Berlin before I left.

Berlin U-Bahn, Dezember 2010.

Friday we spent the day packing our luggage and our data. We shared photos, transfered video tapes and copied the files we've been working on. The way to the airport was quite interesting. We left the house at sunset time, when a big traffic jam takes place every day. Even there are no traffic lights and cars move slowly, I think drivers don't get stressed. Edward always seemed very calm. I haven't seen people screaming or honking. Actually I haven't seen anyone agressive at all.
 
Right now I hear people honking all the time here in my street in Berlin because they have to drive slower than usually. Today Fete de la musique takes place and some streets are for pedestrians only, so cars have to drive other routes. Sometimes someone even screams. Why are they so stressed?
 
While driving to the airport I found it sad to see a woman sitting on a dusty sidewalk grilling corn to sell. She was there with her small son that tried to climb on her. The kid smiled and laughed, and she played with him. Around her there was some trash. The corn was quite black after a long time in the small grill. I wonder if someone was buying any of it. It's strange that it felt sad for me while they seemed happy.
 
Edward took a different route to avoid the traffic jam. We drove on some dirt streets with huge holes and bumps. The car's bottom often hit those bumps. I saw the night life in Kampala. There were some pickup trucks with loud speakers, pool tables, bars and lots of people hanging out there. It was a busy and very interesting area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabalagala
 
In the photos, a mobile card shop. Then Sarah, Miquel with Conejo, Solomon, Hakim and I, and finally someone being driven around in a bicycle on the way to the airport.
 
It was amazing how bright the stars were on the road to Entebbe. You could see some even near the horizon.
 
Tuesday 60ºN :)

The first Sunday of May 2009 I gave a small talk at the Skizum Studios in Berlin. Scott Bolden had the great idea of inviting two creative persons every two Sundays to describe projects or interesting facts.

For me it was quite an improvised happening. I'm not used to talking in public, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to do it. I talked about Finland, Mallorca, nature, waves in the sea, curiosity, science, the "hydrogen bomb" I created when I was a young kid, computers, programming, randomness, measuring power consumption, testing battery charge, harbors, interesting states of mind, happiest moments in life, being lost, paragliding, inspiring events, creativity, math, among others.

I also showed some creations, like my home page, the sound gun, a concert I did, photography and more. You can find links to some of those creations at my home page.

There was no time to explain many other things I had written down, like this sound game I did in my job at Panfu last year, which was inspired by Toshio Iwai's  work (video, video). I like thinking about interfaces. I also didn't have time to mention that I've been helping with the programming of the website www.ae911truth.org It's a website where many architects and engineers ask for a new investigation of what happened 8 years ago in New York, and has a 2 hour video presentation of many interesting facts. Or that soon I will visit Uganda and develop phone applications to help doctors in developing countries. I plan to describe this journey in this blog, alternating English and Spanish.

Here are links to some inspiring events you may have a look:

Online conferences at TED (see "Rated jaw-dropping" on the left).

Transmediale. Event in Berlin, in January/February each year. There I saw lots of interesting things, like Syscapes #interlude, and Recipes for Disaster.

Recordings of the Chaos Computer Club conferences in Berlin, each year in December:
(some very geek, others not so much, like 2916 Wikileaks)

OFFF: another inspiring event I attended in 2006. Tickets are always sold out very quick. There were so many amazing things shown there. This one from Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman is one of them (see the whole playlist in YouTube!).

I hope that in the future I take some time to write posts about all the subjects I mention above, and upload some other creations I did not present at the Skizum Studios.

Thank you everybody for attending!

I hope you enjoyed it :)

De noche en Berlín. La ventana está abierta y escucho la lluvia que cae sin mucho escándalo. ¿Cuanta gente estará durmiendo ahí fuera? ¿Quizás un millón de personas? Algunos otros tendrán la suerte de estar acompañados por alguien que no les deje dormir. Puedo imaginarlo con este calor medio pegajoso.

Hoy vi el cielo más impresionante que he visto desde que vivo en esta ciudad. No solo lo vi, lo sentí. Cruzaba en bicicleta el Görlitzer Park mientras volvía de mi oficina. Pedaleaba despacio, esquivando charcos y disfrutando de como patinaba el barro. El sol ya se había escondido, pero no era aún oscuro. Alguna que otra persona evitaba que el parque estuviera totalmente vacío. De vez en cuando iba observando el cielo que en algunas partes tenía un tono rojizo. Una nube alargada perpendicular al parque me llamaba la atención. Había visto una nube así una vez en Finlandia. No se si tendrán algún nombre, pero son todo un espectáculo. La vez anterior me pareció una enorme serpiente cuya superficie llena de remolinos en movimiento me dejaron con la boca abierta. Hoy me pareció más como una gigantesca barra de pan tamaño montaña. Imponente. Sobrecogedora, ya que rara vez solemos tener algo gigantesco encima de la ciudad. Esa enorme nube perpendicular al parque se desplazaba en la dirección opuesta a la mia. Al llegar yo a la mitad del parque tuve que detenerme y observar. Parte de las nubes sobre mi cabeza tenían un tono rojo, como si hubiera fuego en su interior. Lo raro es que no parecía posible que el sol les diera ese color. El sol se había ido, pero las nubes desprendían rojo fuego.
Otras partes se transformaban a gran velocidad, como en las películas donde nubes oscuras a cámara rápida avisan de un terrible acontecimiento. Justo cuando la nube pasó sobre mi, terminó la calma y comenzó un fuerte viento. Era el reflejo en la superficie de lo que estaba pasando ahí arriba. De pronto no solo podía verlo sino sentirlo, en mi cuerpo y por el sonido. Por un momento pensé que podía convertirse en un pequeño huracán, como me pasó hace años,  pero esta vez no fue a más.

En otro lugar las nubes estaban iluminadas de manera que parecía que algún vehículo iba a descender de ellas en cualquier momento.

Es una pena que no tuviera la cámara. Pero ni una cámara de fotos ni una de video podían captar la sensación de estar bajo algo así. Yo tampoco puedo expresarlo con palabras, aunque podría seguir describiendolo durante una hora. Algunas personas pasaron junto a mi, mirando al suelo o distraidos hablando. Se lo perdieron! Después también noté que fuera del parque las luces de las farolas, los edificios y coches impedían disfrutar el espectáculo. Me pregunto si habré sido el único en verlo.