Chemins de vie -- Maintenant en Montagne

Spamming you: project updates

2011-08-16T09:56:00.001-07:00

So, I will start using this blog to report the advances on my research. It will as general as possible so anybody interested would be able to follow. I am doing this because I need to push myself to write everyday, and do closures after every milestone created. Giving that I am doing this only 5 months before my hand-in date, it can be a bit too late to inform you, but we will see how does it go.

Today I am going to ramble a bit on one of the open threads in my research

Open Specifications of Concurrent Processes. The most common way of specifying concurrent systems is to take a set of communicating processes, and establish the interactions between them by input-output primitives. Think for a second on a model in which you have a patient Alice, a doctor Bob, and a Social Worker Charlie (switch the gender of roles if you think I am being chauvinist here). Now, you will like to express a case in which the patient feels and comes to the doctor in order to receive a prescription.

The following set of activities will be included in our specification S:

Alice comes to Bob for a medical appointment.
Bob checks out on Alice and formulates a medicine treatment.
Bob sends the medicine formulation to Charlie, so he can deliver it to Alice.
Alice gets the medicine from Charlie and starts taking her treatment regularly as specified by Bob.
After some days, Alice comes back to Bob for a control, and the symptoms have dissapeared.

Now, many details have been hindered from this example. First of all, the current example only details the interaction between three of the main actors involved. This is, however, not a complete model. For instance, considering a private health care institution that has to fulfill auditing processes, we will have that, between phases 2 and 3. other actors will come into play.

Our specification S will be extended accordingly. We call the new model S´:

Alice comes to Bob for a medical appointment.
Bob checks out on Alice and formulates a medicine treatment.
1. David, the accountant, has to certify that the treatment is covered by the insurance hired by Alice.
2. Emma, has to Audit that the process is fulfilling the standards given by the healthcare institution with respect to prompt medicine delivery, quality of service and so on.
Bob sends the medicine formulation to Charlie, so he can deliver it to Alice.
Alice gets the medicine from Charlie and starts taking her treatment regularly as specified by Bob.
After some days, Alice comes back to Bob for a control, and the symptoms have dissapeared.

So, here the question is: Is it S a valid specification? and How is S related to S'? Is it clear that the notion that we are looking for has a lot to do with refinement. Basically, refinement will tell us that a specification S and an implementation Q are related if the set of behaviors in S is a subset of the set of behaviors exhibited by Q. Up to here, there's nothing new to the concept, and you can simply google "refinement concurrency" and will find a lot of examples, most of them based in similarities and testing theories.

Now, most of the times we will start specifying systems constructively, adding up more and more roles (and their respective behaviors) over the time. This, will lead us to start with a specification like S, knowing that each of the actions can be further refined with more and more behavior. To do so, transitions in S can be either the classical, fixed ones where a process exhibits an immediate a before evolving into P', or can be "open" transitions , where the process P can exhibit a series of actions in A before evolving into P'. This "open transitions" allow us to describe explicit stages in a process in which a process can be refined with any of the actions considered. Here, transitions become weaker, as they might need more than one step for moving from P to P', they also become broader, as the set A can involve more than one action a.

Obviously, these changes lead us to a different notion of refinement, in which you consider sets of transitions instead of a single, hardcoded interaction. Without bothering you with the details, we will say that an open refinement relation P R Q considers 1) That the transitions in P are covered by the transitions in Q, and 2) That if P allows for a open transition of the form , then there exists a sequence of transitions in from Q to Q' such that all actions in A are covered.

The new definition of open specifications lead us to very interesting paths on the verification of processes. First, open specifications are partial specifications by nature, and then one can explore the connection between these and logical reasoning. Returning to the example, one might be interested in saying things like "I know that I have to visit the doctor, and irrespective of all the other agents possibly involved, once I am in front of the social worker, he should deliver my medicine".

Currently, we already have the definitions of open specifications and refinement, plus a small logic to relate the transitions on a process and a set of formulae in the logic. Our next step is to map different specification models (for instance, the Pi calculus, or a Calculus for Choreographies) into this model, to prove its usability. My plan is to be able to talk a bit more on this subject from here until the beginning of October.

wrapping up

2010-12-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Now I'm in my fourth month in Portugal, which means that it is time to finish everything, summarize and think about the next step. Before coming here, the idea was pretty simple: take as much time as I can for myself. Learn new things, both at a work level and at the personal one, and generally, retake the order of my life lost in this 2010.

Now, thinking about what happened in Lisbon, things changed radically to the ones expected: I was able again to say "I love you" without having regrets to do so. I learn how not to plan every single step in my life, and enjoy the perfect moments of today without regrets for tomorrow or yesterday. My journey was more personal than I thought, and I found that being a giver in terms of emotions characterizes me. I understood that the best emotion for me is to being able to give with no expectations, with no contracts or everlasting promises that none will keep. Nobody warned me that those lessons will come bundled with nights of insomnia and some tears, but I am learning to appreciate even those moments...like spices, is what keeps all interesting, right?

On what is coming next, I certainly don't know...and I am not worried anymore. I will continue, I will crash and burn, and I will put myself together as one of the many times it has happened...only that this time I feel the nature of things, and I will give everything now to make those moments perfect, and feel the memories full of genuine moments.

Thanks to you, for having taught me that....

Insomnia

2010-08-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Ya se esta volviendo una costumbre esta: tengo mis horarios trocados, mis sentimientos encontrados y ahí dentro: un pozo que por más que intento llenar sólo se hace más grande. Ayer un italiano en su pobre traducción lo definió como una alcantarilla, y pensándolo mejor es un termino que no viene tan mal: Este es el momento en donde necesito sacarme todo el desperdicio de adentro, no un pozo que quiera llenar para acumular cosas, sino una cañería para deshacerme de sentimientos, de ausencias y desencuentros.

Hablemos un poco de los ¨amores bisagra¨. Estos se conocen cómo el tipo de relaciones usadas para conocerse más individualmente, para volver a creer en el amor y prepararse como pareja para una siguiente relación. En su concepción, el amor bisagra es el más puro acto de amor sin compromisos, y ambos participantes saben que dicha relación tiene un tiempo de vida determinado.

Ahora bien, un amor bisagra funciona bien si ambos integrantes de la relación asumen desde un inicio la naturaleza fútil de dicha empresa. En el caso contrario, se pasa de ser una relación de crecimiento mutuo a una relación de transferencia, en donde sólo uno de los participantes terminará con herramientas suficientes para embarcarse en nuevos proyectos. En el ejemplo de la bisagra, es cómo si uno de los dos lados se llevara todo el perno.

Los amores bisagras no son para mí, y aún considero relaciones un ¨todo o nada¨ en donde se apuesta cómo en todo, y se asumen las consecuencias. No puedes esperar que esto pase desapercibido por mi vida, que retorne a mi vida y que cambie de página así nada más. Puedo esconder un duelo con mil actividades que ocupen mi cabeza, pero la verdad es que ahí estás...tan presente cómo siempre.

Y pasa el tiempo

2010-02-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

Y yo te busco en ese perfume que no es tuyo, que es de la noche y se irá mañana.

Te busco en esa sonrisa, que es tan mía cómo de aquel con el que cruzaste miradas en la metropolitana.

Te busco en esas cartas, las cuales has escrito pensando en aquel que un día rasgó tus vestidos,

ese aquel que no era yo

Envejezco, y me siento mejor

A mis 28, el mundo se pone a mis pies

Las sorpresas, en cambio, escasean

Y esa idea de cambiar el mundo, ya lejos queda

Me estoy cansando de esto, ya ves

He dejado de sentirte, tu presencia es sólo un recuerdo

El sentimiento se transforma, las cenizas queman

Y el corazón siente, ese insalvable vacio

No te amo, los dos lo sabemos

pero desde aquel momento, ese punto de ruptura

el amor dejó de existir para mí

y comienzo a pensar si no fue un sueño

Quiero revivir el sentimiento

Volver a creer que hay un futuro

Pensar en que uno más uno es más que dos

y que aquello que fué, no evitará un mañana.

Fragility

2009-11-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Today is a sad day, very sad indeed. I've recently received a couple of news from my former university that left me breathless for a while. The dean of postgraduate studies of what once was my university was shot by three individuals while parking his car in front of his mother's house. Still the information available is very unclear when referring to the identities of the perpetrators of such a crime, and I would not run into conclussions about the rationale or the provenance of these people.

I met John in 2003 when I was looking for an undergrad thesis. Along with Camilo Rueda and John E., we started looking into the problem of the computation of economic equilibria for multiple products using a constraint programming approach. Due to reasons that are outside the scope of this post I stepped outside of the project, but I got to know the work John had being doing during his MSc and his PhD. I remember him as a very dedicated person, with very practical questions to answer in his research and always available to explore new research ideas. I know that after I finished my career there he undertook duties as head of the Industrial engineering programme and later as the dean of postgraduate studies at Javeriana.

The second sad event, comes from the same university and the same department of engineering. My former professor Hernando Prado was shot by individuals after having withdrawn money from an ATM. Fortunately, he is now recovering from the shots, and I expect him to be sound and safe soon. Hernando was my professor of Economic engineering, and I think that if I would have met him earlier I would have probably chosen a different path in my career. I remember that despite the time where the lectures were held (19:00 till 22:00) he was still able to fill up the classroom with students eager to learn, not only about the topics he was teaching, but about all the life experiences he was including in every single lecture. Sometimes, I remember him as an inspiration when I have to teach, and I try to convey those values in the lectures, finding them hard to transmit when you are such a rookie in teaching matters comparing to people with 20+ years of experience.

My relation with none of them is close nowadays, but still I feel touched by the fragility of life, even in "safe" environments like the university. One of the reasons why I decided to pursue an academic life is because I feel I can make a change on the life of others, just by providing a little bit of motivation and base tools for their own research. It's hard to hear that still such a honorable (and humble, in both cases cited previously) profession can be affected by cruelty like assassination, and I still refuse to believe a student can possibly be included in this matter. It also left you thinking how else can you possibly contribute to a society like mine, when such minimal values are not taken into consideration. Between my ideals are still to contribute to my country by helping others in the lines of research and education, fostering R+D in Colombia and at some point strengthen my relationship with Colombia; however, I won't put in risk the safety of my family or mine in that effort.

Reunion La Salle Prom 99 (Diez Años)

2009-10-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

sono vivo

2008-11-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Oggi scrivo per dire quello che penso di questo blog. Per me non è importante se lo leggete, se non siete d´accordo con quello che scrivo, non m´interessa in assoluto creare polemica ne farvi crescere in nessun senso, non riceverete di me nessun link per scaricare niente che vi sia utile e se vi piace cosi sono contento, se no è comunque per me un piacere che ancora ci sia almeno un lettore di questi post.

Sono qua per esprimermi, che alla fine è stato sempre il mio scopo per scrivere. Non penso scrivere cose serie, ma neanche sono un comico, soltanto voglio lasciare andare il cuore libero con tutta quella libertà che le parole li permettono. Se scambio la lingua dal inglese allo spagnolo ed oggi al´italiano è soltanto perché lui piace cosi, ed io sono soltanto un interprete di quello che vuole. Se non scrivo in mesi (perdendo cosi miei unici lettori) dovreste scusarmi, ma lui non vuole svegliarsi, è li latente ma muto, ed io devo rispettarlo cosi.

Oggi sono tornato in piscina dopo 5 anni di non nuotare come si deve. Qua i prezzi per fare uno sport come il nuoto sono veramente pazzeschi, 235 corone danesi (più di 30 euro) per 10 entrate è proibitivo, ma dopo tanto tempo mi sono sentito vivo! il mio corpo si scorreva per la superficie aquosa come tanto tempo fa, ed era una sensazione che non mi ricordavo più. I danesi non sono grande nuotatori, ed è un vero problema il trafico in palestra; ma quello non è il punto, oggi (e grazie al mio papa in questi ultimi giorni) ho ricordato tante cose che mi piacciono ed ho lasciato per mancanza di compromesso con me stesso. Non ho tornato a capoeira, non faccio più fotografia, non nuoto più. Sempre c´è una scusa: il lavoro, la università, una ragazza qualsiasi, una birretta dopo il lavoro.... il vero punto è che sono io quello che deve godersi se stesso: il ambiente che ti circonda è finalmente una fantasia, e le sensazione che da li provengono soltanto aiutano a complimentarti su quell trasfondo dentro di te. Ora sento che sto invecchiando; si, ho soltanto 26 anni, ma sento che tante cose ormai non ci sono più: cose di me stesso, gli elementi definitori della mia personalità. Ugualmente mi sento vivo, pieno di nuove cose che mi caratterizzano e che ormai non li ho messo in considerazione. Comincio una nuova ricerca, per riscoprirmi: ora.

A good recipe

2008-10-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight I tried to come up with a new recipe, as some of the italian pasta that I was used to eat while in trento are not easy to find over here. Here's the version of cannelloni all spinaci e ricotta that I was able to do, i'm really satisfied with the results and --along a good red wine-- it should be excellent for a romantic dinner.

Cannelloni all Spinacci and Ricotta.

(Recipe for 4 person)
• 10 sheets of italian Pasta Sfoglia (I think it's called Puff Pastry).
• 250g fresh ricotta or cream cheese
• ¼ cup grana cheese
• 250g frozen spinach (thawed)
• 2 egg yolks (beaten)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch ground black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed) 
• 425g can tomato puree
• 1 level teaspoon ground basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 level teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cream (optional) Topping
• ½ cup grated cheese
• pinch of Oregano
• One piece of mozzarella cheese (medium size)

1. The Filling 

Start mixing the spinach, ricotta cheese, egg yolks, garlic, grana cheese, salt and pepper together thoroughly in a medium sized bowl. Aside, boil a pot of water and introduce the sheets of pasta sfoglia, one by one, in order to soften them for a couple of minutes. Take each sheet and rolled up leaving some space for the filling. Finally fill the rolls with the mixture.

2. The Sauce 

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add tomato puree, the cream, fresh basil, salt and pepper and bring to boil. Remove from heat after boiling.

3. Baking

In a greased oven proof baking dish pour a layer of sauce, leaving enough to cover cannelloni.
Place a single layer of filled cannelloni side by side in the baking dish. Pour over the remaining sauce. Cut small pieces of mozzarella and cover the top of the recipe.
Bake in oven at 200°C for 25 - 35 minutes (test by pricking with a skewer).

La 33

2008-06-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

Recently I succumbed to the power of marketing of one of the most interesting sites I´ve came across on the net. Last-fm is not a new service on the net, and it mainly offers a free-customizable radio station that suggest new or underground artists based on your parameters of preference. It gathers that information by synchronizing its servers with your audio tracks in Itunes/ipod. In some sense this "free music" comes at a really high price: you are sharing your consumer preferences so the mayor companies can studie your market behaviour. Moreover, it's a market platform where every artist played in Last-fm is actually offering its products in front of a potential consumer that otherwise wouldn't notice them. However, the strategy is not bad for the final user, as it gets to know interesting music when he is tired of his own collection of purchased items, and allows the possibility to enrich his taste proposing interesting combinations that can suit to its needs.

Was in this process where La 33 arrived to my ears as one of the suggestions of new artists in the salsa field. These bogota-based salsa group doesn't have anything to be discontent of being in a city with no salsa heritage. Actually, as most of the business in Colombia, the centralization of power makes the best players move to Bogota as it is more probable to find an a recording label sponsoring them than in any of the other mid-size cities. Its single ¨La pantera mambo¨ is a rich collection of fusions between latin jazz and underground salsa movements. I was very pleased to find that its album is much more than just one single, and that not only covers salsa, but also mambo and bogaloo with different perspectives.

Listen to this album of La 33 is like being transported to one of the almighty salsa clubs in Cali, Colombia. The band succeeds in shaping an album with the energy of a live performance even in a recording studio.

The style of the album can be catalogued as ¨a unisex salsa¨, that is, a genre that can well be worth for a fan of the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico or to an avid listener of new groupings like Orishas or Sergent Garcia. Its swing is in some respect influenced by Yerba Buena, Sidestepper, and Eddie Palmieri.

The best songs for my taste:
- La pantera mambo¨
- Que rico boogaloo
- La 33
- Suelta el Bongo

Fisherman

2008-06-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Con ganas de caminar y hacer un poco de ejercicio en este frio verano danes me pase por Strandparken, un complejo de playas artificiales creado por los daneses que desean

tomar un poco de sol. A mi parecer, la arena "fa schifo" (o deja mucho que desear, en español y me gustan espacios con mas facilidades para el que quiera irse a tumbar en la arena (una tienda donde comprarte un refresco sería genial!). Obviamente, tiene sus pros: No hay una masajista de 300 kilos que quiere untarte aceite de coco, los vendedores costeños no te regalan ostras capturadas dos semanas atrás, y en general el ambiente es tranquilo y seguro. En general, lo que más me llama la atención son los diseños daneses, así sea en las islas aritificales son interesantes...la siguiente es la vision de googleearth de strandsparken

. Bueno, eso es tdo por ahora

Sobre la educación en Colombia

2008-04-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

Me tome el tiempo de responder algunos cuestionamientos sobre el plan decenal de eduacion en colombia para el 2010. Creo que hay metodologías del sistema educativo en Colombia que aun se rigen por conceptos de hace 50 años, como la memorización o la orientación al resultado. Esta es una oportunidad para cambiar algunas cosas, y fomento la idea de que aun podemos contribuir a cambios en procesos tan fundamentales como el de la educación en colombia.

Hay un modelo muy interesante sobre metodos constructivos para la educación, sugiero darle una mirada al video de Claus Brabrand al respecto.

Esta es mi mirada al respecto:

Sobre la educacion y la evaluación

La educacion presta al individuo las herramientas basicas necesarias para un posterior desarrollo en la vida laboral. Es necesario seguir un proceso, en donde los conocimientos aprendidos sirvan como bloques para el posterior desarrollo de juicios y criterios por parte del estudiante. La evaluación en general debe servir como el filtro para definir si se han cumplido o no con los requerimientos cognitivos de un curso; definiendo si el resultado del proceso de enseñanza ha sido captado por el estudiante.

Sobre los elementos de una buena evaluación

La evaluacion debe basarse en los conceptos que el estudiante ha formado sobre un topico en especifico. examenes de memoria fomentan un conformismo y sesgan la creatividad. Un estudiante debe estar en capacidad de: 1. Extraer las nociones fundamentales sobre un concepto. 2. Establecer relaciones entre los distintos conceptos. 3. Formar un criterio propio respecto al conocimiento adquirido.

Sobre la equidad en las evaluaciones

Al maestro se le debe equipar con tecnicas de enseñanza y evaluación especiales para garantizar el correcto seguimiento de los estudiantes. Una evaluacion debe realizarse con base en el proceso de construccion de conocimento por parte del estudiante. Considero que procesos a mediano plazo (tipo proyectos de curso) permiten al estudiante motivarse y construir conocimiento, donde el profesor actua como un guia y facilitador.

Los estudiantes y la evaluacion.

Una correcta evaluación debe garantizar que el estudiante domina el tópico de estudio de manera correcta. Esto va mucho más allá que el hecho de recitar conceptos de memoria o aprender tablas y formulas sin sentido, y debe permitir al estudiante presentar ideas propias, conceptos adquiridos y criterios formados respecto a un tema especifico. Discusiones y socializaciones de proyectos pueden ser una buena estrategia

La evaluacion hoy: retos y desafios.

1. El gobierno no debe definir topes minimos o maximos en la educación. Si no se han adquiridos las destrezas de un curso, el estudiante debe repetirlo, sin más discusiones al respecto.
2. Incentivaría al estudiante a buscar su propio conocimiento, dandole libertad de investigación y evaluando el proceso por el cual construye sus conceptos.

Desaparecido

2007-10-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is it... I've been kind'a lost during these two months. It's not that nothing happens in my life; on the contrary, two many things have kept me busy all along the way.

First of all, the trip to colombia was amazing. I thought the things would be different, more partying and drinking (I really expect to deserve that kind of emotions not experienced on so much time), but it was not the case. Its striking the healing power a family can have on you, not only because you interact with them, but much more because returning makes you feel in a safe environment. Of course, "hotel mama" is not meant to be taken forever, but a stay once in a while is alwsays good for cleanse your toughts.

As for my traveling passion concerns, we went to visit the eastern part of Colombia, at the province of Santander. The nature there is perfect for all kind of extreme sports (even arriving there was kind'a extreme) and the multi-ethnicity of the people makes it an interesting spot to visit.

De San Gil - Col...

On the return trip we passed by Bogota, a city where I will return several times because of the italian bureaucracy. My feeling is that you feel safer in the city than six or seven years ago, and the storic center is well taken by the government. Nevertheless, some spots in the city require special attention if you plan to visit it alone, such as the surroundings of the national university and transmilenio stations.

Always to the south, we passed by the southern region and visited Darien and Buga, two small villages near Cali, typically known by catholics for the "basílica" and for being the craddle of one of the oldest native american tribes in colombia.

De Calima y Buga

Finally, the journey stopped on Popayan, a beautiful city known by the catholic traditions of its population, their white-colonial architecture and the university centers that pulls the south-occidental part of colombia through the advances in R+D.

...

I'll put more photos once I found the way to integrate the new iPhoto and My picasa albums, stay tunned

.....

From Manu Chau:

Me llaman el desaparecido
Que cuando llega ya se ha ido
Volando vengo, volando voy
Deprisa deprisa a rumbo perdido
Cuando me buscan nunca estoy
Cuando me encuentran yo no soy
El que est enfrente porque ya
Me fui corriendo ms all
Me dicen el desaparecido
Fantasma que nunca est
Me dicen el desagradecido
Pero esa no es la verdad
Yo llevo en el cuerpo un dolor
Que no me deja respirar
Llevo en el cuerpo una condena
Que siempre me echa a caminar
Me llaman el desaparecido
Que cuando llega ya se ha ido
Volando vengo, volando voy
Deprisa deprisa a rumbo perdido
Yo llevo en el cuerpo un motor
Que nunca dejade rolar
Yo llevo en el alma un camino
Destinado a nunca llegar
Me llaman el desaparecido
Cuando llega ya se ha ido
Volando vengo, volando voy
Deprisa deprisa a rumbo perdido
Perdido en el siglo... siglo XX... rumbo al XXI

Europeans vs. Italians ( & Colombians)

2007-07-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

You can change the colours of the italian flag, and the pasta by a "bandeja paisa" and you will obtain the comparison between europeans and colombians

On reviewing (and rejecting) papers

2007-07-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Once you receive a paper for reviewing, it is your duty to find the flaws at a theoretical and practical level, with a clear vision of the implications of the acceptance of author's work in their field of application.

Nevertheless, some highly qualified articles can be rejected a cause of a bad-reviewer, as some of the turing-award scientists (E Codd, CAR Hoare, E. Dijkstra..) relates in an article by Simone Santini. You can check their experiences here.

Tour Dolomites

2007-07-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Este fin de semana pasamos por los Dolomites, al norte de Bolzano. su conformación rocosa la hace ideal para deportes de tierra, como escalada, ferrata, trekking, ski y snowboard.

Empezamos nuestro ruta hacia Ortisei, una pequeña población en a media hora de Bolzano famosa por sus complejos turisticos y su talla en madera. Aqui la gente habla ya poco italiano, tienen una lengua autoctona (ladino) y sus habitantes viven casi que exclusivamente del turismo. Es un buen lugar, en mi imaginario es lo que Suiza representa, muchas casas en madera, prados verdes y mucha atmosfera de campaña.

Una caracteristica impactante es la casi inexistencia de residencias privadas, casi todos los puestos habian sido convertidos a hoteles, restaurantes o tiendas de souvenirs. Según contaba la gente el turismo ha sido el motor fundamental para sacar a la region de la depresión en la que se encontraba, antes de la segunda guerra mundial. Otro detalle para notar es la creatividad de la gente con la escultura, construyendo bellas obras en madera y hielo cuando es la ocasión.

Poco despues ascendimos hacia el Valle de Fassa, en donde cada vez se acercan mas las montañas. Estamos en medio de pinos y material mineral, en un territorio conservado en donde los ciervos y osos se pasean con naturalidad (o al menos, eso dicen los anuncios).

El acceso por tierra llega hasta los 2500 mts. hasta la villa de Sass Pordoi. De ahi es posible tomar la funivia o ascender hasta los casi 3000 mts. que tiene el ultimo refugio. Esta lleno de moticiclistas alemanes salidos de una valida del motoGP o de viejitos con bastones de trekking que suben como si nada a la cima. Por nuestro lado tomamos la funivia para llegar a la "terrazza delle dolomiti".

Finalmente en cima, es una vista increible. Se juega con las aves cercanas, aún hay hielo a pesar de estar en Julio, y hay cortes de roca en los que se pierde el aliento. Los mas valientes hacen escaladas y los más locos decenso.

Luego de recuperar un poco de aliento, es hora de dejarse maravillar por los colores del trentino. Vamos hasta el lago de carezza (caricia), un pequeño punto bajo los dolomites en donde las algas hacen ver el agua color esmeralda. No es posible nadar, pero conviene sentarse a contemplar, o caminar por los senderos de pino adyacentes.

Eso fue todo... un mágico lugar para visitar...

Quien se apunta?

A good speech...

2007-07-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Two nice citations:

"Be hungry, be foolish"

"Sometimes life hits your face with a brick, don't loose the brick."

St. Vigilio de parranda

2007-06-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

De feste vigiliane

Por una vez en el año Trento se despierta, se viste de medioevo y convoca a una fiesta perdida en el tiempo, con caballeros, arqueros y ladrones. Se construyen barcas usadas en las justas sobre el rio Adige, se juega a robar la polenta (el ancestro de ¨capture the flag¨ en los juegos como el paintball) y se vive un ambiente festivo lleno de colorido y actividad.

Estos dias me han servido para calmarme un poco, pensar un poco más en mi trabajo aquí e identificar nuevos rumbos. Esperemos que los resultados se den y pasemos a segunda ronda.

Les dejo esta vez un video y la galeria de fotos correspondiente, esto de fotografiar me esta gustando cada vez más, si alguien me pudiera dar una critica sobre las fotos le estaría muy agradecido.

On Web 2.0

2007-06-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

After Casati´s course I start feeling interest about all this Service Compositon stuff... Not only on the theoretical side but on the emerging mashups and web 2.0 applications.

For the newcomers on the area (like me), this video from prof. Michael Wesch greatly illustrate the capabilities and risks of this new way of thinking on the net.

Bolzano - Bozen

2007-06-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hola,

De Bolzano

Este fin de semana pase por la "ciudad" de Bolzano, al extremo norte de Italia (confín con Austria). Es interesante ver como una ciudad puede ser relativa: En italiano, Bolzano es la capital de la región del Alto Adige, llamada así en honor al tercer rio en importancia en italia. Sin embargo, al ser provincia autonoma, en Bolzano es reconocido el alemán como lengua oficial, capital de la region Süd-Tirol, y centro importante por su capacidad economica y su estratégica posición turística.

Administrativamente, Bolzano-Bozen comparte la sede del gobierno regional con Trento, cambiando cada dos años la capital entre si. La diferencia entre ambas es grande, arquitecturalmente, Trento es una ciudad antigua, con claras raices romanas en sus construcciones. Bolzano es más austriaca, con edificaciones coloridas, nuevos estilos y una marcada importancia hacia los espacios naturales y de intercambio socio-cultural.

Aunque la ciudad no es muy grande (menos de 100.000 habs. en total) vale la pena pasar un tiempo, los habitantes se preocupan por su entorno (una ley establece el uso prioritario de la bicicleta en la región) y culturalmente goza de buena reputacion gracias a sus festivales de teatro y jazz.

On Getting the 'Permesso di Soggiorno'

2007-05-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

I want to use my first 'invited post' on Hugo's blog to tell you about some information I just read on Metropoli, a supplement of "La Repubblica" dedicated to immigrants. The cover of the supplement refers to the difficulties on getting the permesso di soggiono nowaydays. As a "victim" of the new procedure, I was really interested on some of the figures I read:

In the five months in which the new procedure for getting/renewing the permesso has been active, only the 6% of the 613000 applications has had an answer (such as a letter for going to the questura).
Of all received applications, about 240000 were classified as "anomale" or incomplete. This is usually because some mandatory field was not correctly filled in. You might be surprised to know that some of the "anomale" applications were correct; they have reconfigured the software to accept as optional some fields that were previously considered as mandatory.
It's sad to think that all this mess was financed by millions of the immigrants; just multiply 72 Euro by 613000! La Repubblica quickly makes clear the fact that this new procedure is a Berlusconi's goverment result.
For sure, you can be part of the 94% of the applications that is still waiting for an answer.
Although the drama of the permesso is serious all over the country, in some regions (such as Veneto) the situation is particularly critical. In Genova the waiting time can reach almost 9 months! Neither Emilia-Romagna (the region where I live) nor Trentino-Alto Adige were mentioned as 'critical' regions.

After reading the whole article, I felt really lucky I already receive the letter for going to the Questura to deliver some photos and getting my fingerprints recorded. I sent my documents on January, and until before April my application was classified as "incomplete". Then in April I received the letter for going to the Questura last week. I had to wait four hours before getting my fingerprints recorded twice (immigration office and polizia scientifica) I was told that I should wait 'un paio di mesi' (a couple of months). I know that means three or more months. Eventually, I will get a nice bancomat-like card which is the electronic permesso di soggiorno. Perhaps before I finish my studies I'll get the paper-based one :)

Surprisingly, some people I know sent their documents later than me (say February or Mid March) and they had their appointments before me. This could be a good sign, as it shows a slow improvement of the people in Rome who are classifying all the applications. All in all, it is incredible that the Posta and the Ministries involved didn't have a proper 'experimentation phase' for this new procedure (I understand there was one, but very small). Coming from a southamerican country, it is interesting to imagine how one of our governments would have handled this kind of situation. I have mixed feelings about the answer, but that's a good point for another post.

Bottom line:

be very patient,
you can do very little at your town (everything is centralized in Rome),
and think that there is a someone who is in a worse situation than you.

Plan Colombia Documentary

2007-05-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

Now that i'm not sleeping i'll try to update this thing a little with new finds (unfortunately, not on research).

This documentary presents the US initiative for the erradication of drug production in Colombia, in a particular way made by americans. Normally I dont like this kind of material, but I think they capture quite good some unclear concepts, like the unexpected interests of the troops on oil-producer regions and the introduction of mercenaries on national fields.

Primera Foto

2007-05-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

De Val di Non

Ya llego la cámara, y al final puedo agradecerles a los españoles que se quedaron con mi pequeña samsung digimax a-50 el cambio. Su tamaño es bueno, lo suficientemente liviana como para cargarla, y con un buen objetivo incorporado.

Para estrenarla, fuimos de tour a Val di Non, una región al norte del trentino donde comienzan los montes dolomites. Está todo muy bien cuidado y es posible ir en bicicleta desde trento (solo 50km). Como atracciones: lagos, cultivos de vinos y manzanas, cañones y rapidos complementan las vistas del lugar.

De Val di Non

Les dejo algunas tomas del lugar, perdonarán la inexperiencia en las tomas pero apenas estoy haciendo el cambio de point-and-shot hacia reflex-based.

bye

Un video para conocer la ciudad

2007-05-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hola hola,

He estado esperando mi conexión por fastweb pero aún no llega. Me quejaba de la eficiencia colombiana pero para aqui hacer efectivo un contrato se toman minimo tres meses, por esto no le dedico mucho tiempo al chicle de escribir (además que toca desde el trabajo).

Una amiga me ha enviado este video de trento, que me gustaría compartirlo con uds.

Gracias silvia por la colaboración.

Ciao ciao,

Colombian coffee? Why it's so special

2007-04-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

One of the most particular things I've experienced since I cam here is the feeling of property I've gain relating to the colombian products outside. Is not that all the colombian products are characterized by their quality or flavor, but some of them are particularly good comparing to the things you can taste outside.

This is the case of the colombian coffee, which is not just a phrase to identify a coffee with good flavor. Much more than that, the coffee by itself has a mystic in its growth, its recollection and toast. On the first one, the lands where coffee is planted conserve a mild climate with temperatures ranging 15 and 20 grades, naturally enriched with natural fertilizers and protected from the sun using natural shields like the "plátano¨ (baking banana) trees in which the ecosystem is carefully protected by their inhabitants.

The second, and crucial aspect for which colombian coffee has the reputation above other nations is the care the coffee producers have to select the grains. Every single grain is collected by hands, with the patience of hundreds of farmers that only select grains that are sufficiently good for the next process, with acceptation rates below 40% or less depending on the farm. This selection process, initially criticized by small farmers is now producing very good refunds, guaranteeing a flavor recognized by coffee lovers (nationals and foreigners) all over the world.

Finally, the social role of the coffee in colombia shapes a culture in which different generations are tied together in the different phases not explained here (e.g.: Clean, Dry and Toast among others), creating environments in which "fair trade" is the default policy the respect for the nature and the society are the most important values.

Now I hope I have clarified my preferences when people ask me why i'm willing to expend more for a cup of colombian coffee. Of course that I can take other ones (eg. the costarican that tries to imite us unfruitfully, or the widespread brazilian coffee), but there are some things that you cannot forget....

Full picture package

2007-03-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

Bueno, ya volvi a Trento despues de un agotador y no placentero viaje por Londres. No me quejo de la ciudad, pero me impresiona como todo se puede volver un caos cuando los sistemas de pais a pais no estan coordinados. Por otro lado, se siente un ambiente rudo en las calles, tal vez ya me estoy habituando a un pequeño pueblo de 150.000 habitantes, porque en las calles de londres sentía cómo la gente intenta pasar por encima de tí sin importar como, y eso ya me impresiona.

Por otro lado, el estar lejos de mi nueva casa me ha hecho formar un sentido de pertenencia, siento que quiero la ciudad (despues de todo no me encuentro tan mal :D) y tanto el sitio donde vivo como la gente con la que comparto valen la pena. Sin embargo, me falta la casa (la vera casa) y estar lejos te hace dificil todo, sobre todo en terminos de comunicación... a veces la asincronía no es lo que se busca :D

Bueno, este post solo era para poner un par de albumes que tenia pendientes. El de amigos, del tour por bressanone y alto adige, y una recopilación de imagenes de trento, Disfrutenlas:

Bressanone

Trento

Friends

Colombia...Clean

2007-03-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Amnesty International finally is looking above the misted glass the colombian goverment wants to publish. In this cartoon they expressed the things almost every colombian must feel. Democratic security is not just a matter of safe the highways so you can go free to your farm (finquita), or presenting big tv shows like the one where the paramilitaries accept the peace agreeement, cleaning themselves of more than 15 years of massacre without any other collateral damage (for them, of course).

I hope now that the veil is falling down the population in colombia start thinking deeply about the politics in our country and the countermeassures we have to take.

RIP ... Randomica

2007-03-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Solo queria expresar mis sentimientos de frustraciòn al saber que randomica no se encontrará mas entre nosotros. Un cancer de mama la alejo para siempre después de diez años de proveer solo ternura y un par de mordiscos a todos aquellos los que la rodeaban.

A ella mis mas sinceros recuerdos, que el cielo gatuno la acoja en su seno.

desatrasandome # 2 -- venice carnival

2007-03-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, so... I'm trying to pay my own debt with myself and with you all putting all the (nice) things have ocurred in this lapse...

Please check the photo-memories of the trip we made to the venice carnival on Jan 18 -07 ... Is very interesting, too glamorous comparing to the carnivals in my country, like the ones on barranquilla or in rio sucio. This was also my first time on Venice, and I'm glad I could visit it just before it sinks.... I will return there certainly soon, it will be amazing to know it better without the crowd of people on carnival.

Venice Carnival

changes...

2007-03-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

15 dias sin escribir, pero no sin decir o hacer nada.

Ya al fín he encontrado un puesto adecuado para vivir, cerca de la ciudad y con una vista impresionante
: Una iglesia de al menos 800 años de antiguedad, el rio Adige y el Mausoleo Cesare Batisti me saludan todos los dias.

Por otro lado, ya mis detalles de investigación se van perfilando. Por el momento debo trabajar en dos areas que aunque son complementarias entre sí,
las comunidades en las cuales se desarrollan poco o nada se reconocen como inter-dependientes. Es un reto nuevo, y hay optimismo al respecto...

Italianizandome

2007-02-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

Después de terminar el martirio del ¨comprehensive exam¨ creo que no tenía sentido montar toda una parafernalia a lo largo de esta actividad: si bien es un examen largo y realmente cubre gran parte de las áreas que un pseudo-informático debería saber, es un examen que bien se podría realizar mucho antes de entrar al doctorado, para aprovechar mejor el tiempo y eliminar este tipo de nervios inútiles.

Bueno, además de eso, las cosas mejoran cada día. Recuperé mi memoria USB gracias a la honestidad de algunos italianos, recuperé mi macbook y he empezado un curso de capoeira que creo que voy a mantener por mucho tiempo ya que conjuga dos elementos que considero importantes en el día a día: un poco de ritmo y la actividad física. También la gente es muy amable (aunque esto no es para sorprender...finalmente italianos)
y tienen paciencia a la hora de enseñar.

Por otro lado, con el cierre de este examen se cierra el primer capitulo de mi viaje. Empecé a trabajar más rápido de lo esperado, me mudo de casa en una semana....un verdadero apartamento y pronto tendré internet desde mi habitación... Todos son cambios que me acercan más a la cultura, incluso hasta el teclado del portátil ahora es italiano (no para mi gusto) y estoy dispuesto a sacarle el máximo provecho.

Libros y Cine

2007-02-02T04:39:00.000-08:00

Bueno, saco un tiempo corto despues de estos agotadores dias para escribir. Ya en 4 dias tengo el examen "Comprehensivo" y el stress se apodera de mi sitio de trabajo.

Como siempre que puedo, he sacado un poco de tiempo para conocer mas de la cultura. Pude detallar los inicios de la revolucion comunista en la sicilia gracias al filme "i Centi passi". Me gusto, mas por la calidad del argumento que por los actores, pero bueno...

Hay un nuevo libro que me llama la atencion. Su autor, Joseph Stiglitz presenta algunos detalles de los errores de los paises economicos en desarrollo al adoptar politicas economicas sin adaptarlas a sus propias circunstancias. Ya seria el n-esimo en mi larga lista de libros por leer, que ya acumula autores desde lo muy teorico (lease Sangiorgi) hasta lo mas poetico (i.e. Saramago)

El italiano y yo: una relacion de amor y odio

2007-01-29T04:47:00.000-08:00

Cada vez que salgo a la calle, que hablo con la gente en Mensa o me tomo un cafe en alguno de los lugares de Trento suceden cosas extraordinarias dentro de mi cerebro. Una relacion en donde a veces me asqueo de mi incapacidad para poder expresarme completamente como quisiera, o de entender todo de lo que me hablan sin poner una cara de idiota sonriente. Como se dice por ahi, el que tanto se rie es porque no entendio el chiste, y eso desgraciadamente me pasa a mi muy a menudo.

Sin embargo, poco a poco voy aprendiendo de la cultura y el lenguaje. Puedo darme a entender casi de manera natural (lento pero seguro) y siento visibles mis progresos en el aprehendimiento de la lengua. Si bien encuentro muy extrana la costumbre italiana de traducir todas las peliculas al italiano, eliminando la posibilidad de escuchar las voces de los actores reales y limitando a los italianos a su propia lengua, tambien me ha ayudado montones a entender y de alguna manera querer la lengua italiana.

Bueno, por otra parte, he encontrado este documental que iltustra un poco como los procesos de derecha pueden corromperse tanto como para dejar a una nacion tremendamente rica sin siquiera comida para alimentarse. Cualquier parecido del ex-presidente Menem y nuestro "queridisimo" uribito es pura coincidencia. Un saludo a mis companeros argentinos.

2007-01-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

Firenze

Ballare Salsa

2007-01-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

Uno de mis mayores placeres es la música, y sin olvidar los nuevos ritmos, tengo raices que no puedo olvidar. Una de ellas tiene que ver con mi gusto hacia la salsa: el baile suelto y sensual, la música que penetra tu cuerpo haciendote sentir vivo, y las letras entre tristes y alegres que muestran la realidad social de un pueblo que pese a los inconvenientes ve un futuro con optimismo.

Como he encontrado tanta gente en el mundo que asocia latinoamerica con la salsa, me di a la tarea de buscar un poco más de información sobre mi pueblo y este medio de expresión. Pronto compartire más información, pero por el momento les dejo el video de los campeones de salsa (caleños) del encuentro anual realizado en Londres.

En Cali se bala así ... mira vé

Vive Colombia (EN)

2007-01-05T05:41:00.001-08:00

Guarda questo bello video

Colombia, much more than drugs and cofee.

2007-01-03T06:50:00.000-08:00

The people that know me better knows how those comments affects me: "Do you have some drugs", "can you sell me cocaine" and that kind of mocks are not only offensive for a country, reveals an inmense ignorance in the people that expresses them.

I am trying to collect various material from colombia to show here. Now I have various videos and photos that I will put here from time to time.

First I found one very nice site: http://theotherlookofcolombia.com which outlines good news of colombia around the world.

Also, you have to watch the video below. It do not tries to cover our problems, but shows in different aspects how the colombians are.

Hope you like it.

Barcelona

2006-12-29T06:49:00.001-08:00

6 days are enough to get just an overview of this wonderful city, which in my humble opinion must be catalogued as one of the beauties of Europe. Everything is elegantly mixed here: The gotic neighbourhood gives you the idea of an ancient city with tiny streets and artisitic representations everywhere. Following its streets you meet dozen´s of artist, the Dali and Picasso’s musseums, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and a lot of beautiful churches, magnificient for tourist with religious tastes.
Walking a little more you will find Las Ramblas, a commercial sector full of luxury stores, theatres and restaurants afforables at each budget. Following this path you will get to the Eixample sector, the first neighbouhood built after Barcelona decides to open his walls to the modernism, with examples like the Mila’s house (aka. La pedrera), the Batllo house and the Temple of la Sagrada Familia. This three buildings represents the masterpieces of Antoni Gaudi, the most famous architect in Barcelona and one of the pioneer of the modernism movement in the architecture.
After that, you can decide between multiple choices: Montjiuc, a castle in the middle of a natural park with a wonderful sight of barcelona; Parc Guell, a complex built by Gaudi with respect for the environment and the nature. The marine full of life (beach in the day, party at night), The camp nou (barcelona FC stadium) and the Olimpic complex ideal for sports or the region of Costa Brava with natural exhibitions of art made by the sea and the environment.
Please click on the album to get detailed information of the trip.

Barcelona

Trento para hispanos

2006-12-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

Mi pagina de DIT tiene un serio problema: esta corrupta por la idea de algun operador de red de hacer traslaciones de todo el contenido en linea a otros un unico formato, ocasionando desastrosos resultados para el publico que le gusta escribir en español.

Sin embargo, como es el único sitio en donde puedo publicar mis pensamientos de manera off-line, voy a tener enlazados ambos sitios intentando ser lo más coherente posible.

La dirección es http://dit.unitn.it/~lopez

Por el momento he publicado una guia un poco mas detallada de la vida en trento, a ver si animo a alguno de mis compañeros colombianos a que se venga para aca...hay que hacer comunidad¡¡

ciao

Advice for PhD. Students by Tony Hoare - Marktdoberdorf Summer School on Security

2006-12-14T06:26:00.000-08:00

Me he tomado el atrevimiento de copiar un post de www.kierberg.com una excelente conferencia de Sir Tony Hoare (padre de CSP y Hoare Logics) con consejos para los estudiantes de doctorado de la escuela de verano en Marktdoberdorf. Particularmente, me parecen muy imporantes sus comentarios sobre la creatividad y sobre la capacidad de reconocer ( y usar si es posible) el trabajo de otras corrientes rivales, de manera integradora, claro está.

Transcript
… so perhaps I ought to live up to my reputation and pass on some advice about your research, right now and perhaps in your subsequent career. I learned a lot from a distinguished scientist of the past, and particular I would recommend Peter Medovar, a British biologist who was quite famous and he wrote two lovely books, one of them is called “Letters to a young scientist”. And the other one is more auto-biographical describing his own life and he called himself “a thinking radish” — a vegetable of some kind I never liked very much.

(…) He gave advice about your relationships with other scientists, your colleagues and your rivals, and how you should publish (…) your own work and compare it with that of others. And I pass this advice on to many of my own students and is quite surprisingly seldom taken in the world it is today. He said, when you described your own work, you should always emphasise its limitations. Say what is does not do. This is a very good precaution, because if you don’t find out the limitations you can be pretty sure that somebody else will. (…)

Always emphasise the merits of the work of your predecessors and your rivals, because this can always reflect further credit on the small extensions and improvements that you may have made to their work. So never claim to have remedied some defects or limitations of this work. Point out how good somebody’s work is, and say “I have just made a small improvement of this particular aspect of it.” Then, he will be on your side. Despite the fact: if you say the other way, he or she will be not be on your side.

The reason why this is good advice is that it furthers the progress of science by building up an unbiased and objective understanding of the theories as a whole and how its very parts fit together. You don’t get individual parts of the theory constantly claiming that other parts of the theory of your merit.

And objectivity is the most important attribute of science. This piece of advice: don’t claim that your scientific results are useful. Don’t claim that they are more useful than somebody else’s scientific results. You are not the right person to judge that! That other people who use it decide whether it’s useful or not. Leave that question open!

This is a piece of advice that I got from Richard Doll, another famous British medical scientist, the man who discovered the link between smoking and cancer. Since that time, it is (…) cancer-producing effects of radiation which have recently been revised: the minimum dose has been decreased as a result of re-analysis of the results of the Hiroshima bomb. He gave a lecture about this at Oxford which I attended. At the end of the lecture, a member of the audience asked him: “What advice would you give to the government — or anybody — as a result of your research that you are now doing?” And he said: “I refuse to answer that question.” And then he explained: “I don’t give advice about my current research. If I give advice about a current research I will loose by scientific objectivity, because my research will suddenly change its focus, and its focus will now be directed towards making that advice correct.” And that is a terrible terribly unscientific thing to do. You must have no focus, no personal focus in your scientific research. Advance the science, do not advance your own career! (…) that the world will realize that that is the best way of advancing your career.

He said: “I’m willing to give advice now about research I did 20 years ago. Twenty years ago, I discovered the link between smoking and cancer. But while I was working on that research I never advised anybody to take any action on the basis of that discovery. I’m willing to give advice now, because the research is 20 years old, and I’m no longer working on this area, I don’t need my scientific objectivity. I’m willing to give you advice about the usefulness of other people’s research, but not about my own.”

So don’t make claims about the usefulness of your research! Do not criticize other people’s research are not being useful enough! What you can claim is that you are working in an area which is useful. You can say that you are working in computer science, and computers are of great commercial importance to the world, and therefore I’m asking you to pay me to do this.

This is advice for your Ph.D., of course. It’s not advice if go to work in industry or for a client. When you finish your Ph.D. you must forget this advice, because you are no longer working to fall to advance the course of science — you’re working to advance the economic profit of your company. You’re work all (…) You’re working to serve a client, and you must do everything you can to do the best for that client, and usually the advancement of knowledge is not one of those things.

I could speak for a long time about the difference between working for science and working for a client. Let me just concentrate on one thing: when you’re working as a scientist it is compulsory to be original. You must do something that has never been done before. (…) If you can’t do that you can’t do science. If you’re working for a client on a project to deliver a product, originality is your greatest crime. Anything that can be done with known techniques — published techniques — you must do with published techniques. Originality is the last resort of an engineer, because that is what makes everything so risky.

And there are many other differences between scientists and engineers. But remember: while you’re a scientist don’t claim to be useful! When you stop being a scientist be useful! And it’s much easier to be useful for a particular client. Once you know your client, and you know the date on which you have to deliver your product then you can do anything to get that product out on time on cost to that client to satisfy his needs.

Well I said you should respect the work of your rivals, your contemporaries and above of all your predecessors. But the (…) 1000 persons you should not respect and that is the old fogies who started the whole thing of. So you may be as disrespectful as you like to me and to any of the lecturers in this school, and we shouldn’t complain.

(…) The reason you should disrespect us the most for is that we are the ones who created the rivalries and the wars between various research schools in our subject. In many cases the research schools are named after us: Hoare logic, Petri nets (…) are named after some theoretical systems: CCS, CSP. All these things separate our subject into research schools, and people define their research areas by initials of the school to which they own their allegiance. This determines what conferences they attend, what journals they submit to, what papers they read, and it provides them with a cosy home in which they know how to survive, they now how to write the next paper in a series, they know how to judge the papers in a series, they can referee other papers all about the same subject, and it is all very comfortable. And, of course, most people like to be comfortable. We all like to be comfortable. We all like to work with friends and know what our colleagues are thinking.

But just sometimes at least we should not respect the boundaries established between our disciplines. There’s a lovely book by Andreski called “Social Sciences as Sorcery” which was published by (…) a long time ago and he has some lovely phrases about the (…) of truth rarely lie along the battle lines of entrenched schools of thought. Of course, to begin with, if you invent a lovely new theory and notation like Petri nets, you are very keen to explore the boundaries of this theory. You know it is useful for some things, and you like to be useful for everything. And so your goal is to make this theory a universal theory that is going to apply well — you hope conveniently — to everything.

All scientists are looking for universal theories, so that is an excellent scientific motivation. But there are other schools who believe in some other notation and theory are going to explain everything. And then there are more (…) more or less now, they all existed for a long time. But in the end, it doesn’t really pay to go on fighting. As you try to extend the borders of you own territory of it further, you want to explore go into more mountainous regions, you have to cross raging rivers. And the whole thing becomes more and more cumbersome, and then you have to fight your battles on the border at the tops of the mountains with your neighbours and of course that’s very uncomfortable and often people get hurt.

After a while history tells us neighbouring countries do decide on — if possible –natural borders between their territories. So it is possible to understand in what areas each theory is capable of giving its best and indeed construct roads and links and bridges over the rivers and through the paths of between the theories.

And I think computer science is right for that kind of (…) and coexistence between rival schools. So when you see the opportunity to understand and you somebody else’s theory from some neighbouring school of thought, please do so! And if you see even more beneficially some opportunity of building a bridge not (…) constructing a syntactic translation between theories that usually doesn’t convey any really deep insight. But if you see a way of merging the semantics of the theories, perhaps (…) them in some more general and therefore less useful theory, then take that opportunity, too!

This is my other Grand Challegne which I’ve been putting forward to some time. It’s a challenge for unifying theories. Not a grand unifying theory — that is perhaps to difficult for us. But hopefully unified theories where two theories can be brought together to be applied together on a certain range of problems.

And that’s the end of my general advice about science and I wish to give my last concellation about needing this summer school. One of the consolations of life and death is that you will leave descendants: you will leave your children and grandchildren carrying the good work after you. So we urge you — those of you who stay in academic life, particularly — should take care to send you own students to Marktoberdorf summer schools of the future.

Nerdy score

2006-12-14T02:12:00.001-08:00

Benvenuto

2006-12-14T01:54:00.000-08:00

Solo un pequeño inicio a este espacio.

Intentaré mantenerlo (esta vez si) actualizado. Las ultimas veces siempre fallo, pero en mi nueva busqueda de hogar ya hay un check-box que dice "Conexión internet 24/7".

Bueno... Pronto escribire más.

ci vediamo

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