Wrapping up Erasmus 9 February 2008
Posted by Jc in Blog, Culture, Travel.1 comment so far
This is it! I spent five months in Spain. A country I came to like a lot, but perhaps even more, the people I got to know. Going on Erasmus is all about getting to know cultures, hidden paradises and new people. For example, you’ve got great food and cities in Eastern Europe. This may sound very logic to a lot of you, but in Western Europe, the East is pretty much unknown.
But like always, things have to come to an end. I will miss the people I have gotten to know here a lot. Yesterday we were having a great Wrapping-up-Erasmus-party. It was great music, with all my friends, but this time, it was different. Most of us are going on a trip, to say goodbye to Spain. Some aren’t… We told goodbye to our Spanish friends (Maria, Naya, Paola, …) , our American friends (Leigh, Pat, Mikaela, …) , our Zcech friends (Petra, Alana, Jana, …) , Monika from Poland and Riccardo from Italy. In six months you don’t get to know everybody with a lot of depth, but it’s enough to establish a profound bound that won’t be forgotten quickly.
I’m wrapping it up. This song describes best how I felt, and still feel:
Os echaré de menos ….
– Jonathan
Get ready for the SWITCH 24 January 2008
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On february 17, 2009, the US switches permanently to Digital TV. Anolog TV will no longer be available. America isn’t that far away this time though. It’s a general evolution in the western world. The UK and Sweden have already begun with the transition.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines Digital Television (DTV) as “a new type of broadcasting technology that will transform your television viewing experience. DTV enables broadcasters to offer television with movie-quality picture and sound. It also offers greater multicasting and interactive capabilities.”
DTV doesn’t mean that you will be receiving everything in High Definition though. These signals are very big and expensive for the broudcasting companies. It is impossible for them to broudcast in High Definition all the time. Because it’s so expensive, usually HDTV (High Definition Television) is a paid service, that you can only see on a HD television set.
The transition has a price tag to it. The consumers have to buy a digital decoder to translate their digital signals into analog signals, if they do not have a TV-set, capable of viewing digital signals. The same goes for the broudcasters. They have to reorganise senders and frequencies and buy new infrastructure for the broadcasting of the digital signal. But the advanteges outweigh the negative side. The broadcasters can provide new channels, their broadcasting costs drop and it’s easier to license new series. There’s also an interactive motive: Digital TV allows the spectators to participate in quizzes and debates from their seat, pushing a button on their remote. The consumers themselves can enjoy more channels, Dolby Surround in their home theaters, the posibility to watch in High Defenition and an overall better quality of sound an image.
Digital TV in Europe
Sweden is one of the first European countries to introduce DTV, in 1999, as we can read in Alexander Witte’s paper on Digital Television. They started their transition from analog to digital already in 2005. They do this one area at a time, and by the end of 2008, whole of Sweden should be watching digital. This way, a lot more people can be reached. Before 2005, you could only receive Digital Television with a subscription.
The reason for the transition in the US is making the analogue space free for public organizations like the police and the fire department, while the UK mainly does it to reach more people. In most countries, not everyone is connected by cable, and a digital air-signal can reach more places than an analogue one. The Netherlands and Belgium are almost completely cabled. This had a negative effect on the development of satelite TV and digital TV.
In OECD communications Outlook 2005 we can see the European situation how it was two years ago. 50% of the television households in the UK was already watching Digital, while the Nehterlands only reached the 50% by the end of 2007. Sweden was the average with 27%. Belgium, because of its elaborate cable network, was the worst, except for the Chech republic, with only 5% having Digital Television. The Chech Republic only had 2%. Spain was doing alright with about 20%.
The UK still is the leading country, starting the transition this year, ending in 2012. A remarkable advantage they have in mind is the posibility to provide better television for people with bad sight or hearing. Special digital boxes allow subtitles, sign language and audio descriptions of what’s going on on TV.
‘ Fighting-bulls can only Fight ’ 20 January 2008
Posted by Jc in Culture, Travel.1 comment so far
Doctor Prat Ferrer about the other face of bullfighting
What do we really know about bullfighting? People are watching and cheering at a bull that is being tortured and eventually killed. That’s why it is inhuman and why it has to stop. But there is much more to it than that. Doctor Juan José Prat Ferrer shows us the other face of bullfighting.
How did you become an expert in bullfighting?
‘My experience with bullfighting started very early. At the age of ten I lived up north in Spain right in front of the bull ring. Bullfighters looking for fame in that time, always put up their tent in front of the ring hoping that someone would notice them and give them a chance to show their talent. Those chances were given by businessmen, because bullfighting meant serious money. The fighters have to buy their own bull. Each morning, the owner of the ring would open the gates so the fighters could go in and practice. I got to know this spectacle from really close by.’
And after practice the show would start?
‘The fight is definitely a great show. Before the actual show starts, they test the bull with the cape If the bull isn’t in perfect he gets sent back. The spectacle starts with the bullfighter coming out with helpers on foot and on horse. The Picadores, the helpers on horses, sting the bull in order to weaken it. This slows down the bull. The second phase is the one of the banderillas, sticks with harpoons at the end, decorated with colorful paper. This is done without cape. This means that this time, the fighters themselves are the aim of the bull, as they put the banderillas on the bull. At the end, the bull must have at least four banderillas. This makes the bull absolutely furious.’
As preparation for the third phase?
‘The third and last phase. This is the most important one. It’s between the bullfighter and the bull now. In this phase they kill the bull. They do this with a sword which they have to pierce through the neck, in the middle, straight to the heart so death quickly follows. This is extremely difficult because you hit bone very easily.’
Is there a score system?
‘They are given a price: One or two ears of the bull. In some places they also reward the tail if it was a truly incredible spectacle. When that happens, the fighter gets carried out the gate of victory on the shoulders of the crowd. Such triumphs aren’t that unusual, they happen more.’
The ears of the bull? That sounds incredibly cruel
‘It is a cruel sport, that’s right. But it goes with the festivities. There’s another side. If there hadn’t been these bullfights, this kind of bull wouldn’t have existed. They give very poor meat and are terribly aggressive. Take a look at the cattle, do they lead a better life? The bull spends his entire life in nature without seeing a single soul. They are raised that way because they lose their fierceness when they get accustomed to humans. They go down fighting. While a lot of cattle live in terrible conditions. The question is, whether men should be allowed to play such a cruel sport? Take boxing for example.’
Does it often go wrong?
‘Well yes, sometimes an accident can’t be evaded. We are talking about fierce animals. When a fighter is struck by a bull, he goes straight to the first aid. Usually, they have surgeon present for emergencies. Especially in the big cities. In general the fighters aren’t seriously hurt though. The most serious injuries happen when the bull gets the fighter in mid-air or when he’s lying on the floor. It happens, many great bullfighters have died in the arena.’
How can you avoid that? It seems rather impossible to practice bullfighting without actually confronting a bull
‘For example, they have a wheel, with on it horns and a steering wheel. That’s your improvised bull right there. By now they have schools for bullfighting. That’s where the veterans go teach the young when they retire from the arena.’
Didn’t you ever want to be a bullfighter yourself?
‘I did at the beginning, but when I was ten, I saw a fight from really close by, at the side of the ring. Then one moment, the bull saw me, and he found that much more interesting than the cape. When you have seen a bull from that close, you don’t feel the urge to become a bullfighter anymore. The bulls are enormous, much bigger than the ten year old me. I never gave it another thought.’
What do you think yourself of the cruelty of bullfighting?
‘I’m not for bullfighting, and I’m not against it. It’s a controlled suffering the bull experiences, that quarter of an hour in the ring. The cruelty exists in taking pleasure in the suffering of the bull. And that depends on the crowd. The fighter doesn’t take pleasure in it. But in the end, that is not what the crowd sees. They look for something different in the arena. I always think of ancient Rome, where people got killed in the arena. The people didn’t see the suffering of the warriors, they were only interested in a good fight. So are we talking about cruelty, or the inability to compassion?’
Jonathan Cooman
Second Life no longer secondary 13 January 2008
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“Linden dollars are the currency of Second Life. The virtual money can be exchanged online for real US dollars. Imagine the possibilities!” as read on About.com’s Second Life portal. Second life is one of the most played massively multiplayer online Role Playing games, or in short, MMORPG. But the time that you can say you have a ‘second life’ is over. Virtual games come into reality more and more!
Even Reuters, an news service providing articles to the whole world, has a Second Life division, reporting on the last events in the artificial world. They do this because the game goes beyond cyberspace boundaries. You begin by making an avatar, a cyber version of yourself. Then you can go off and discover the world. You meet people very easily, chatting, that will help you find your way around. To lose you status of novice, you should first buy some new clothes, which you can only do with Linden Dollars, the currency of Second Life. It’s gotten so far that people now are earning money through Second Life, by performing with their band. You see, it’s not only possible to buy Linden Dollars, you can also exchange them back to US Dollars! At Reuters Second Life site you can calculate how much your Linden dollars are worth. Reuters did tell us of the second time ever, that people have played less on Second Life than the month before. The first signs of the end?
An addiction for all ages
“I’ve come across players of all ages in these games, including seniors, couples, and even entire families.” Dave Spohn is what you’d call a gaming addict. At his worst moment he was playing three different MMORPG’s. As a result, he sais, he barely found time to sleep. Gamers get completely absorbed in a fantasized world where they truly have control over what’s going on! And the commercial world knows it. Here we see yet another way how these games know to move themselves into everyday life.
Coca Cola uses the popularity of World Of Warcraft in their commercials. World of Warcraft is very similar to Second Life with the one very important difference: fantasy! Your avatar belong to one of ten races like orcs, dwarves, elves or trolls. You go on quests and battle monsters to gain strength and reach the maximum level. The game already has more nine million subscribers!
These MMORPG won’t disappear. They are already part of our own world right now and there is just to much money in it. As well The Simpsons as South Park have episodes tackling this issue, even winning Emmy awards for it! Will people keep losing themselves in a fake reality? Or isn’t it that fake anymore?
World Wide Musicweb 20 December 2007
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Close that e-mule. Ban Kazaa. To hell with Limewire. You love music? Their is a whole network of musicsites out there that is waiting for you. You get to enjoy great, undiscovered music, legally!Aren’t you to bad on the guitar yourself? Dreaming of a fan site, especially devoted to you? In the article 39 Ways to Put Yourself on the Web you find various ways to publicize your very own song. Of the sites listed, I can seriously recommend Jamendo. On Jamendo you can upload your whole CD, which people can then download. Don’t fear though! You put copyright on your songs. Shared that is! Lean about the Creative Commons!
They have their very own community called ccMixter. This site is made for artist to post their own remixes of Creative Commons licensed music! This site has gotten so popular, that they are thinking of a way to make it even better. Their blog holds more info as to what you can find there, and what and why they want to change the site. Especially if you are into electronic music, you should visit this site! ccMixter is often used to find licensed music to put on videos. For example, the music I used in Trippin to Paris with Constitution: Chienne de vie from dupo-x-y, I found on ccMixter. The music for the video of Málaga, I found on Jamendo.
Off course you sometimes just want to enjoy your favourite artist. You can check their Myspace site. MySpace music is by far the largest music community on the web. You find the commercial and well know pop bands there, but also the girl next door who likes to play her guitar, or the friend that gives concerts on open stages. For them Myspace now also provides a download service, so that fans can listen to your music on their MP3’s. Through the service you can even sell them, as you can read here.
If you don’t mind spending a bit of money for good music, you want to know what you buy. Eric Dahl tells us of Better Propaganda! A music review site that offers previews of the latest songs in a very structured way. Don’t go there for music from the past though. In this site you can also find some free songs.
And then of course you have programs like e-mule, Kazaa, called Peer-to-Peer programs. These are programs that allow you to search for files you need or you want, that are shared by other people. It is very clear that we enter the grey zone here. There is no control, and therefore no precision of copyright. Which makes you might be downloading illegally, whether you’re doing it consciously or not… We’ll finish with this video on peer-to-peer networks. Just remember that you now know way more effective ways to get good music, in a legal way.
