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It was amazing but perhaps understandable how the US media diminished Cuban baseball prior to the beginning of the inaugural edition of the World Baseball Classic. And I say understandable because although it is true that Cuban baseball has mostly succeeded in amateur international events, Cuba had never before been in front of rosters loaded with major league all-stars, like Team USA, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic or Venezuela. US media didn't know about Cuban players, so they assumed they were not as good.

But after the clear and outstanding role played by Team Cuba in this unique event, it is really sad that most mainstream media is still referring to it as the great surprise in the event, while some going as far as still saying that Cuba was extremely lucky to be where it is now: in the final game against Japan.

US Major Leagues cannot stand that except for two Japanese players, no other of their "super players" are in the finals. They wrote this Hollywood ending for the event, with the Dominican Republic against Team USA, but they failed. And this unexpected final game promises to be as exciting and interesting as anyone could expect. It gives more merit to the event, a higher level of entertainment. And the fact that the final is celebrated in US soil makes this even more interesting.

I never liked announced finals, I've always preferred the unknown and unannounced. And if this also means having my country there, defending the title of my favorite sport (and my country's national sport too), and doing so in the most tough event that ever existed, the pleasure and joy is infinite.

Cuban path to this final was anything but easy. They won key games against strong rosters such as Venezuela (7-2), Puerto Rico (4-3) and the Dominican Republic (3-1). And the myth is over. Even most Cuban people thought Cuba was not at this level, and they were proved wrong. Cuba deserves to be where it is, and the odds to win tonight are high. Both teams are just as strong, and both will do the same great effort, tributing to what will surely be a beautiful game filled with emotion. And in the end, baseball will be the winner. Global baseball, world baseball, and not just US major leagues.

Before I finish, I would like to refer you to the one piece of article that I really enjoyed. It gives an interesting overview of the two finalists, how different and yet how akin they are. It's a sincere and genuine point of view very dissimilar to most of what I've read. It is titled The world is shrinking, and I will end quoting a piece of it.

So no matter who wins Monday night, the World Baseball Classic will have taught us an invaluable lesson:

They can play this game as well as we can play it. Their leagues might actually be just as good as our leagues. And we can learn as much from the way the Japanese and Cubans play baseball as they can learn from us.

It was worth holding the WBC just for that lesson alone. Wasn't it?

I found these two excellent articles about Digital Rights Management (DRM) and why is necessary to fight against it.

The big DRM mistake
Learning to love big brother

Most people nowadays live unaware of the implications of all those restrictions that are imposed on us with respect to our rights over what we own. We live day by day without thinking "why am I not supposed to copy this or that?"

Back to the articles, I loved those quotations of George Orwell's book named "1984".

Hi, specially for all those of you who might have thought that I was lost. It's been a long time since my last post in this blog, and I've been missing posting around for a few days now. I said to my self, I have to post today, at least to say "Hello, I'm alive and still eager to blog, don't worry, I'm fine".

The thing is that I had a lot of work to do during the last week, and I also had almost no connectivity at all. My employer is moving its headquarters and part of my work was to re-establish connectivity in the new facilities. I'm able to blog from other places, but I had not much time anyway.

Hope to continue seeing you around. Bye.

Good point made by Jeremy Zawodny (yes, I'm a fan of his blog, except the aviation stuff). He answers an article about why is good to be fat and how is this beneficial for the economy. It's an unusual subject for his posts, which are almost always about aviation or tech-related stuff. It is in fact as unusual as it is for me to post about it here.

As a highlight from his post I'd like to cite the following paragraph,

Okay, we've got all these better paying jobs which make it possible to buy McMansions and hang flat-panel plasma TVs over our fireplaces. And that means we're better off? Are people really happier and less stressed? The stories I read indicate that we're at or near all-time highs for work related stress and anxiety. The lust for a big house with expensive electronics is hardly healthy. Are those what really matter in life?

It is very clear for me that wealth and financial success does not necessarily implies happiness in our lives as human beings. I know people here in Cuba, an underdeveloped third world country, which are happier and their lives are more enjoyable than many people I know from the US. People whose income is much less, people that barely have a color TV, no Internet, no fancy houses. I'm not saying you have to live that way in order to be happy. They could certainly use some improvements in their lifestyle, but this is not what determines their existence.

Things like health, having a sincere and satisfying relationship with your couple, having kids and watching them grow up, feeling well and useful about what you do for a living; these are all the kind of things that really make you happy, regardless of your income. And obesity does not equal health, for a start, so such a happiness is an illusion.

And this was all my opinion of course, so you can freely disagree with it, as always.