Post-Hipnótico

US Air Force Captain Edward Murphy said it in 1949, and we all paraphrase: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Most of the scientific community has written off the law as a myth – a result of selective memory or a self-fulfilling expectation. But an amateur mathematician from the UK has another explanation. Phillip Obayda drew up an equation combining the factors that influence the performance of a task – urgency, complexity, and importance, as well as skill (or lack thereof). He calculated the likelihood of a few familiar scenarios. The good news: To change the odds, all you have to do is alter one element of the equation. For instance, try to avoid doing anything complex or important when you’re in a rush, particularly if it requires skills you don’t have. But in general, the math proves that the universe really does hate you.

Things that go wrong – and their probabilities*

Spilling something on yourself right before a date: 85%

Rush hour is worse when you’re late: 73%

Email crashes while you’re sending important documents: 70%

Doorbell/phone rings while you’re in the shower: 53%

* Average chance that this will happen at some point, based on a survey of 1,023 unlucky chumps.

WIRED 12.12

We were on this game show called “Perfect Love”.

Never heard of it.

Well, it’s just a dream. I don’t think the fact that it’s a game show has any relevance. I merely indicates my cultural origins. I mean, were I a tribesman in the kalahari, for instance, the location would undoubtedly have been different. But I think the theme is universal.

Home? I have no home. Hunted ! Despised ! Living like an animal. The jungle is my home. Then I will show the world I can be its master. I will perfect my own race of people, a race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world.

Hace un par de años, cuando me hospedé en casa de una familia belga, descubrí el comic Madam & Eve (en su baño para variar). M&E es un comic sudafricano de una abuelita septuagenaria blanca y su empleada doméstica negra. Es interesantísimo porque el humor va de la mano con la situación post-apartheid que vivió el país, al grado que Nelson Mandela aparece como voz en off de vez en cuando.

No hay mejor vehículo para conocer las idiosincracias de cada país que los comics.

» Sitio oficial de Madam & Eve

I’m so tired I haven’t slept a week…

Demasiadas cosas que hacer y muy poquito tiempo para hacerlas. My status is: Consternado.

Por cierto, de aquí hasta finales de diciembre probablemente la bloggeada vaya a estar un poco más lightsona por la carga de trabajo y un par de misteriosos proyectos personales que proximamente (como en tres meses) serán revelados en este espacio.

Y por cierto, si alguna vez se les ocurre venir a la Cd. de México les recomiendo que eviten la nefasta empresa ProTaxis en nuestro ya de por sí nefastísimo aereopuerto. Es un robo, te cobran de más, los choferes no tienen ni idea y encima de todo los viajes no son individuales sino que agarran de manada en manada para repartir a los “clientes” por zonas. Nada revela las profundas aspiraciones tercermundistas de nuestro país como el Aereopuerto Benito Juárez.

De Metropolitan Diary una de mis secciones favoritas del New York Times.

With my 10-month-old son, Emmett, in a back carrier, I stood on tiptoe at Central Park West and West 66th Street and watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Although not able to see much of the bands and clowns, we enjoyed the balloons and bigger floats. 

When the building-size SpongeBob SquarePants balloon appeared, the crowd went wild. Everyone was cheering and clapping except for the man standing next to me. He was silent. Looking perplexed, he turned to me and asked, with a strong French accent, “Who is this famous and large cheese?”

¡Yo quiero esto de navidad! Monitos de playmobil con trajes para limpiar desechos radioactivos y tóxicos.