a cathode) immersed in an electrolyte. A lithium-ion battery, the sort that powers mobile phones and laptop computers, typically has an anode made of carbon, a cathode made of lithium cobalt oxide and an electrolyte of a lithium salt in an organic solvent. When the battery is being charged, electrons are pumped into the cathode. That forces lithium ions to move away from it and into the anode. When the battery is being used, drawing the current pulls the lithium ions out of the anode and back to the cathode.

The device developed by Dr Mihranyan and his colleagues, which they describe in NanoLetters, is based on cellulose—the material from which paper is made. This is not any old cellulose, though. It is extracted not from trees or cotton, as the cellulose used in paper is, but from algae. Dr Mihranyan used algal cellulose because its fibres are wispier. That gives it a greater surface area and thus allows it to store more electric charge.

Cellulose does not, however, conduct electricity, so Dr Mihranyan needed to coat it with a substance that does. He chose a polymer called a polypyrrole which, soaked into the algal cellulose, produced a combination that conducted electricity well. He then fashioned the anode and cathode of his battery from the stuff. For the electrolyte, he used filter paper soaked in brine.

The battery thus consisted of this brine-soaked filter paper sandwiched between two cellulose electrodes that were, in turn, held between two glass slides. Platinum strips attached to the electrodes provided electrical contacts to the outside world. The electrical energy itself was stored and released by chemical changes in the polypyrrole. This molecule can exist in two forms, known technically as “oxidised” and “reduced”, and a current will flow between the two when they are part of a circuit. The result was a one-volt battery that could be charged in seconds—and charged and discharged 100 times without serious loss of performance.


Dr Mihranyan is now seeking to commercialise the technology. Although algal batteries cannot replace lithium-ion ones, because they are only about a third as efficient, they could be used for niche applications. That might include luggage tags containing small radios that broadcast their location to baggage handlers. “Smart” packaging materials such as cereal boxes that include electronic displays are another possibility.

In addition, other researchers have recently made paper-based transistors. Dr Mihranyan’s battery could power electronics based on these. That would represent a neat reversal of the idea that technology will lead inevitably to the paperless office.

Prize - many pay more

The cash value of awards Prize money Oct 13th 2009 From Economist.com

How much do big awards pay?

THE Nobel prizes are probably the best-known of the many annual awards for excellence in a particular field. They offer great prestige and a sizeable cash reward, paying around $1.4m to the winner. Other awards deliver more money, however. The Ibrahim prize rewards African leaders for governing well with $5m over ten years, and another $200,000 each year thereafter. The X Prize, offered in a number of categories, is even more valuable but is handed out for one-off achievements. Writers and thinkers wanting to supplement their bank accounts handsomely may wish to turn to spirituality or a Spanish-language novel ( Planeta ) rather than journalism.

Shutterstock

Readers' comments

International view of Mexico

Business.view Down Mexico Oct 13th 2009 From Economist.com

Brazil-envy is rife in Latin America’s other big economy

WHEN Brazil was not only included but named first among the BRICs, the widely used acronym for the leading emerging economies, Mexican business leaders protested that their country should also have been there. Well, maybe. But adding an "M" to the initial letters of Brazil, Russia, India and China would have made the name much less catchy (MBRICs? BRIMCs?). And the man who coined the acronym in 2001, Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs, has said that Mexico (along with South Korea) was in fact considered, but did not quite fit.

Mexico’s Brazil-envy is more intense than ever, as this columnist discovered last week in Mexico City. One local business leader said he was optimistic about the economic outlook, but that was because “I choose to be, because I don’t want the alternative—and, besides, next year can’t be any worse than this, can it?” Others mostly seemed worried, predicting several difficult years ahead.

Alamy

A lament for Mexico
The Mexican economy was hit hard by the slump that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. Brazil’s economy suffered much less—and is already roaring back, in sharp contrast to Mexico’s. This is symbolised by the strength of Brazil’s stockmarket. Last week Santander, a Spanish bank, raised $7 billion by selling shares in its Brazilian subsidiary, the biggest share offering the country has seen. In June the initial public offering (IPO) of Visanet, a Brazilian credit-card firm, raised almost $5 billion, and there are several other big local offerings in the pipeline. By contrast, the most recent IPO in Mexico was in June 2008.

Part of the problem is that Mexico, especially since the creation of the North American Free-Trade Area, has increasingly specialised in making things cheaply for export to America, a strategy that looks less than brilliant now that the American consumer is on strike. Meanwhile, commodity-rich Brazil is benefiting from exporting to China, which has made up for weaker exports to America with a domestic spending binge which, among other things, requires lots of imported materials to build new infrastructure.

But that is by no means the only difference between the two economies. Mexico has lately been plagued by some serious management gaffes. Cemex, a cement firm that was not so long ago an exemplar of the trend for world-beating multinationals to emerge from developing economies, is suffering serious indigestion after borrowing heavily to make foreign acquisitions at the peak of the market.

Comercial Mexicana, the country’s third-largest retailer, lost a fortune after a currency hedge moved against it when the dollar soared during the financial crisis. This presented an opportunity to Wal-Mart, an American retailer which is the market leader in Mexico. It has taken advantage of its rival’s weakness by expanding rapidly, opening a couple of hundred new stores in the country this year. The only other business with such ambition in Mexico at the moment is the empire of Carlos Slim, a telecoms magnate, which has also been busy expanding during the crisis. More success for the powerful Mr Slim—now perhaps the richest man on earth—is regarded even by Mexicans as something of a mixed blessing.

Mexican business people are also depressed by growing fears for their own security. Violence is increasing in the country as the government takes on the illegal drug cartels, prompting them to retaliate brutally. Mexico is now close to the top of the list of countries where kidnapping is likely. Crime in Brazil’s cities is also bad, but it does not seem to be getting notably worse.

Pemex continues to decline as Brazil's oil reserves, and its state oil firm, Petrobras, soar
In the eyes of business leaders the government’s lack of success against organised crime is on a par with its failure to reform the economy. Although some business people are content that the Mexican economy is dominated by a small, powerful clique, many feel that the lack of competition is a serious problem. Many also lament the failure to reform the sluggish state oil and gas monopoly, Pemex, which continues to decline as Brazil’s reserves, and its state oil firm, Petrobras, soar. Just as worrying is the slow progress in revamping the tax system. Mexico has one of the world’s lowest ratios of tax collection to GDP, which deprives the government of the funds it needs to do its job properly.

Brazilian entrepreneurs found that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Workers’ Party were much less hostile towards business in office than in opposition. Lula’s most likely successor in next year’s election is an experienced figure from the business-friendly Social Democrats, who in their last stint in the presidency passed vital reforms that laid the foundations for Brazil’s recent strong growth.


In Mexico, judging by the mood at last week’s Economist conference in Mexico City, President Felipe Calderón may frustrate the business community, yet business leaders have little enthusiasm for the favourite to succeed him, the soap-star-dating governor of Mexico State, Enrique Peña Nieto. Still, at least they take some comfort from the fact that the hard left’s candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who so nearly defeated Mr Calderón for the presidency three years ago, is lagging in the polls.

Mexican business leaders fear that their president, following his party’s heavy defeat in recent parliamentary elections, may see out his remaining three years as a lame duck. The one hope is that, seeing how bad things look, Mr Calderón may be provoked into embarking upon the fundamental reforms that the economy so badly needs. In that light, what could be more encouraging than the government’s decision on October 12th to take on one of Mexico’s most powerful unions by closing down a big, state-run electricity provider? If this battle is won, perhaps Mexican business people can start believing that their country has what it takes to become more competitive and powerful than its big rival down south. If not, plenty more gloom and doom are likely to follow.