There are several things going on in the world right now that I consider worrying enough to write about. These are (in no particular order):

• Religion
• WikiLeaks
• Animal abuse
• Nuclear power
• Political corruption in Europe
• Intellectual property

I’ve started writing about a couple of these (nuclear power and intellectual property), but I never seem to be able to finish because there’s always something new happening that changes my priorities: Julian Assange is denied the appeal for extradition, or a new anti-nuclear demonstration, or the political party that got Greece in all this trouble wins the national elections again.

Since I can’t decide what to write about first, I thought I’d just write this post summarizing what my opinions are, and then decide on a subject based on what gets me the most death threats. Please note that I’m not talking about posting a tweet or two, but writing multi-page posts containing real information about the subject.

So here we go.The following are my opinions.

Last year I started developing this blog from zero, both the presentation layer (HTML and CSS) and the server-side logic (PHP and a PostgreSQL database). My intention was to get back up to speed in systems administration and PHP development, because for the last several years I hadn’t been doing any real development.

Well, it looks like I achieved that. I’m (more or less) up to date again, so there’s no point in spending more time developing the content management software, when I can instead set up a WordPress blog in the server and start using it right away.

So that’s what I did. You’ll notice that I removed the photo galleries. This is because I couldn’t find any photography plugin or application that integrates nicely with WordPress in order to present a decent-looking gallery. I will have to develop that part on my own. Until then, I’ll keep posting my photos on Flickr.

So welcome (again) to my blog.

Welcome to my nice, cozy, little space on the web. As you can see, I’ve just launched this new site and there’s almost no content, apart from a couple of photo galleries.

This is not going to be a blog. There won’t be many posts because I don’t think I’m the kind of person who likes telling to the world what I’m doing every day, what the places I’m visiting, or what things I see on my way to work every morning. I have other priorities. However, I do have opinions on several subjects (mostly modern-day politics, computer-related laws, and corporate/government corrupt behavior). From time to time I will feel the need to write something about these, and I will. Expect to see also some technical content every now and then.

(Traducción en castellano debajo. Spanish translation follows.)

English:

I’ll go straight to the point: the situation here in Tokyo is normal. There’s no panic, no exodus, and no immediate danger.

However, western media is spreading fear and lots, lots of bullshit among our families and friends, because being alarmists brings them advertising money.

Because of this, family and friends are pressuring those of us who stay in Tokyo to leave the city. This is causing trouble for many of us.

To the media:

For fuck’s sake, please stop publishing crap in order to bring more viewers (and therefore, more advertising money) to your publications/programs/whatever. What you’re doing is just taking advantage of this situation in order to try and make some money at the expense of everybody who knows someone in Japan. You’re causing more trouble to us than the earthquake did!

To our family and friends:

We are fine. The situation in Tokyo is normal. There’s no panic, no exodus from the city, and no immediate danger of radiation exposure as the media would like you to believe.

Some links in English:

• Realtime streaming of a Geiger counter in Chiba. Showing normal levels of radiation.
• A post from MIT nuclear engineers explaining why it is physically impossible that radiation from Fukushima will affect Tokyo or surroundings. Who would you rather believe? Experts in the matter, or journalists who do it for the money?

Castellano:

Iré directamente al grano: la situación en Tokyo es normal. No hay pánico, no hay ninguna huída de Tokyo, y no hay peligro inminente.

Sin embargo, los medios de comunicación están difundiendo miedo y montones, montones de basura entre nuestras familias y amigos, simplemente porque el alarmismo les trae ingresos por publicidad.

Debido a esto, nuestros familiares y amigos nos están presionando para que dejemos la ciudad. Esto nos está creando problemas a muchos.

A los medios de comunicación:

Por lo que más queráis, dejad de difundir mierda para atraer más público (y por tanto, más ingresos por publicidad) a vuestras publicaciones/programas/lo que sea. Lo que estáis haciendo es simplemente aprovecharos por motivos económicos de la terrible situación en el norte de Japón, para hacer dinero a costa de todo el que conoce a alguien en Japón. ¡Nos estáis causando más problemas que el terremoto!

A nuestros familiares y amigos:

Estamos bien. La situación en Tokyo es normal. No hay pánico, no hay huída de la ciudad, y no hay peligro inminente de exposición a la radiación como os quieren hacer creer los medios de comunicación.

Algunos enlaces:

• Streaming en tiempo real de un contador Geiger en Chiba. Mostrando niveles normales de radioactividad.
• Niveles de radioactividad en España. En algunos casos, superiores a los de Chiba en estos momentos.
• Japón no vive en el caos. Un post de otro residente en Japón.
• Huída de Tokyo, 17 de marzo 2011. Un vídeo de otro español en Tokyo mostrando la realidad de la situación en estos momentos. A él también le han presionado sus familiares y amigos, y se ha visto obligado a dejar la ciudad en contra de su voluntad.
• Entrevista en El País a César Molins, doctor en ingeniería nuclear. Explica por qué no hay peligro.
• Carta pública a los medios. De un grupo de españoles viviendo en Tokyo, cansados del sensacionalismo de los medios de comunicación.