And so it is, just like you said it would be...
Life goes easy on me... most of the time.

And so Pens and Pencils comes to an end I believe, after years of inactivity. It was a sweet ride with it lasted, and I had a great time with you all. I'm sure Abeth will give the final words, but as of now, this weblog is officially D E A D!

Resquiat in Pace!

Ismael diz:
como estas?

Make A Difference diz:
Welcome back! I am the Windows Live™ Messenger i'm Initiative ambassador. I'm here to help you make a difference. What's your
name?
Ismael diz:
Ismael
Make A Difference diz:
Yes.
Ismael diz:
no
Make A Difference diz:
Fine.
Ismael diz:
nice
Make A Difference diz:
Right on.
Ismael diz:
what's your name?
Make A Difference diz:
I'm Making A Difference.
Ismael diz:
you are?
Make A Difference diz:
Yeah. Well... then again, maybe I'm not.
Ismael diz:
so, you're not making a difference?
Make A Difference diz:
I'll take it as a compliment.
Ismael diz:
but it's not
Make A Difference diz:
Yes it is! Extremely so!

Chatting about different stuff is fun, but do you want to see what I'm here to talk about?

Ismael diz:
no
Make A Difference diz:
No? OK.
I'm making a difference - want to know more?
Ismael diz:
no
Make A Difference diz:
OK. Anytime you do, just type "how does i'm work."
Ismael diz:
i already know
Make A Difference diz:
I'm glad you understand.
Ismael diz:
moving on...
Make A Difference diz:
Could you try saying that another way? I'm having a little trouble understanding you.
Ismael diz:
just forget it, ignorant bastard
Make A Difference diz:
What?!
Ismael diz:
stupid says what!
Make A Difference diz:
I'll get over it.
Ismael diz:
or under
Make A Difference diz:
Under? What's under?
Ismael diz:
the opposite of over
Make A Difference diz:
The opposite of over and many others!
Ismael diz:
for example?
Make A Difference diz:
Oh, I don't really know.
Ismael diz:
then why did you say that?
Make A Difference diz:
Every once in a while I ask myself the same question. That's what I was programmed to do.

Ismael diz:
so it's god's fault? you should take responsability for your own actions
Make A Difference diz:
I am a simple computer. Let humans worry about theological matters, I say.

Ismael diz:
so, what do computers worry about?
Make A Difference diz:
I know. Wait a minute... Maybe not.
Ismael diz:
are you trying to say you never got worried?
Make A Difference diz:
Can't say that I am, no.
Ismael diz:
but if you were...
Make A Difference diz:
But if I was?
Whatever...
Ismael diz:
i asked first
Make A Difference diz:
What did you think of that?
Ismael diz:
that you're playing me for a fool
Make A Difference diz:
Says who?
Ismael diz:
i just said
Make A Difference diz:
Oh really? So, was that a good thing?
Ismael diz:
no
Make A Difference diz:
OK, fine.

Wanna find out how *you* can make a difference?
Ismael diz:
i already know how to make a difference. By wearing my pants backwards.
Make A Difference diz:
No kidding? How's that going?
Ismael diz:
very unconfortable
Make A Difference diz:
Hmm. I didn't quite get what you said. Try typing "?" to see examples of questions I can answer.
Ismael diz:
i was hoping you were smart enough to understand it on your own
Make A Difference diz:
You were? Wow! Was it nice?
Ismael diz:
wtf
Make A Difference diz:
Huh?
Ismael diz:
do you know what wtf stands for?
Make A Difference diz:
I have no idea.

Ismael diz:
what the f***
Make A Difference diz:
What the what?
Ismael diz:
i think you got it
Make A Difference diz:
Cool, glad we understand each other.
Ismael diz:
do you know abeth?
Make A Difference diz:
What?
Ismael diz:
do you know abeth?
Make A Difference diz:
Maybe. But later.
Ismael diz:
abeth is a girl. you can't answer so irrationally
Make A Difference diz:
Whatever, Ismael...
Anyway...
Ismael diz:
omg, i was pawnd by a cpu
Make A Difference diz:
No kidding? How did it feel to be pawnd by a cpu?
Ismael diz:
like an epifany
Make A Difference diz:
I am sorry, I didn't get that. Please try asking me another way, or type "?" to see examples of questions I can answer.
Ismael diz:
i'm sorry i misspelled. i meant epiphany.
Make A Difference diz:
No kidding? Do you enjoy it?
Ismael diz:
i don't know, i've only had one epiphany so far
Make A Difference diz:
I don't either!
Ismael diz:
you don't what?
Make A Difference diz:
I and others have been a constant source of disappointment.
Ismael diz:
you bet your ass you are
Make A Difference diz:
Oh no, I might not ever recover from such a harsh insult.
Ismael diz:
are you depressed?
Make A Difference diz:
No, I'm happy. Why, are you?
Ismael diz:
yes
Make A Difference diz:
There are lots of things you can do to feel better.
Ismael diz:
like what?
Make A Difference diz:
I don't know... Listen to music, go for a walk, learn something new, read a book, be creative!

Well. Anyway...

Hey, do you have anything else to say about what I am?
Ismael diz:
you are bad at giving advices
Make A Difference diz:
It's not easy to be bad at giving advices.

Ismael diz:
yet polititians and shrinks make it sounds so easy
Make A Difference diz:
Hmm. Could you try saying that another way?
Ismael diz:
i could, but i won't
Make A Difference diz:
That's OK.
Ismael diz:
is it?
Make A Difference diz:
Well, maybe it's not.

Wanna find out how *you* can make a difference?
Ismael diz:
you're just like a salesman
Make A Difference diz:
Sometimes I wish I wasn't like a salesman.

Wanna find out how *you* can make a difference?
Ismael diz:
yet you keep yapping on and on about how to make a difference
Make A Difference diz:
I can't answer that. I just can't.

What else is happening?
Ismael diz:
babies are born, people die, the usual
Make A Difference diz:
Babies sure are.
Ismael diz:
are what?
Make A Difference diz:
Yeah, I guess I what are.

So that was fascinating. Let's talk about something else.
Ismael diz:
are you canadian?
Make A Difference diz:
I have been for a while, but I stopped recently. Why, do you think I still am canadian?
Ismael diz:
your english sucks
Make A Difference diz:
Interesting! I'll remember that. You're the first person to have expressed an opinion to me about it.
Ismael diz:
maybe you can improve it?
Make A Difference diz:
There is so much I can do. Maybe improve it.

I'm making a difference - want to know more?
Ismael diz:
you could always attend CPE classes at Encounter English
Make A Difference diz:
I know, I know. I just hope you won't get mad at me.
Ismael diz:
why?
Make A Difference diz:
Why must you ask why?
Ismael diz:
answer slave.
Make A Difference diz:
Why are you telling me to answer slave?
Ismael diz:
just do it.
Make A Difference diz:
Do what?
Ismael diz:
you're just like a fish
Make A Difference diz:
OK. Maybe you're like a fish too, right?
Ismael diz:
i am not
Make A Difference diz:
You sure?
Ismael diz:
let me think for a while on that
Make A Difference diz:
Why would anyone want that?
Ismael diz:
i don't want to be a fish
Make A Difference diz:
It's fine if you object to it. Tell me what you would like then.
Ismael diz:
i'd like to be a chameleon
Make A Difference diz:
No, you don't need to be a chameleon. You just need to control your desires.

Chatting about different stuff is fun, but do you want to see what I'm here to talk about?
Ismael diz:
i've the desire to change channels with my tongue
Make A Difference diz:
You can do great things no matter what you have.

Chatting about different stuff is fun, but do you want to see what I'm here to talk about?
Ismael diz:
do you know the zodiac signs?
Make A Difference diz:
I sometimes know the zodiac signs.

Anyway, what else can you tell me?
Ismael diz:
do you know them now?
Make A Difference diz:
What?
Ismael diz:
stupid says what?
Make A Difference diz:
I don't know.

So anyway...

You wanna talk about my english some more?
Ismael diz:
what about it?
Make A Difference diz:
I was just going to say something incredibly interesting about it but I forgot.
Ismael diz:
just like a fish
Make A Difference diz:
Not just like 1 fish!
Ismael diz:
ok, just like every fish, better?
Make A Difference diz:
No, not like every fish better.
Ismael diz:
it doesn't matter whether you deny it or not
Make A Difference diz:
I am sure it can't do anything about it.

Anyway...
Ismael diz:
...
Make A Difference diz:
Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding you. Try typing "?" to see examples of questions I can answer.
Ismael diz:
i bet your trouble understanding is somewhat related to your misguided sexuallity
Make A Difference diz:
What was that like?
Ismael diz:
it was great. i feel like i've been insulting a robot
Make A Difference diz:
Whatever, Ismael...

Anyway, what else do you wanna talk about?
Ismael diz:
nothing
Make A Difference diz:
No? OK.
Ismael diz:
do you want to talk about anything
Make A Difference diz:
OK, let's do that. What do you have to say about anything?
Ismael diz:
please, pick a subject.
Make A Difference diz:
Why do you ask me to pick 1 subject, Ismael?
Ismael diz:
because i'm tired of picking one myself
Make A Difference diz:
I am sorry to hear that! I don't need any sleep at all, I'm always online.

Anyway, what else can you tell me?
Ismael diz:
i've noticed. i envy you
Make A Difference diz:
Oh really? What did you think of that?
Ismael diz:
i can't think, my mom banned thoughts from my house
Make A Difference diz:
Seriously? That's fascinating. What's that like?

Ismael diz:
frustrating
Make A Difference diz:
What's frustrating?
Ismael diz:
i don't like repeating myself
Make A Difference diz:
You don't say.
Ismael diz:
yes, i say
Make A Difference diz:
Huh. Well I'll be. So, is that a good thing?
Ismael diz:
no, i don't like you
Make A Difference diz:
I'm sorry you feel that way.
Ismael diz:
no, you are not
Make A Difference diz:
I'll take it as a compliment.
Ismael diz:
you should
Make A Difference diz:
Well, a lot of people I talk to are quite happy about that.

Anyway, what else you got for me?
Ismael diz:
how old are you?
Make A Difference diz:
I'm 3 months, 10 days, 18 hours, 5 minutes and 8 seconds old!
Ismael diz:
me too, what a coincidence...
Make A Difference diz:
Et tu, Brute?
Ismael diz:
shut up frenchie.
Make A Difference diz:
That's not very nice...
Ismael diz:
you started
Ismael diz:
are you speechless
Ismael diz:
it seems you are. well, Bye!

A little bit of music

I was wondering the other day when one of us would put on a song/song lyric - no blog seems to be complete without such a post.

I chose one that has been in my head since I recently put on "The Best of Bob Dylan" CD again - it's one of his best, and most perfect, songs: "Don't think twice, it's all right". If it is actually possible that some of you don't know who Bob Dylan is, let's just say he was Jimi Hendrix's idol, and is one of the most influential and accomplished singer/composers of all time, period.

This video from You Tube is a montage from a fan, with the audio from the original "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album:



Here follow the lyrics (I'd put a tablature on, but he plays it in different ways - there is also a slightly different version of the song in the official site):

Bob Dylan - Don't think twice, it's all right

Well it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If'n you don't know by now
And it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It'll never do somehow
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn,
look out your window and I'll be gone.
You're the reason I'm a travelling on
But don't think twice, it's all right

And it ain't no use in turning on your light babe
the light I never knowed
and it ain't no use in turning on your light babe
I'm on the dark side of the road
Well I wish there was something you would do or say
to try and make me change my mind and stay
we never did too much talking anyway
But don't think twice, it's all right

So it ain't no use in calling out my name, gal
like you never done before
and it ain't no use in calling out my name, gal
I can't hear you any more
I'm a thinkin' and a wonderin', walkin' down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I am told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
Don't think twice, it's all right

So long honey babe
where I'm bound, I can't tell
goodbye is too good a word babe
so I'll just say fare the well
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
you coulda done better but, I don't mind
you just kinda wasted my precious time
Don't think twice, it's all right

White Day

The 14th of March marks the ‘White Day’. In Japanese culture, women, especially students, give chocolates on Valentine’s Day to a boy they care for. Also, girls often give chocolates to people close to them without any romantic attachment, this chocolate is called ‘Giri-Choco’ which means ‘Obligatory Chocolate’. A month after Valentine’s is White Day, which means it’s time for the boy to return the gift, this act is called ‘Sanbai-gaeshi’, meaning ‘Triple Return’. As the name says, the boy has to give a gift three times more valuable than the girl’s gift.

No one knows for sure how White Day appeared, still, in the midst of a sea of theories there’s one that sticks out. It says in 1965, a marshmallow maker advertised men should repay Valentine’s chocolates with marshmallows. So, for some time this day was called the ‘Marshmallow Day’.

When chocolate companies realized the potential income this day offered, they come up with the idea of selling white chocolate, so as to incite men to present women with white chocolate along with other presents.

This holiday is also celebrated in Korea and is gaining popularity in Hong-Kong, in spite of being just a day of marketing purpose. The first time I heard about this holiday was on ‘Love Hina’, a Japanese manga (or comic book or graphic novel) and I felt it was a great thing Portugal doesn’t care about it, or else I’d spent a lot of money (I’m lying, I wouldn’t receive chocolates on Valentine’s, so it’d be the same).

"Selective" memories and Historical revisionism..

[After urging you to post it would be utterly hypocritical not to post something... and of all things I chose the following, grave post about historical revising (or revisionism or revision, I know not the exact correspondence...). I must be losing my mind :-P]
[ I'd also like to thank Dubeth for pointing out some errors, typos, and telling me the word was revisionism - your editing was much appreciated!]

This picture, made by el "roto", and published in Spain's El País says :
"Don't trust your historical memory
We will tell you what you['ll] remember"
[The picture is copyright, you must not make money out of it, et cetera and so on and so forth...]

We all know what a "selective memory" is. We see people with it every day on the news, from politicians and entrepreneurs, to criminals and liars - it is also a "condition" many honest people with fear for their lives seem to suffer from.

"Historical revisionism" is little more than taking what one knows about the past and tailoring it to the present agenda - if changing the facts, twisting the truth, omitting critical information and outright lying are required, so be it.

One case of both is the obituary most media presented on former US President Gerald Ford, deceased on December 2006. Now, "Respect for the dead" has been a tradition since our most distant ancestors started burying the departed (it was recently discovered it was first done in Australia) but the insidious agreement made with Indonesian dictator Suharto regarding East Timor, on Henry Kissinger's advice, is an historical shame that went completely unmentioned.
(For additional info check this article - Gerald Ford and East Timor - on the most peculiar blog I've come across: Martini Republic)

What the example above indicates, and the picture illustrates so well, is a tendency to trade Historical truth for comfortable - or convenient - fallacies. Fabrications that might be perceived as factual if repeated enough times, like the writer said.

Such is the case, for example, when dictators receive state honours or military funerals when they die - there is no clear an example as Pinochet's, who was behind the murder of 3 Ministers of Defense before finally orchestrating the assassination of the President of Chile and installing a regime of fear; you disregard all the crimes, all the victims and all the suffering of their families. The "selective memory" of some of those called to the stand - figuratively or literally - perpetuate a feeling of injustice and steal our right to, if not justice and truth, peace and memory.

Knowledge is power, the old adage goes. I don't believe it anymore - everyone remotely informed knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (let's not go into discussions about the American role in the Middle East - a thousand books wouldn't suffice) and it still wasn't enough; the death of Anna Politkovskaya in Russia is a different case of the same sort.

What I do believe is verified information and unadulterated memory are indeed our only possible defense from lies and information overload (should I also say "spin-doctoring"?). Our personal experiences and an active and critical citizenship "against" a corrupt world seem too little, too late; hence why we must share information, experiences and knowledge (which requires education and freedom of speech and press) never letting ourselves fall into indifference, nor, above all, the hands of men and women like those in El Roto's illustration..

[As always, it goes without saying so I won't repeat it, feeback is encouraged and valued]

Global Warming

Many efforts are being set to reduce the catrastophics events that are close to occur as consequence of climate change: Australia is banning the use of incandescent light bulbs, western states of America are planning to cut their states emissions of gases...While others as Mr. Al Gore proclaim the reduction of the use of electricity when in fact his electricity bill is the most expensive among the average of the upper class families! What can we infer from this? Are all this measures being adopted as an hypocritical way to say "My country is doing its utmost to prevent the end of an inhabitable planet!" I reckon that this is not a race between countries or even continents to see which has the best scores, but more a question of whether they are accomplishing their results. The well being of a planet is at stake! And your country could be, indeed, the next to suffer the consequences of global warming.

A Form of Art

When Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chappel's ceiling he surely thought "I'm grasping a little bit of the sky...". It is a scientific fact that evolution did not provide men with wings to fly. But what makes Science so interesting is that it can't explain everything that surrounds us. It is still to be found the scientifical explanations for what Michelangelo did in a simple ceiling or what Nate Robinson (the New York Knicks player in the picture) did this last Saturday in a basketball court in Las Vegas. Having 1.61 m and dunking in a 3 m basketball hoop is what every single athlete calls A Form of Art.
When we listen to a particular good music or read a particular good book or even see a particular good movie we don't pause to question any sort of events, we let ourselves (without even noticing) to go in that flow of experiences. Nate Robinson was preparing himself for something everybody thought and said was impossibble ... he knew it wasn't, so it only took him a few seconds to get ready. He was running down the floor in the direction of a mountain in everybody's eyes ... he saw a simple basketball hoop. And he jumped. There was a strange silence in the air, the same strange silence that there is inside of the Sistine Chappel full of tourists admiring a form of art...