in english

Facebook etiquette

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A few guidelines about Facebook etiquette:

  1. If I don't know you, I won't add you.
  2. Even if I know you, if I don't know you well enough I might not add you.
  3. I don't want my Facebook profile look like the worst MySpace nightmare, so I won't accept invitations to become a zombie or to get a stripper name.
  4. If you're a friend I know through work, I'll add you if we're actually friends offline (or good friends online).  For professional relationships please use LinkedIn instead.  Adding me because you met me once is a no-no, unless we actually got along pretty well.
  5. Use common sense with what you put there.

Ok, there it is now, I've been trying to post this for a while.

en español

Choque cultural a la mexicana

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Uno de los blogs que leo es de un mexicano que después de vivir en Finlandia acaba de regresar a México.  De su experiencia personal tiene tres puntos que comparte que me parecen muy válidos.

  1. Nunca esperes que te digan las cosas como son.
  2. Nadie nunca te va a confrontar directamente a menos que seas un extraño.
  3. La gente se toma todo personal.

Total que uno no es de aquí ni es de allá, jajajaja.

Más en su blog.

in english

Denmark is Flat


Denmark is Flat

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

Was in Denmark & northern Germany this week for a couple of days. It was really interesting that after crossing the border the landscape did change, with more spruce and birch trees on the Danish side. Definitely did look more “nordic” than Germany, which of course should be the case.

And the language, to which I had been exposed before, is seriously incomprehensible. Written is quite OK, but I really don’t know what they do with their mouths. And they know it ;-).

en español

¿El periódico global en español?

Haciendo mi ronda usual de periódicos ahora que tuve un poquito más de tiempo, me topé con que El País de España ahora se hace llamar "El periódico global en español".  Contrastándolo con los contenidos de su página principal, que se concentran en noticias españolas, e incluso con el nombre del periódico (¿o qué, "El País" se refiere a otra cosa y no a ese pedazo de tierra entre Portugal, Francia, el Atlántico y el mediterráneo?), he llegado a dos conclusiones: o es un ejercicio fallido de mercadotecnia que no va a llegar a ningún lado o realmente se lo creen y son más arrogantes de lo que pensaba.

Actualmente ningún medio de habla hispana cumple la serie de requisitos que le pondría a un medio más global (nótese que no digo global) como CNN, France 24 o BBC World, nótese dejar de verse menos al ombligo y más al exterior.  Ese es un nicho de mercado que aún no está cubierto en nuestra lengua, pero francamente a Grupo Prisa no le veo cómo con su actual propuesta de valor, aunque acepto que desconozco mucho sobre el negocio del periodismo.

in english

The absurd in Mexican news

Two news stories that have convinced me that absurd is the flavour of the day for Mexican news:

  • Roberto Madrazo, former Mexican presidential candidate, was found cheating at a marathon in Germany and subsequently stripped of his over 50 year old category triumph.  Once a crook, always a crook.  And to think that this guy wanted my vote.  The news in English, German and Spanish available.
  • Taco Bell is trying to enter the Mexican market again.  That's like the American Budweiser trying to enter the Czech Republic.  I will be really surprised if they actually have customers.
en español

Recommended book: Bound Together

The subtitle of this book, "How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers and Warriors shaped Globalization" explains very well what is it all about: a historical recounting of the processes throughout history that have shaped our societies to reach the level of interconnectedness where we currently are.  As such, it is a great description, but the casual reader will not find recipes for solving the world's ills here.

Nevertheless, it is a very well written, enthralling book.  If you want to have an idea about how we got where we are since the appearance of the modern Homo sapiens in Africa eons ago and what are the current challenges facing our world, grab this tome.  Its examples and anecdotes give colour to the epic tale of the human race, and its last three chapters explain how much of a crossroads are we actually at.  As he says, calls to shut down globalization are pointless because there's no one in charge, but we have the power and the responsibility to steer our world in the right direction.

This pale blue dot is the only home we have.  We better learn to live together.

in english

Family in Finland

As much as I might sometimes encounter barriers here, I don't want to give a lopsided view about my experience in Finland.  I am very aware that nowhere is perfect and neither am I, and furthermore, I really enjoy my work, have very good friends, and I'm even part of a family here.

That's truly what this post is about, because, as my family back in Mexico would say, I truly landed in a soft sport when I came here, met my wife and after some time was pretty much adopted into her family.  I cannot be grateful enough for that, since through them, my friends and of course my wife I came to know, love and integrate here in Finland.  With them I've shared my successes and they celebrate them as much as my blood family does.  They have even asked me to enter their family records which of course is an honour.

This is probably what makes it a little confusing, because for those that know me I am "one of them" but certain sectors of the general public tend to see me with suspicion.  I'm not going to change that, so I should stop caring and move on.  😉