sábado, 2 de mayo de 2009
jueves, 12 de febrero de 2009
Haced lo q os gus.ta
Ganador del Premio Nobel de Medicina 2007:'Debemos hacer lo que nos gusta'
8:49 | Mario Capecchi visitó Lima y demostró que su vida es de película. Aprendió a leer a los 13 años, fue mendigo y hoy es un gran investigador
Por: Bruno Ortiz Bisso
La vida de Mario Capecchi (Verona, 1937) fue realmente dura: perdió a su padre en la Segunda Guerra Mundial y en 1940 su madre fue llevada a un campo de concentración. Tras pasar un año al cuidado de unos campesinos, fue abandonado en la calle. Tuvo que mendigar para vivir y formó parte de pandillas juveniles italianas. En 1946 enfermó de tifus. Ese mismo año fue hallado por su madre, que había sobrevivido al campo de concentración, y se lo llevó a EE.UU. Capecchi recién aprendió a leer y a escribir a los 13 años. Sin embargo, siempre tuvo hambre de aprender.
Sobre los 17 años se interesó en resolver los problemas sociales de la humanidad y hasta tuvo un acercamiento a las ciencias políticas. Finalmente, se decidió por las ciencias y estudió en la Universidad de Harvard, donde se doctoró en biofísica en 1967. En el 2007, junto con Martin Evans y Oliver Smithies, recibió el Premio Nobel de Medicina y Fisiología por descubrir cómo manipular genéticamente células madre embrionarias de ratones, neutralizando uno o más genes. Esto se aplica actualmente en casi todos los terrenos de la biomedicina.
Esta semana estuvo en Lima para participar en un seminario internacional sobre células madre, organizado por el Colegio Médico del Perú.
Capecchi señaló que le siguen gustando el estudio y la investigación, y en sus disertaciones invita a todos a no perder el gusto por aprender, sin importar la edad.
¿Qué tan importante es la edad para aprender? ¿Realmente nunca es tarde?
Mientras crecemos nuestro cerebro va cambiando. Por ejemplo, antes de caminar los bebes deben gatear y para ello hay un proceso. Creo que hay un tiempo óptimo para empezar a aprender, pero eso no está escrito en una piedra y puede cambiar. Todo depende de cómo y cuánto usemos nuestro cerebro. Cuando viví solo, tuve que usarlo mucho para encontrar dónde dormir, qué comer y cómo cuidarme yo mismo. No hay una edad para aprender, pero lo importante es que siempre estemos usando nuestro cerebro; que nuestras neuronas estén siempre en actividad.
¿Aún sigue con sus investigaciones de manipulación genética en ratones?
En lo que estaba trabajando hace cinco años es distinto a lo que estoy haciendo ahora y lo que haga en cinco años más será otra cosa. Siempre voy cambiando de áreas. Cuando trabajas en cáncer, conoces a gente que lleva años en esto, con los mismos conocimientos. Luego, por ejemplo, pasas a biología y conoces a gente totalmente diferente. No es solo cambiar de campos, sino también de la gente con la que interactúas. Y lo importante es siempre empezar de cero. Es decir, llegas a un nuevo campo y ves gente que piensa de una manera y que manejan un solo conocimiento y lo que deben hacer o no. Pero el nuevo no tiene esos prejuicios y puede hacer las preguntas que nadie hace. Y así uno sigue siempre aprendiendo.
¿Cuál es la principal reflexión que les da a los demás a partir de su extraordinaria experiencia de vida?
Me parece que lo más importante es que la gente encuentre algo que le apasione, que le interese y que lo haga pensar. Y debe perseguirlo hasta que alcance sus objetivos. Hoy la gente trabaja mucho en lugar de hacer algo que realmente los emocione. Debemos hacer lo que nos gusta. Hay que recordar que la vida es un viaje que no tiene un rumbo fijo. Las cosas suceden, no se anticipan y van en distintas direcciones. Es como saltar de un lado a otro, que es lo que yo hago.
lunes, 9 de febrero de 2009
viernes, 6 de febrero de 2009
Brasil Argentina
TOM HABLA EN ESPAÑOL... Y ENFADA AL PERSONAL
Que Tom Cruise intente hablar en español es un gesto que le honra —aunque sea para promocionar su última película, 'Valkiria'—, siempre que lo haga en un país hispanohablante, claro. El problema llega cuando hablas en español a los brasileños pensando que es su lengua materna, y allí, que hablan portugués, pues se enfadan. No es que Cruise se marcara un discurso en castellano (tampoco es que pueda hacerlo), pero durante la rueda de prensa se dirigió al respetable con palabras como "hola" y "gracias", según la página web de 'Glamurama'. Esto, unido a lindezas como que "se enamoró de Brasil por el tango" (baile que los argentinos llevan en el corazón) acabó de mosquear a los brasileños, y con razón.
domingo, 1 de febrero de 2009
martes, 20 de enero de 2009
'Greatness is never a given. It must be earned'
"My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace.
Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood.
Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics.
Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights. Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.
They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.
The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.
The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.
Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill.
Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good. As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations.
We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you. For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.
At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."
lunes, 19 de enero de 2009
obama 19 jan 2009
Los periódicos de EE UU hacen caja con la toma de posesión de Obama
En tiempos de crisis, los periódicos estadounidenses prevén multiplicar su tirada y vender, además, ediciones especiales, libros conmemorativos y recuerdos.- En ebay, algunos objetos alcanzan precios muy elevados
J.C.G - Madrid - 19/01/2009
El periodismo estadounidense, como casi cualquier otro en cualquier parte del mundo, está sufriendo los rigores de la crisis financiera global. La editora de The Chicago Tribune, símbolo de la ciudad en la que el presidente electo Barack H. Obama ha desarrollado su carrera, se declaró en bancarrota en diciembre y el The New York Timesbusca inversores para afrontar su deuda. En este contexto, cualquier situación de la que se pueda sacar partida ha de ser aprovechada. Por eso todos los grandes periódicos de EE UU preparan tiradas históricas para mañana y el miércoles, acompañadas de ediciones especiales, libros, álbumes y cualquier producto que recuerde la histórica toma de posesión de Obama como presidente. Algunos incluso temen, como ya ocurrió con los especiales del día de la victoria del aún presidente electo, que no se puedan imprimir suficientes ejemplar.
Y no es para menos. Washington Post prepara una tirada de 1,7 millones de copias (contra los 589.000 habituales) en cuatro ediciones entre el martes y el miércoles. Pero no sólo sube la tirada: el precio de estas ediciones pasa de los habituales 75 céntimos de dólar a los 2 dólares. Por su parte,The New York Times llegará a los 2,2 millones de copias, un 75% más de lo habitual, según las cifras proporcionadas por el periódico a la agencia Bloomberg.
En la sede del periódico neoyorquino ya saben lo que es hacer negocio con Obama: en la elección, vendieron objetos relacionados con el momento histórico por valor de 2,3 millones de dólares (1,74 millones de euros). USA Today prepara una edición formato tabloide de 48 páginas por 4,95 dólares y bajo el título de The Historic Journey. La 'guerra' por publicar la mejor y más numerosa de las ediciones ha llegado también a Hawai, tierra natal del futuro mandatario, dondeHonolulu Advertiser va a publicar un 50% más de ejemplares para hacer frente a la competencia del Honolulu Star Bulletin.
La locura en ebay
Los periódicos reservan el ejemplar por adelantado (por una considerable subida de precio) pero ha sido en internet, y más en concreto en la página de ventas y subastasebay, donde el negocio ha encontrado su mejor lugar. El cómic de The Amazing Spiderman sobre la toma de posesión de Obama, que se agotó en horas, se vende en la web por 98 dólares, pero había subastas el viernes pasado que llegaron a los 227 dólares por un cómic que costaba 3,99 en los puntos de venta.
Para aquellos que no se quieran quedar sin su ejemplar, se pueden incluso reservar, de cuatro en cuatro, de diez en diez, en packs que incluyen el periódico de la elección y el de la toma de posesión... todas las opciones que se puedan imaginar. Y para los coleccionistas, las láminas de impresión del Chicago Sun Times tienen un precio de salida de 200 dólares, por ejemplo. Como asegura el analista de medios John Morton, ante una ocasión así, "la gente venderá cualquier cosa".
domingo, 18 de enero de 2009
Lápices palestinos contra bombas israelíes
18 de enero de 2009.- Pese al cierre informativo de la franja de Gaza a la prensa internacional, los palestinos han logrado que el mundo conozca los horrores de la guerra esforzándose por desempeñar sus trabajos al tiempo que ayudan a las víctimas, cuentan lo que está sucediendo y luchan por sobrevivir.
No sólo lo han hecho los médicos, el personal de rescate y los periodistas que han retransmitido el conflicto para los canales árabes, proporcionando imágenes que quedarán para siempre en el subconsciente de millones de personas: también lo han hecho observadores de los Derechos Humanos que han investigado los ataques para dilucidar si se trata de crímenes de guerra, ciudadanos anónimos con conexión a Internet que han desarrollado blogs desde la franja y profesionales tan simbólicos en Gaza como Omaya Joha, la única mujer caricaturista que trabaja en la franja.
Omayya, afín a Hamas y premiada por su trabajo dentro y fuera de Gaza —pese a que no puede salir del pequeño territorio desde hace años—, fue la primera dibujante política palestina y su trabajo es muy estimado por los árabes por su sincera crudeza.
Residente en la ciudad de Gaza junto a su segundo marido y sus hijos —su primer cónyuge, miembro de las Brigadas de Izzedim al Qasam, resultó muerto durante una incursión israelí-, Omayya ha padecido los horrores de esta enésima guerra con la misma intensidad que el resto de residentes de Gaza.
En comunicación con elmundo.es, Omaya explica que ha perdido a familiares y amigos en la actual ofensiva. Muchas de las casas de sus seres queridos han sido reducidas a escombros por la aviación y la artillería israelí, pero eso no le ha llevado a abandonar su trabajo ni siquiera por unas horas y mucho menos a debilitar el tono de sus dibujos. Como muestra, envía algunos de sus últimos trabajos, su mejor forma de expresarse.
En estas viñetas de Omaya Joha, una niña palestina huye de un fantasma con forma de Estrella de David, un soldado israelí huye aterrorizado de un cohete palestino y un soldado trata de digerir la palabra 'Gaza' sin lograrlo.
Pese a la terrible ofensiva bélica, sin precedentes en la historia de Gaza, Omayya ha seguido empleando las escasas horas de electricidad en actualizar su sitio online y dibujar sus viñetas y enviarlas por correo electrónico a los medios en los que trabaja. El último dibujo que colgó en su página web data del pasado día 10.
Además, su trabajo se ha podido seguir viendo en 'Ar Risala', la revista del Movimiento de Resistencia Islámico, el rotativo 'Al Hayat al Yadiha' —órgano de la Autoridad Nacional Palestina— y en la edición electrónica de Al Yazira (en esta viñeta, el hombre crucificado simboliza la franja de Gaza, y los espectadores los pueblos árabes) convirtiéndose, seguramente, en la única viñetista política que ha contado la guerra mediante sus dibujos.
Junto a su firma sigue figurando su símbolo, al mismo tiempo icono de la lucha palestina contra Israel: la llave que simboliza la expulsión de sus casas y el derecho al retorno de los refugiados. Es su manera de recordar que, con o sin bombas israelíes, los palestinos seguirán luchando por sus tierras.
sábado, 17 de enero de 2009
The action moves to Washington
THIS week, the eyes of the world will be on Washington as perhaps two million people descend to bask in the Obama glow. City officials expect more than 10,000 tour buses to roll into the area. Hotels 150 miles away have been booked for months. Even campsites are booked.
Washington suddenly has the stars —Halle Berry, Steven Spielberg, Jamie Foxx — who are coming to rub elbows with the biggest star of all.
But it also has control of the money: cowed and battle-scarred Wall Streeters are now at the mercy of the federal government, whose cash infusions are keeping their storied institutions afloat. The new administration in Washington has lured some of New York’s best and brightest, includingHillary Rodham Clinton, formerly the state’s biggest political star; and Timothy Geithner, once of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who is on the verge of being assigned to save the entire economy.
The sudden downturn has affected the very industries that give New York its identity — finance, media, advertising, real estate, even tourism — with extreme prejudice.
The result is that some New Yorkers feel that the city is losing, along with many jobs, its swagger and its sense of pre-eminence, which is no small matter in a town where many feel like it takes an outsize swagger to survive.
Dan Geiger, a journalist for a real estate trade publication, said he left a meeting on Sixth Avenue and 55th Street at 10 a.m., on a recent Tuesday and was alarmed to find the customary Midtown bustle absent. “The place was deserted, I mean dead,” he recalled. “I’ve never seen Sixth like that at that time of day before. It had a strange feeling to it, like a holiday almost.”
The swift reversal of fortune feels even more painful for having come on the heels of one of the most colorful epochs in the city’s history, marked by a skyrocketing economy and an expanding global profile, by championship sports teams and hit television shows that sold the world a vision of life in New York as the Emerald City.
Meanwhile, some other cities around the country — cities that never made any claim to being the capital of the world — can find at least some cause for solace in the current climate. Los Angeles keeps spinning out hits (“Gran Torino,” “Bride Wars”), proving that some kinds of entertainment really do seem recession-proof. In New York, meanwhile, nine Broadway shows closed on a single day this month.
While the New York region’s unemployment has climbed to 5.6 percent as of October, from 4.8 percent the previous year, the metropolitan areas of Seattle, Houston, Washington and Dallas actually saw net gains in employment over the last year.
No less a New Yorker than Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg conceded a loss of verve last week when he said the city was “shaken” (but “not broken”) as he put forward an ambitious jobs-creation plan.
Even Portland, Ore., seems to have borrowed New York’s smugness. Recently, one civic group’s television spot was picked up and circulated as a YouTube video portraying blissful bicyclists pedaling past tree-lined streets and frame houses behind a graphic reading, “Is Portland the most European city, or is Europe the most Portlandian continent?”
Isn’t that supposed to be New York’s line?
“It feels as if a layer has been peeled back on New York,” Haley M. Rubin, 23, an advertising assistant account executive in Manhattan, said in an e-mail message. “When I’m out in bars and restaurants, there is a sheen that is missing. Not to say New York isn’t still exciting and fun, but it feels a little grittier; there is a sense that the thrill of paying $20 for a cocktail is over. I find that my friends are still going out and want to have fun but their tolerance for the ‘price of exclusivity’ has waned.”
One possible reason it feels like a mood has been lost is something called “emotional contagion.”
A few years back, when everyone seemed flush, even those who never received a seven-figure bonus enjoyed the ride because success is infectious, said Michael R. Cunningham, a psychologist and a professor at the University of Louisville. That’s what psychologists call “emotional contagion” — someone else’s optimism becomes yours, if they stand close enough.
“People are influenced by the mood of the time in which they live,” Dr. Cunningham said. The problem is, emotional contagion also works the other way.
In other words, a friend of yours gets laid off and you bask in his ambient bummer.
Todd Rosenberg, an animator who lives in Brooklyn, said that he finds himself sharing in the psychic pain of the city when neighborhood businesses go into their death throes. In recent months, he recalled, one local bar attempted desperately to transform itself from velvet-upholstered Asian cocktail lounge to a rugged, taxidermy-filled hunting lodge to a gay bar, all to no avail. It closed soon after. A local bakery that seemed to specialize in stale pastries met a similar fate, he said. As of yet, no one has moved into either space.
“Now they’re just sitting there empty, so I’m actually missing the stale baked goods,” said Mr. Rosenberg, 39.
The overall result, he added, is a city that feels like it is “definitely shedding whatever New York was a few years ago.”
Also being shed are some of those colorful and slightly absurd microindustries — de-cluttering consultants, aroma therapy for pets — that sprouted in recent years by catering to the well-heeled, said Caitlin Zaloom, an assistant professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University who studied the culture of the Wall Street boom.
“All those high-end services are a sign of financial froth,” Dr. Zaloom said, and are also the first thing to go when times get tough. The city, she added, loses a degree of its boomtown air of specialness, its grandiosity.
Massive development projects like Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards, with its planned Frank Gehry-designed sports arena and 60-story skyscraper, appear stalled. There’s no sign the New Jersey Nets will be moving to the borough any time soon.
“I think the city that never sleeps definitely needs a nap,” Michael J. Petruzzello, a prominent Washington public relations consultant, said in an e-mail message. “Washington, not Wall Street, is where all the action is right now. We have the money, power and the celebrities. We own all of the banks and financial giants. The Obamas are the hottest power couple on the planet.”
Can a city be considered “over,” like Pete Doherty? Unless the city in question is Ephesus, the Ionian metropolis that was sacked by Goths in third century A.D.; or La Corona, the lost Mayan city in what is now Guatemala; or possibly Detroit, cities don’t stop being cities. Even Pompeii, buried for centuries under ash and pumice, still attracts its hordes (albeit, to pick through the bones).
Ray Cha, 35, a trend consultant who lives in Manhattan, said, “New Yorkers love to complain,” and one of the things they “most love to complain about is that the city isn’t as good as it used to be. When the city is flush with Wall Street cash or dot-com I.P.O.’s, people complain about $20 cocktails or $300 bottle service.”
In fact, some New Yorkers feared their city was past its peak in the early ’90s recession. And in the bankrupt ’70s. And as long ago as the late 19th century, when New York felt compelled to annex Brooklyn in part to keep pace with its booming rival, Chicago, which at the time was enjoying the attention of the world as the site of the 1893 World’s Fair, said Mike Wallace, an author of “Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.”
Indeed, in a city with a considerable taste for overstatement, residents have perennially declared it past its prime. “New York is over — O-V-E-R,” sneered Lexi Featherston, the party-girl character from “Sex and the City,” in an episode from Season 6, simply because some health-conscious partygoers forced her to aim her cigarette smoke out an open window (which she later jumped from). The episode was broadcast in February 2004, a year when Manhattan residential real estate values gained 14 percent and Wall Street paid nearly $15.9 billion in bonuses.
Also that year, Thomas Keller opened Per Se, with its $270, nine-course tasting menu (with wine pairings), in the towering new Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle — where one apartment had sold for a then-record $45 million.
A phone call to Per Se for a reservation earlier this week revealed an opening for two that same night, and another one the next night.
To some, New York’s cyclical sense of having lost its swagger even serves as muse. Joan Didion famously declared New York, at least her New York, over in the essay “Goodbye to All That,” which was published when she was 32.
“The last time I was in New York was in a cold January, and everyone was ill and tired,” she wrote. “Many of the people I used to know there had moved to Dallas or had gone on Antabuse or had bought a farm in New Hampshire. We stayed 10 days, and then we took an afternoon flight back to Los Angeles.”
That was 1967. She didn’t stay in Los Angeles. At press time, Ms. Didion was still living in a red-brick prewar building on East 71st Street.
miércoles, 14 de enero de 2009
Australia offers 'best job in world' on paradise island
SYDNEY – An Australian state is offering internationally what it calls "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.
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The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars ($105,000) and includes free airfares from the winner's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday.
In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, take care of "a few minor tasks" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.
The successful applicant, who will stay rent-free in a three-bedroom beach home complete with plunge pool and golf buggy, must be a good swimmer, excellent communicator and be able to speak and write English.
"They'll also have to talk to media from time to time about what they're doing so they can't be too shy and they'll have to love the sea, the sun, the outdoors," said acting state Premier Paul Lucas.
"The fact that they will be paid to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel and generally live the Queensland lifestyle makes this undoubtedly the best job in the world."
Lucas said the campaign was part of a drive to protect the state's 18 billion Australian dollar a year tourism industry during the tough economic climate caused by the global financial meltdown.
"Traditional tourism advertising just doesn't cut it sometimes and we are thinking outside the box by launching this campaign."
Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said some people might question whether it was risky to let an unknown person become an unofficial tourism spokesperson for the state.
"I think the biggest risk will be that the successful candidate won't want to go home at the end of the six months," she said.
"This is a legitimate job which is open to anyone and everyone."
Applications are open until February 22. Eleven shortlisted candidates will be flown to Hamilton Island in early May for the final selection process and the six month contract will commence on July 1.
Best job of the world
Australia offers up 'best job': lounge in paradise
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Position: Island caretaker. Duties: Lazing around Australia's Great Barrier Reef for six months. Salary: 150,000 Australian dollars ($100,000).
It sounds too good to be true, but it's for real. Billing it the "Best Job in the World," Australian tourism officials say they are seeking one lucky person to spend six months relaxing on Hamilton Island, part of the country's Whitsunday Islands, while promoting the destination on a blog.
Within 24 hours, more than 200,000 prospective applicants had clicked onto the Web site advertising the sweet gig. The surge to the site caused it to jam, but officials were working to upgrade so people could access it again, said Tourism Whitsundays official Karin Whiting.
The eager reaction — and worldwide media attention — delighted tourism officials, who listed the job as part of a AU$1.7 million ($1.1 million) campaign to publicize the charms of northeastern Queensland state.
"The global response in the first 24 hours has outstripped even our expectations," Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said.
Boyle said the campaign had already reached some 29 million people through television and print media coverage — the equivalent of nearly $10 million in publicity.
While the advertisement is a stunt, the job is genuine. Applicants must submit a 60-second video application, and 11 finalists will be flown from their home countries to Hamilton Island in May for the final selection process.
In exchange for the plush salary, free accommodation in an oceanfront villa and airfare from the winner's home country, the employee will be required to stroll the island's white sand beaches, snorkel, maybe take a dip in the pool — and post photos and videos of his or her experiences on a weekly blog.
As of late Tuesday, at least 200,000 people logged onto the Web site to check out the listing, Boyle said. Only about 200 video applications had been submitted, but officials said they expect thousands more.
Hillary: "diplomacia inteligente" de EE UU
En su primera gran exhibición como secretaria de Estado, Hillary Clinton mostró ayer, ante el Comité del Senado que debe confirmar su nombramiento, su gran potencial como nueva responsable de la política exterior norteamericana y anticipó el desarrollo de lo que ella llamó "una diplomacia inteligente", a medio camino entre el uso arbitrario del enorme poder de este país y la cándida creencia de que el diálogo lo arregla todo.
"Queremos construir un mundo con más aliados que enemigos. La diplomacia será la vanguardia de nuestra política, pero sabemos que el uso de la fuerza será necesario en ocasiones", declaró la ex candidata presidencial y la figura que el presidente electo, Barack Obama, ha escogido como imagen internacional del cambio que llega.
Clinton se enfrentó -el intercambio de opiniones fue, en realidad, bastante amistoso- a un Comité de Relaciones Exteriores presidido, por primera vez, por otro ex candidato presidencial demócrata, John Kerry, que se ha tenido que conformar con este puesto de consolación después de no haber encontrado hueco en el Gabinete de Obama. El comité tiene previsto votar la confirmación mañana, pero, por lo visto ayer, no parece que Clinton, senadora ella misma hasta ahora, vaya a encontrar dificultades.
Sus cualidades son de sobra conocidas por todos, y ayer hizo gala ampliamente de ellas al analizar con un lenguaje prudente y convincente las principales crisis que afectan al mundo. También sus limitaciones son bastante conocidas. Especialmente, el problema que representa la actividad de su marido, el ex presidente Bill Clinton, que dirige una fundación humanitaria de implantación internacional y que ha hecho una fortuna pronunciando discursos en medio mundo y asesorando a algunos personajes de controvertida conducta.
El senador republicano de más rango en el Comité de Exteriores, Richard Lugar, aludió a ese problema de Clinton en su intervención de ayer. Se trata de una "complicación particular" que requiere "especial cuidado y transparencia", advirtió. "La Fundación Clinton es una tentación", añadió Lugar, "para todo Gobierno o entidad extranjera que crea que puede conseguir favores por medio de una donación. También constituye un problema potencial para cualquier acción que la secretaria de Estado emprenda en el área internacional".
Lugar dijo, no obstante, que, por el momento, se da por satisfecho con el acuerdo alcanzado entre Clinton y Obama, hecho público el pasado 5 de enero, por el que el ex presidente se compromete a someter permanentemente a control de los auditores del Departamento de Estado las cuentas de su fundación, así como a facilitar por adelantado al Gobierno el contenido y las condiciones de sus discursos en el exterior.
Este asunto va a estar, probablemente, planeando durante algún tiempo sobre la gestión de Hillary Clinton, pero no ha conseguido impedir que la próxima secretaria de Estado arranque con fuerza en su nueva y dificilísima misión.
Clinton no sólo va a tener que lidiar con la complejidad de una retirada en Irak y un refuerzo militar en Afganistán, donde las perspectivas son cada día más sombrías. Llega al cargo coincidiendo con un nuevo estallido de violencia entre israelíes y palestinos, y en plena cuenta atrás del plazo para que Irán pueda fabricar armas nucleares. Todo ello, aderezado con la peor crisis económica que se recuerda y en medio de un mundo confuso y falto de liderazgo en el que la violencia y la amenaza terrorista han sobrevivido con renovada vitalidad a la política de George Bush.
La próxima secretaria de Estado abordó todos esos temas ayer e intentó insuflar un nuevo optimismo para su solución. Por muchas que sean las dificultades, dijo, "no podemos desmayar en la tarea de buscar la paz" en Oriente Próximo. Clinton dijo que el Gobierno de Obama "comprende las razones por las que Israel tiene que defenderse de los cohetes lanzados por Hamás, pero comprende también el sufrimiento de los palestinos" y tratará de buscar mecanismos para un arreglo.
Pese a la insistencia de los senadores, Clinton no quiso presentar propuestas específicas en relación con ese u otros conflictos. Se negó, por ejemplo, a confirmar si piensa reunirse personalmente con el Gobierno de Irán o a establecer prioridades en cuanto al uso del palo o la zanahoria con ese país. "Obama ha dejado claro que un Irán nuclear es inaceptable y ninguna opción está fuera de la mesa para conseguir ese objetivo", se limitó a decir.
Clinton señaló la relevancia que su gestión dará a los países emergentes, a África y a crisis humanitarias como la de Darfur. Fue notable, en este sentido, la ausencia de América Latina entre las preocupaciones de la nueva Administración, exceptuando una breve mención a México, como vecino y socio comercial, y una respuesta a una pregunta sobre el presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez.
Clinton introdujo, sin embargo, algunos temas de su agenda más particular. Aludió, por ejemplo, a que la consecución de un mundo en paz exige acabar con la violencia contra las mujeres. "La violencia contra las mujeres es un crimen, no es cultura o tradición", proclamó.
Confiando en que recibirá el sí de los que hasta ahora eran sus colegas, Clinton prometió contar con el Congreso en cada paso y aseguró que uno de sus principales objetivos es "recuperar el bipartidismo de la política exterior de Estados Unidos".
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