3. f. Inform. Medida de la incertidumbre existente ante un conjunto de mensajes, de los cuales se va a recibir uno solo.

Explicación de Entropía en Wikipedia

Una vez escuché en los Simpsons una idea que entonces ahora me viene a la cabeza:

Pero, diculpe: ¿ Entropía no es una de esas palabras que uno utiliza cuando quiere parecer intelectual? ¡JhÁ! Que se lo digan al que publicó el anuncio con título: "Trópico Entrópico". Aunque supongo que tan sólo quería hacer un juego de palabras. ¿No? (Bovery.es).

En fin, montones y montones de papel safisfaciendo el ego del ser humano ( y ahora también por la red, como éste blog ^^).

Pues la Coalición. ¿Qué es eso? Es un proyecto de promoción de la salud y comunidades saludables que impulsa la ONG en donde trabajo. Es bien interesante, a la par de complicado y estresante. Interesante porque parte de la idea de que sean los mismos vecinos (jóvenes y adultos) quienes realicen las acciones por mejorar su calidad de vida en su comunidad.

Y complicado porque al ser una comunidad urbana, con la mayoría de necesidades satisfechas, es muy complicado despertar ese sentido de "comunidad". Ya todos están metidos en sus "celdas" (sus casas y calles están llenas de rejas) y se sienten seguros ahí; ignoran, o tratan de ignorar, como las drogas y la delincuencia ganan terreno.

Esta coalición ha crecido y hecho cosas muy bonitas. Yo les he ayudado un poco en algunas de sus actividades, como por ejemplo la creación de un show de títeres para enseñar a los niños a no comprar alcohol.

Me agradó trabajar con ellos... aunque claro he tenido feas experiencias en ese barrio, pero entiendo que son cosas que pasan y que no será la primera ni la última vez que algo así me suceda; sobretodo por mi pasión por el trabajo comunitario.

Fue una experiencia interesante, para aprender, crecer, ver las cosas en otra perspectiva...

Aprendí que aunque las dificultades sean monumentales, es igual de monumental la satisfacción si no desistes, si no te rindes. El triunfo radica en vencerte a ti mismo, y demostrarte que lo que digan o hagan los demás por desanimarte sólo indica que estás haciendo algo importante... "mira Sancho... los perros ladran, señal que avanzamos"

Mis más sinceras felicitaciones a esas personas que creyeron en una comunidad muda e indiferente, que despertaron en ellos el deseo de la salud y el bienestar. Porque una vida sin alcohol ni drogas es posible.

Part 1: Why They Do What They Do
Part 2: Flows of Currency

This is a fairly long post but this is mainly my personal discussion in by head to understand why companies do what they do for their MMO. While I have not been apart of any other MMO as long as RuneScape I know I have little experience in these other MMOs but who does when it comes to comparing and contrasting each one.

Grand Exchange: RuneScape

While Jagex is showing new ways of creating and controlling MMO economies and providing unique ways of handling the ever present real life trading issues, there is little to no other companies looking towards Jagex and seeing what they did and why they did it or even how they did it. If you look at Jagex's game RuneScape, you see methods of preventing real life trading and scamming that are so effective they almost completely stop users to falling victim to this or cheating in these methods. I do agree that players had to give up a lot of what they were used to for something that is questionably better and usually worse for certain types of players who used the old way of trading and how the economy worked to make a lot of money.

The most difficult concept of these new methods which make items have a certain value based on the economy and that the value cannot be traded five percent greater or less then that value so difficult is that players are so used to having a completely free marketing style where the players get to choose their item value and can sell it for as much or little as they want. Now players much stick to a certain value range that is based upon the Grand Exchange, a central place of trading throughout all RuneScape worlds instantly. While this provides a way for players to trade a lot easier and more effectively it removes a lot of aspects that used to be present in RuneScape.

Simply interacting with players while trading is significantly reduced. I know that Jagex promotes the interaction with players but the simply removed the need for players to interact with players. This doesn't make sense to what they advertise but regardless it saves time for doing some else: maybe interacting with other players doing something other then trading?

Also, you have very very limited range of the values you can sell your item at. When the value of the item is below so far you can only trade it in a very short range but while it is up in a very high value you have a pretty nice range to choose from. Then again a value can only go so low before it cannot drop anymore because you cannot have it where shops buy items for more then you trade them to other people because you want to promote trading with others more then NPCs. Then yet again, they increased the competition of the shops and many of the items that are rendered useless to more experienced players are very unlikely to be bought. It used to be where low level armors such as iron, bronze, and steel used to be used a lot by players as well as bought and sold. Now you have only the very top range of items being used and if you need lower level armors you either make them yourself or buy it from a shop that is ripping you off to begin with. The main point here is that the economy isn't balanced and this change doesn't do anything about it but rather makes it more annoying to try and sell one or more items for several months because almost no one wants or even needs that item.

Time is one of the most beneficial aspects of the Grand Exchange and no doubt creates a scamless environment on its own. You simply put in the item name or at least part of it and set the price you want to buy or sell it. You have not idea who got your item or where it came from. On the downside this eliminates the need to create a small guild, clan, business, or group that has people that work together to benefit in the end. Now you have people that simply do their job independent and buy or sell whatever they need on the Grand Exchange.

Merchanting is one of the trivial things. Some people hate it and some people love it. I personally love it but that doesn't mean that we got everything when the Grand Exchange came out. My closest/oldest friend simply puts it that merchanting changed from where you could do it on a small scale to a very large scale similar to a silent auction. What that means is there is no repeditative typing or having to switch around on multiply words to buy and sell your goods. The Grand Exchange has officially made merchanting a rich sport that puts you in the billions easily and many people I have watched that use it now own so much money they are forced into buying items instead of just collecting money. Essentially making money to the point where it's just useless to collect.

Scamming is almost completely reduced to nothing, there is no doubt about that. And on top of that you have zero to little macroing now occurring in the game. Overall this will improve game performance on their server side because you have less 'people' using the same server. On top of that you have more space for people to spread out and makes it easier to get on worlds that were usually full because of so many macroers taking up the space. This is also probably one of the main reasons that they didn't have to add more worlds to the game and why people believe (sadly) that RuneScape has reduced in the amount of members and free players.

Change is hard and I admit that I didn't like the Grand Exchange update and couldn't believe that Jagex would do such a thing to its players. Jagex has mentioned that they were doing this update and have been planning to do this update for a very long time. Now that the update has been out for some time I do like the update but now find myself bored at the game since there isn't anything that makes you jump up and go "wow I didn't expect that". I had the gut feeling that this would be one of the only ways for Jagex to fix these main issues in the game but I never thought that Jagex had the guts to do that. The change was staggering and a lot of players hated that change but regardless Jagex stood up for an issue they knew they had to fix.

I can see that players a few years from now that have no idea about this update think that the update was the best update that ever happened. That is mainly because they never experienced the game before hand or became attracted to that style.

Real Exchange - Entropia Universe

I have played this game for less then a month and studied if for at least three months so don't expect something to good here but you will see the differences and similarities just as well.

Entropia Universe is run by Mind Ark and follows a system that looks similar but is actually almost completely opposite. In a sense this game is almost the complete opposite when it comes to certain things and almost the same on others. I suggest that you check the game out if you have the time.

The first difference is that Entorpia Universe is based on a real world currency: USD. It consistently has a trade value of 10PED, which is the in-game currency, to 1USD. You can spend no money to as much as you like. Of course spending money makes your game go a lot better entrainment wise.

Since the economy is purely based on a real world currency real world trading is not really an issue. Players retain property over what they own ingame. So effectively you are in control of your stuff and you can do whatever you want with it. In-game advertising related to the game is also and you spend your money for that.

Trading can be both player to player or through an auction. The auction is similar to RuneScape's but really isn't. There are many more options compared to the Grand Exchange to the point it makes it look super simplified version. The auction has options for how long you want the auction to go for, the price, amount, the buyout price, and starting bid, and a few more. The one big factor to why people still trade person to person is mainly because there is a small fee when using the auction. Of course everyone doesn't like to pay fees so there are people that yearn to find people that want to buy what they have so they can skip the fee. Every amount helps.

Now each item has a tt value that is lower then what the actual value it. The value that is shown in the game is considered the tt value or the trade terminal value. The trade terminal sells basic items and you can sell anything to it. The tt value is the value at which the trade terminal buys the items at.

Now consider that this economy has be to extremely balanced for the company to make any money and thus you are also having really money as the value. So if the economy goes sour in the game you will have everyone removing their money from the game to get out of loosing anything. So every item does have a use and there are still many items that are not used at all or are considered scam items because newer users buy these items that you either can't repair or is a worse version to another item in the same skill level. Or it is plain impractical because it costs to much to maintain.

Scamming is a lot different in this game then RuneScape by far. You do have people that go up to you and do trade at scam you but it is not usually by swapping items or anything but simply convincing the other players that this item is really the value you say it is when your selling or even buying that time. Still I would consider this a lot lower then RuneScape since if you simply know you item value (in tt) and what some recent auction trades were, you will never get scammed into buying or selling an item over/underpricing. Knowing you items that you can use is also another aspect. So essentially you need to know the game to just simply stay away from all the scams. This isn't anything more to it from my perspective.

Now consider updates. Of course like in RuneScape there are sometimes new items or older items are used in these update to help increase the usefulness of these items. Now since there are some items that have no apparent use to them you have people investing in these items for a change to get lucky and make some big numbers. This is part of the game and that is chance.

The main reason that this have a relatively strong economy is because it is very hard to get the currency without spending money or at least investing a good amount in it. For you to make a good amount of money you have to put a lot of money into your investment and on top of that you might not get anything or loose a large amount from it. This is a lot more gambling type methods to getting money then what I call guaranteed amounts. In RuneScape there is a lot more guaranteed amounts and it is not very risky for even the methods of creating a lot of money for your character.

Business are a lot different in Entropia Universe than RuneScape. The biggest difference is that your job is your business. You are your own boss and you have to go out and find people that want your goods and services. You can't just always simply make a living (a decent one for sure) by providing yourself with everything. It is possible but it would take several years to develop your character that far and by the time you do you could have capitalized on one or two primary skills and made a lot more. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you are forced to interact with people to make any good progress in the game or you will be spending thousands developing your character. The main idea is to make as much as you can or at least break even as much as you can. If your lucky and eventually, you will start making small amounts of money and the numbers continually grow.

Massive Exchange: Word of Warcraft

I haven't played too much with World of Warcraft but I have several friends that play this game a lot. While I'm pretty much an outsider to this game I know that this game is the top MMORPG and Blizzard makes very good games. I used to play countless hours on StarCraft and Diablo. While this is the top MMORPG out there I know this is also a huge problem that may not be able to destroy the economy but is basically against the game as a whole.

World of Warcraft is considered to have the biggest gold problem for any MMO out there. There are countless topics on why there is this problem and how someone might fix it. In reality there isn't a way to total remove it without control the economy in some way. If you were to remove this I doubt that many of the players will stay unless Blizzard does it right and effectively.

I know that Blizzard is serious about this issue but I don't think they are willing to realize the full need of their community and not everyone in their community is following their rules. It doesn't mean that these are bad people or anything like that. Some of the gold miners actually have to do this to make a living. That is how bad this is but while it is that bad it is providing jobs. So you have two very different sides on the matter and even a third side.

First you have the side of Blizzard. Obviously it is a business and they want to make money and they are, a lot of it actually. But then they have set up rules and see that gold mining is taking from their profits... but is it really?

From my understanding World of Warcraft is payed monthly via fifteen bucks a month. I don't see exactly how this is cutting into their profits. If gold mining is actually creating more accounts, you have income a month. So effectively this is a good thing!

From the honest players point of view this is totally unquestionably not right. They except the rules to be followed because they follow them. Why would you believe certain morals if you didn't support and expect other people to have the same or at least similar morals. I could go on an hour about this but really, if you except one person to follow this rules, everyone should. This is called being fair,  not equal.

I have seen a few YouTube videos about World of Warcrafting gold mining and I can see their point of view a lot more. Yes, there are always the few that are taking advantage of this and are literally bad on the moral side. But for the people that work for them are people that are forced into it because they don't have any other skills or can't find a job that can pay as well. They play the game constantly and throughout the day. Some people would see this as fun but do you like doing the most boring activity in any game you can think of that long? This is usually what they are doing.

So now that we know these three points of views you can clearly see why Blizzard isn't going to completely stop this real life trading. The morals behind it are very questionable though. It mainly matters on your perspective and where your coming from. The main argument is mainly that if you except one person to follow a rule all of them should. This is no exception for the company Blizzard to turn a blind eye or do something that member might not like to stop it if it's out of workers keeping this under control.

El 'paso del tiempo' a escala macroscópica es la entropía: lo que hace que las cosas tiendan a 'desordenarse' y nosotros a envejecer. Es un asunto casi puramente estadístico, lo que ocurre es que una mayoría cada vez más aplastante de moléculas del organismo se oxidan, cambian, etc.

Pero obviamente las moléculas que no lo hacen es como si no pasara el tiempo por ellas, y a esa escala lo que no cambia es literalmente inmutable. De hecho a escala cuántica el tiempo no tiene el sentido que nosotros le damos. Tampoco tiene sentido lo que entendemos como relaciones de identidad, causa-efecto, etc. pero esa es otra historia...

En cualquiera de los casos creo que la percepción del paso del tiempo se basa en la memoria, y que eso es lo que forma la conciencia (los que la tienen, claro): la sensación de 'ser yo' se basa en la memoria de experiencias y pensamientos pasados. El que sólo recordemos el pasado, y no el futuro tiene que ver con la entropía. Y la entropía es pura estadística: aquí entra en juego el tema de la 'flecha del tiempo'.

Por ejemplo, la casa o el edificio en el que se encuentra el lector se compone de elementos (ladrillos, vigas, etc.). Esos elementos ordenados de una forma determinada dan lugar a ese edificio. Pero esos mismos elementos se pueden organizar de miles de millones de formas distintas. La mayor parte de estas formas u 'ordenaciones alternativas' son distintas combinaciones de 'escombros', diferentes montones de escombros.

Dicho de otra manera: hay muchas más formas de tener las piezas de un lego desordenadas que formando una construcción, algo que tenga sentido (para eso sólo hay unas pocas ordenaciones).

Así que 'lo más probable' es que a cada instante, cualquier cambio nos acerque un poco más al estado 'montón de escombros'. Lo mismo pasa con el cuerpo: la mayor parte de los cambios son hacia el deterioro, la oxidación, y en último término 'el derribo' o muerte. La inmensa mayor parte de la gente que ha existido ya ha 'devuelto' su cuerpo a su estado más probable: el desorden de sus piezas. O que formen parte de otras 'ordenaciones'.

O grande lance da entropia é que o Prêmio Nobel Georgescu-Roegen (Jorgê para os íntimos) fez algo que causou balbúrdia nos outros economistas, que prontamente o renegaram: aplicou o conceito aos sistemas econômicos. Até então, todo mundo pensava (ainda se pensa assim, se você estudou o assunto vai perceber) que os sistemas econômicos eram moto-perpétuos. Você pega um recurso natural, "transforma" em dinheiro e o dinheiro gera mais dinheiro e assim por diante, infinitamente. E teoricamente daria para reverter o processo lá no fim, retroalimentando esse sistema. Só que as coisas não funcionam bem assim. Ainda que fosse possível reciclar 100% do alumínio de uma lata - o que economiza 95% da energia necessária para fabricar uma lata do zero - ainda teríamos que injetar esses 5% de energia no sistema, sem falar em todos os outros processos envolvidos. Ou seja, conforme vamos transformando insumos em produtos, e trocando por dinheiro, esses produtos vão virando resíduos. E os resíduos vão se acumulando. Eventualmente, acabam os insumos e ficamos sem ter o que transformar em novos produtos.

Dói, dói a cabeça. Tudo isso eu tentei explicar para poder indicar um artigo que saiu na Agência Fapesp há algumas semanas. Considerando que não sou nenhum especialista nisso, vou passar a palavra adiante, e deixar que ele fale por si só. Mas cuidado: o conhecimento não tem volta.

Por Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – O matemático e economista romeno Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen (1906-1994) ficou conhecido por aplicar à economia o conceito de entropia, emprestado da termodinâmica. Ao mostrar que as concepções tradicionais da economia pecavam pelo extremo mecanicismo, o autor foi um dos precursores da chamada economia ecológica.

Um estudo realizado na Universidade de São Paulo (USP) mostra que as idéias de Georgescu-Roegen, hostilizadas por muito tempo na academia, podem ser fundamentais para o debate atual sobre o desenvolvimento sustentável e sobre os problemas relacionados à energia e ao meio ambiente.

Vale, e muito, a pena ler. Continua neste link»

Creo que todos hemos tenido sueños similares, sueños en que algo terrible te acecha y tus pasos son mas lentos y pesados; sueños en que ese amor del pasado regresa y te da ese beso eterno que tanto anhelas. Sueños llenos de heroísmo y poder, en donde sin dudar avanzamos por los cielos en un vuelo espectacular.

Pero anoche fue diferente.

Estabas tú. Regresaste desde lo imposible para tomar mi mano y decirme que aún desde lo inimaginable tu escencia perdura. Y estabas feliz. Sonreías aún cuando sabías de lo efímero e irreal de nuestro encuentro. Sonreías y me decías que no te jalara tanto al correr. Es que no podía controlarme estaba tan feliz, y sólo quería que los demás te viesen también.

Saltamos esas gruesas ramas del gran árbol que tantos sueños nos acompañó, y casi sin aliento, grité...  grité tan fuerte como mi falta de aire me lo permitió. Grité "¡Cinthya está aquí!"  y todos sonreían al verte.

Te sonrojaste, como siempre lo haces cuando te hago pasar esta clase de vergüenzas. Te sonrojaste y tu rostro se vio tan vivo que ignoré la verdad. Era sólo un sueño.

Me desperté con el recuerdo de tu aroma, de tu escencia. No existes más, pero que real fuiste para mí en mis sueños...  esta vida llena de sueños que sueñan con ser realidad.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1576851&w=425&h=350&fv=]

And with the dust settling, it's time to look over round two and see just who got bumped. While we're at it, we're also looking at the division finals! ZOMG! This has crept up on us a lot faster than March Madness' did, but that's what we get for smooshing teams together rather than playing a whole lot of mono-affiliation stuff.

One thing this round DID see was a whole lot of upsets, the favored decks going down under the weight of the underdogs. Nothing like a little unpredictability to keep heads boggling, no?

Rose Division:
In some of the tightest calls in the round, Task Force: Revenge outlasted the Psycho Reservists to advance, while the immensely favoured
Dark(seid) City realised that having alternates at higher drops may in fact be a good thing, as they couldn't get the board presence to get around Warp Factor 9's stall engine. (Yes, every non-Darkseid at higher drops is one less +3/+3, but at the same time characters at that end of the spectrum tend to have higher stats than 3/3… no idea WHO offered
Flashback81 THAT advice…;))

Orchid Division:
Potpourri lacked the pumps to get over Stranger Danger, but if nothing else this match generated some very amusing banners… small consolation… Meanwhile, the Family of One vs HKKO match left Spud and I highly conflicted as to who to cheer for. I love Kree and Fan4, Spud loves X-Statix and Hellfire, so no matter the end result we were each going to see one of our favourite teams advancing… in the end it was Kamiza's Family Of One that took the crown and advanced to the finals.

Carnation Division:
Everyone loved Tony Danza. Whether it was that vengeful gleam in his eye, or the way his feet rhythmically carressed the floorboards, everyone wanted Onyxweapon's deck to win… but Wild & Sticky had the stall tools to disable critical parts of the swarm, and Firestar and Cardiac to literally strip characters away. Meanwhile, another Wolverine deck bumped its way out of the running by the aggressive New Birds, proving that the New Gods shouldn't be underestimated, no matter how outdated their costuming may be.

Calla Lily Divison:
Drawing an exceptional amount of cards is always a good thing, but having so much stuff to play with doesn't do you a lot of good when your opponent's freakin' insane. Looney Bin kicked /r/ moar cards in the proverbial, while Adamantium Skrullmate carved its way through the Box Full of Evil to be the last Wolverine-centric deck in the tournament.

DIVISION FINALS
One of the perks being part of the crew running this event? I don't have to make picks. I can sit back and play it out, without stressing out over just which deck I should favour in any matchup - there's no prize for me to win, so there's less stress. Sure, I have the expectations of everyone in the gambling threads leaning over me like Damocles' Sword, but if I'm that worried about a pairing I can sit back and let Pablo and Spud play it out.

The final for the Rose division is between the surprisingly potent Task Force: Revenge and the stalltastic Warp Factor 9. Onyxweapon and TheDerangedBear have both put together potent decks that have biffed their way nicely through their bracket to get this far, but now what? I half kinda want Task Force: Revenge to win, if only because I've played against Warp Factor 9 twice now and both times been crippled by its stall engine. On the other side of the coin, if Aaron's deck loses then he might beat me up in November at the Battle For The Border. Threats of physical violence aside, both decks deserve to be where they are - but only one will progress to face the winner of the Orchid division.

Speaking of which, the Orchid division brings us Kamiza's Family of One against Jaxxin's Stranger Danger. When the deck assignments were handed out I had serious concerns about some of the pairings, but as The Captain Power Girl Squirrel Girl Dead Girl showed in their last match, I didn't have anything to be worried about with Stranger Danger. Now, they are facing off against the Fantastic Four/X-Static pairing, who have the raw stats to force more power-ups than Stranger Danger may be willing to commit. With the Conference Finals right ahead, both decks better not be pulling any punches.

On the other half of the bracket, its Southern Hemisphere if you will, the Carnation division has a game that has us pondering. New Birds are very aggressive, potentially the bane of stall decks like Wild & Sticky, but they'll be working to seal the deal. Go back to the first round reports, and read Wild & Sticky's impressive stalling for three turns on
5 endurance for the win. If the stall engine is in full effect, the New Birds will be shy of answers. If they can beat the Spider-Friends/Wild Pack teamup low enough for Lightray's burn to make a difference, they're in luck, but the clock is definitely running for the New Birds. Either team could take the division title, and move on to oppose the Calla Lily champion.

We all know that Spud's going to be rooting for Looney Bin to trounce Adamantium Skrullmate, but this one is another case of an aggressive deck squaring off a deck loaded with exhaustion effects. Another hard call, though personally I'll be cheering for Skrullmate - as much as I dislike Checkmate decks, having no Wolverine decks in the finals just seems wrong considering how they were favoured going into this whole thing, and if Looney Bin gets bumped then I get to point and laugh at Spud. Sure, I don't really need a reason to do that normally, but it's kinda nice to have validation in my mockery.

On to what you really want to know about….

Door prizes

From Sean "Baldman" Marinelli, a special custom Summer Of Love playmat to a random commenter or poster (1 entry per person, you posting fanatics): MisguidedWonder

To the poster with the lowest post count in the VSRealms Gambling Thread for round two, a Batman starter: roguer

To a random deckbuilder elminated during round two, a copy of Spy Guy: Bootleg from Ultraist Studios: CarlosTheDwarf

To two random commenters on Lost Hemisphere, and two random posters in the general discussion thread at VSRealms, a copy of Entropia and a sticker (cos they gave 'em to me) from Mindark: Onyxweapon, Flashback 81, Jackson352, TheDerangedBear

To two random participants in the Round Two Gambling Circle, a Superfreek each from RAK Graphics: Orange Soda Man, I Avian

Yay for our winners! Don't worry, there's plenty more to be given out over the next couple of rounds, including a Fin Fang Foom mat, more comics, more Entropia, more Superfreeks... but right now we have something special.

To the composer of the best haiku (Summer of Love or Lost Hemisphere related of course) between now and the conclusion of round three, posted either in response to this post or in the discussion thread at VSRealms, will go the autographed DWF Parasite, signed by Allison Sohn at the 2008 Toronto FanExpo.

It's time to create
If you want to win prizes
Like autographed cards

:)

El chojin

Cuando no existía, no sufría, no lloraba, no reía ni cantaba; no sabía lo que era el dolor ,ni el amor, simplemente no era nada, ni nadie. Ahora recuerdo que lloré porque comprendí que a partir de ahora, a partir de este momento tendría que ser algo y alguien.

Que pesado contrato existencial con un pequeño ser indefenso, firmé sin leer este pacto terrenal, sin saber que me comprometía a vivir, a sentir y a morir.

Son cláusulas inviolables que me obligan a comer y a vestirme, que me obligan a hablar y a bañarme con agua y con jabón. Recuerdo que lloré y ahora entiendo la razón, me miro en el espejo y veo a un ser que no soy yo, veo al ser que el contrato exige que sea, me pide que sea un ser humano aunque yo no lo quiera, me pide que sea amable o cruel, que ame y que odie, que viva y que al final muera... aunque yo no lo desee,.

Recuerdo el día que nací y recuerdo que lloré, y ahora entiendo por qué.

In natura i sistemi evolvono spontaneamente verso stati a
cui corrisponde una configurazione più probabile, di maggior disordine, di maggior contenuto entropico

Llevo dos semanas meditando mi actuar,
tratando de conciliar mis dudas y mi pensar
mi cavilar por oscuras parajes, caminar
luchando por no soñar y descansar.

Consiente de mis de mi mundo y mis verdades
de mis pasos andados y caídas infernales
llegando a claridad, a luz, a noches sin sombra
ayuda, soporte, sanidad…

Hay días en que te sientes como enfermo, como si una mano invisible te atase las emociones y convirtiera en gris masa que sin ritmo se tambalea enla oscuridad, esos días son los que vivo ahora. Son días sin variantes, continuos, encadenados a mí y a mis costumbres.

Les dejo la canción y la letra. Saludos.

[audio http://www.archive.org/download/CaminoGuerrero/02-Nach-ElCaminoDelGuerrero.mp3]

Se la domanda la ponete ad un filosofo, eventualmente vi ritroverete tirato in ballo Kant, che parlava del tempo come di una "categoria a priori dell'intelletto", qualcosa di indipendente dall'esperienza, o meglio, qualcosa di cui necessita l'esperienza stessa per potersi sviluppare. Quest'idea del tempo come di qualcosa di assoluto la si ritrova anche nella maggior parte della Scienza classica (fino all'inizio del Secolo Scorso), in cui non era altro che una variabile usata per distinguere i vari stati di un qualche sistema che si evolveva, oppure per mettere in correlazione diversi eventi distinti spazialmente. Per questa fisica, per la meccanica classica, ad esempio, neanche lo scorrere del tempo ha particolare importanza, o quantomento non é necessario che fluisca in una direzione precisa, perché tutti i fenomeni che studia sono, per loro natura, reversibili.

Se ad esempio prendiamo le equazioni del moto di una palla che sale verso l'alto e poi ricade, possiamo "invertire" il flusso del tempo (sostituendo -t ovunque ci sia t) ed otteniamo delle nuove equazioni che mostrano un moto altrettanto possibile dal punto di vista fisico. Pensiamo al ping pong, o al tennis: spesso le palline seguono lo stesso percorso avanti ed indietro finché un giocatore non imprime un colpo che gli fa cambiare direzione.

A questo punto, due domande sorgono spontanee: é realmente "assoluto" il tempo? E perché scorre verso l'avanti?

La risposta alla prima domanda é un fermo no: Einstein, con la sua teoria della Relatività Ristretta, dimostro' che il vero assoluto dell'universo é in realtà la velocità della luce, mentre il tempo é una proprietà soggettiva che dipende dalla velocità di ciascun corpo. In particolare, se accelleriamo sperimentiamo un tempo "rallentato", che eventualmente diventa quasi fermo in prossimità della velocità della luce (e questo dà il via a tutta una serie di paradossi su eventi simultanei in un sistema, che vengono visti come successivi fra loro a due osservatori viaggianti a diverse velocità). Peggio ancora: per la Relatività Generale (che é simile alla Ristretta, ma con l'introduzione della Forza Gravitazionale), il tempo é una dimensione che concorre insieme alle altre tre spaziali, a formare il cosidetto "spaziotempo" in cui viviamo, uno spazio quadridimensionale curvo che, sorpresa, viene incurvato ulteriormente da qualunque oggetto dotato di sufficiente massa! Il tempo sembra essere molto più "fluido" di quanto la nostra concezione giornaliera ci induca a credere.

Ma questo non risponde alla seconda domanda: perché il tempo fluisce costantemente? Restando in campo scientifico, questo equivale a cercare delle leggi che non siano simmetriche rispetto all'asse del tempo, che non permettano un ritorno all'indietro naturale. Evitando di addentrarci nel campo della Fisica Quantistica, l'esempio più semplice che possiamo individuare é la Seconda Legge della Termodinamica: "l'Entropia generale dell'Universo aumenta costantemente". La definizione 'terra-terra' dell'Entropia é "un indice del grado di disordine di un sistema", ma questo non é molto esplicativo. Al massimo ne concludiamo che la mia stanza tende ad essere molto entropica quando mia madre é lontana, ma per il resto non ci possiamo speculare oltre. Una definizione più elegante potrebbe essere "una misura del numero di stati locali che puo' assumere un sistema, pur presentandosi nello stesso stato globale". Domanda classica: "chevvodi?"

Pensiamo ad un solido cristallino, in cui tutte le molecole sono disposte in un perfetto reticolo: ci sono pochissime conformazioni delle varie molecole che lo compongono che danno "vita" allo stesso cristallino macroscopico. Possiamo spostarne qualcuna, ma, se agitiamo troppo, il solido si sfalda: il cristallino ha un'entropia molto bassa. Pensiamo invece ad un gas espanso in una scatola: al suo interno le molecole sono molto "agitate", e poiché i loro effetti tendono a compensarsi, ci sono tantissime possibili disposizioni di ogni atomo che danno, più o meno, lo stesso gas disperso nel recipiente: il gas é fortemente entropico.

Pur scusandomi per essere saltellato da un argomento all'altro in pochi paragrafi, penso che alcune idee generali siano comunque uscite fuori: il tempo é molto più strano di come tendiamo ad immaginarlo, molto più soggettivo di quanto non crediamo, ed il suo fluire sembra essere legato a doppio filo con l'espansione dell'Universo da un momento di Entropia incredibilmente bassa (subito dopo il Big Bang) ad un Universo ad Entropia estremamente alta, eppure sembra essere una caratteristica importante solo ad un livello macroscopico!.

A ch volesse approfondire, consiglio il libro di Penrose "La Mente Nuova dell'Imperatore", nei capitoli dedicati, per l'appunto, alla Termodinamica o, per chi mastica un po' di inglese, il meraviglioso articolo su Ipod.org.uk "The Arrow of Time".

PS: superati i duecento visitatori, escludendo le mie visite. Niente male per un blog che pensavo di leggere da solo :)

Lo dicho, la magia se divide en esas 9 esferas enunciadas. Cada esfera va del número 1 al 5 (a partir de 6 se supone que eres Archimago, y el libro básico no contempla esa posibilidad) definiéndote en cada nivel hasta dónde puedes llegar, no exactamente lo que puedes hacer. Es decir, cada nivel de conocimiento en la esfera correspondiente te explica las cotas de magia que puede llegar a alcanzar tu mago, que luego puede ser interpretable por el master también (siempre pasa aquello de: "¿puedo levitar grácilmente mientras muevo mi varita y canto angel en enochiano?" a lo que el máster magistralmente contesta: "si no tienes Fuerzas 4, no"). Digamos que hay 2 cosas importantes en la magia de mago: a) saber hasta dónde llega tu magia y b) conocer al dedillo tu paradigma y utilizarlo.

¿Qué es esto del paradigma? Bueno, quizás sea uno de los conceptos más complejos del libro. El Paradigma es necesario para que el mago pueda hacer magia (efectos); básicamente viene siendo la concepción que tiene del cosmos, a través de esa concepción, de esas creencias o dogmas, es capaz de hacer sus efectos. Me explico. Uno de mis magos tenía como paradigma la ciencia; creía que la magia podía basarse en la manipulación de las leyes básicas que regían el universo. Para mover un simple objeto no demasiado grande (Fuerzas 2 o así) mi mago con un CI de +180 con su voluntad manipulaba la energía cinética del objeto, haciendo que este se moviera. No quiero alargarme más con este concepto, para estar más seguros os remitiría al propio libro, aquí viene una definición del mismo (página 145):

El paradigma es la esencia definida de las creencias del mago. [...] Para que un efecto mágico pueda llegar a ocurrir debe estar de acuerdo con el paradigma del mago.

No es lo único que necesita. Antes de comentar el tema de los focos, tengo que explicar qué narices es el Arete. El Arete es la comprensión que tiene el mago del cosmos, así como su capacidad para manipularlo (es decir, su capacidad para hacer magia). Para ser archimago necesitas tener Arete a 5, y es bastante poco probable que tengas 4 epifanías y no hayas sido cazado o te haya explotado la cabeza antes. Tiras los dados de Arete para realizar los efectos, y lo que se suma y se resta es la dificultad (no los dados).

Los focos son objetos, rituales, posiciones, cosas, que tu mago utiliza para que el efecto le resulte más sencillo de llevar acabo. Suelen ser cosas familiares y con algún tipo de connotación especial para ti, tus creencias y tu tradición. Cuando mi mago quería recuperar Quintaesencia (los puntos de magia que sirven para rebajar dificultad, encantar cosas, etcétera) enchufaba el PC, le daba al play a un programa hecho por él mismo que seguía un extraño patrón geométrico que mutaba constantemente, y quemaba un poco de incienso de naranja (era irlandés, pero vivía en California). Cosas así. Mago es un juego casi imposible de explicar sin dar ejemplos, siento comeros la cabeza con el bueno de O'Callaghan (mi Hermes multimillonario).

Para terminar, explicaré los 2 tipos de magia básica que hay. La vulgar y la coincidente. Como dije en el anterior post, un mago debe cuidar de donde y cómo obra su arte. La magia vulgar viene siendo aquella magia que rompe brutal y descaradamente los conceptos básicos de la razón (lanzar una bola de fuego, que un rayo fustigue a alguien en medio de un día soleado, levitar, cosas así). Dicha magia suele ser bastante destructiva, tanto para los magos como para los de alrededor de él, ya que atrae instantáneamente a la temida Paradoja. Contra más bestia es el efecto, más bestia es la reacción (3ª Newton). La magia coincidente viene a ser la que podría pasar inadvertida a los Durmientes y a la realidad, una magia que entra en la categoría de "posible" (esa bola de fuego se produce porque una tubería de gas se rompe y explota, el rayo le cae a esa persona concreta en una noche de tormenta o nublada, etcétera).

Me quedan algunas cosas que contar para el último post de esta serie (que espero os esté gustando). Cosas como la Teconcracia, las Capillas, las Tradiciones, la Guerra de la Ascensión y tal. Si creeis que me falta algo decídmelo y lo incluiré en el siguiente o en los comentarios.

Un saludo!

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No puedes convencer a un creyente de nada porque sus creencias no están basadas en evidencia, están basadas en una enraizada necesidad de creer".

Carl Sagan.

Hace unos días dos mujeres me hicieron la misma pregunta al enterarse de mi ateísmo.

"¿Y acaso no dices dios mío ?"

Y me pareció muy curioso que dos personas tan diferentes (edad, nacionalidad, carrera, posición política, etc) coincidieran en una cuestión tan irrelevante como una expresión popular.

¿qué tenía de mágica esta expresión para ser simbolo de religiosidad, o de aceptación al catolicismo? Y conversando con una de ellas llegué a la misma conclusión que la cita que da pie a este post.

No es posible lograr entender, y hacerte entender, racionalmente cuando los argumentos de la otra persona no tienen que ver con la razón, en cambio sí con una necesidad de creer que esto no es todo... que hay algo más. Algo que justifique todos los sufrimientos y vacíos de esta vida.

¡Dios mío, me gustaría que existieses! Así por lo menos me sentiría menos raro y tendría un tema más de conversación.

Hace ya varios años que un grupo de personas se conocieron e iniciaron juntos una loca aventura como promotores de salud sexual. Los famosos PEPS de Médicos Sin Fronteras. Estos muchachos y muchachas, de diferentes zonas de Villa María, conformaron un muy interesante grupo de trabajo, pero más que eso... conformaron una curiosa familia.

Luego de 8 años, aún seguimos siendo parte de esa familia, creo que nunca lo dejaremos de ser. Y me siento contento de que así sea.

Remarco esto por una sencilla razón, soy de las personas más reacias a aceptar la amistad como algo duradero, pero sin darme cuenta estas personas han estado en mi vida de una manera u otra por ya muchos años.

Y creánme que me siento feliz de ello.

Todos somos ateos respecto a la mayoría de dioses en los que la humanidad ha creído alguna vez. Algunos simplemente vamos un dios más allá."

Richard Dawkins.

Queridos amigos y amigas, la vida es una mierda la mayoría del tiempo. No hay objeción en eso, pero a veces te regala momentos maravillosos que hacen llevadero la insoportable levedad del ser.

Y es que la vida es perfecta en su imperfección, me dio hace en las últimas semanas estas bellas imágenes de mis amigas casandose.

¡¡¡Mis amigas están felizmente casadas!!!

PD: personalmente no me interesa para nada el rito este del matrimonio, pero me alegro por ellas porque están felices.

Tuve la dicha de conocer mujeres así. Ella es una de ellas, mi querida hermana del alma. Con quien compartimos sueños, de una manera particular, compartimos un mundo mágico en donde somos parte de una misma tribu existencial.

Un abrazo sin tiempo querida Tamara, y que la vida nos encuentre una vez más para poder colorear cartulinas y tomar unas cervezas.

Vive la vida, no dejes que la vida te viva...