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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?

Google is a threat because of the power they are obtaining, I have no doubt of that. It is true that all the information they have about their users can give them enough power to drive market trends through its advertising networks and search results, and who knows what more? But I ask, aren't Microsoft and Yahoo able to do the same thing that Google does? Don't they have comparable amounts of personal information that could be used for their own purposes too?

I am not saying that we should underestimate those privacy concerns, but is foolish to focus so much on Google, when the other two or three major players are not only amassing all these data, but they're also sharing it with the US government while Google is not.

Yes, in case you didn't know, the current US administration is requesting data from Google's search records during a week, and is already working with similar data from Yahoo! and Microsoft. Certainly the data they're currently requesting is not enough to tie it to individuals, but the request, if granted, would be a dangerous precedent for future attempts to invade privacy. And I fully support Google's determination on not to allow this to happen, while I am disappointed at Y and M. Privacy is something they all owe to their users, and if you fail to provide it you're taking a big risk.

It is about time to start thinking seriously in developing a next-generation space vehicle. Clipper is the proposal we've got from Russia, who has a great record of reliability of their space transportation systems since Gagarin's first manned flight, more than forty years ago. And is good to see that Europe is endorsing the project, which means a lot, particularly in terms of financial feasibility.

Soyuz is great, and she could certainly bare several more years of service, but is unsuitable for the kind of space trips that are to be pursued in the (relatively near) future (the Moon, Mars and beyond). The Shuttle has proven to be dead, and is not designed for these voyages anyway. The United States' NASA is also immersed in the design or a new vehicle with similar purposes, the CEV.

Is amazing how NASA is vulnerable to weather conditions, specially hurricanes. This is becoming a big problem threatening the future of space exploration in the US, particularly manned space exploration programmes.

KSC at Cape Canaveral in Florida is frequently victim of hurricanes and tropical storms, which are so common in that area. And recent events related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita show that not only the launching facility at Florida (which needs to be close to the equator) but also three other facilities near the gulf coast have been threatened.

JSC at Houston, Texas is one of them. Its surrounding area are prone to flooding, a primary concern since the space center sits less than one mile from Galveston Bay. JSC is home to NASA's manned exploration programmes, which includes the Space Shuttle and ISS mission controls. All operations had to be shifted to russian flight controllers at Korolev, near Moscow.

And also New Orleans-based Michoud Assembly Facility, actively engaged in building fuel tanks for the space shuttle, and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, are threatened. Both Michoud and Stennis where seriously damaged a few weeks ago by hurricane Katrina.

Unlike KSC, which is conveniently positioned as close to the equator as possible, neither of these facilities need to be placed where they currently are, and I wonder why is this so.

It was already announced by NASA after Katrina, that the next planned Shuttle flight was being postponed because of damage at Michould, which would make it impossible to finish on time the external fuel tank being built there. The Space Shuttle programme is not likely to survive more delays.

But not only harsh weather conditions are endangering NASA's plans. The US Senate has conveniently lifted the ban to purchase russian spaceflight hardware, which was approved some time ago on account of the aid that Iran receives from Russia to pursuit its nuclear plans. Russia is no longer obliged to carry US astronauts on Soyuz capsules to the ISS, so without this move, US manned exploration would be virtually dead. Now NASA is allowed to spend part of its budget to pay Russia for its transportation services.

Or should I restate the question as How will Katrina change the US?

I thought of writing about this after reading comments by readers of BBC News. I visited the page and apparently the submitting form was not appearing, and they were accepting no more comments, but I felt I had a few things to say about it. And what do I have a blog for anyway?

It is amazing the number of US residents that felt that the rest of the world is enjoying with all the suffering and the destruction caused by Katrina. This is not true for most of the people in the world. Here in Cuba where I live, I see people talking everywhere, horrified by the disastrous conditions in which New Orleans is today, and amazed on the estimates for the time it will take to recover, as well as on the (still incomplete) number of deaths. We are also happy to see how many countries are offering aid in this harsh moment, putting differences aside.

I agree with all of those who say that this is not the time to blame, but to start doing anything at hand instead to help those who are bearing all the weight of the devastation. However, I think that eventually the entire disaster-planning system should be revised and modified, and those who did not act as the circumstances required, should take some responsibility on something that could have been far less damaging, mostly in terms of human lives. You can eventually recover anything, but human lives are irreplaceable.

And in the middle of this dreadful situation, is good to see that at least just a slice of normality is maintained in some places of the city. Johnny White's bar at the French Quarter was at the brink of being closed for the first time in 17 years, but those usual to the place were determined not to do so. Also the Zoo did surprisingly well through the storm.

I want to finish quoting (with minor orthographic fixes) one of the comments from the BBC comments page with which I feel strongly identified. I should credit Kaitlin from Minneapolis for these observations.

I truly hope when the dust from Katrina settles that my fellow American will wake up from their sleepwalk. We are walking on thin ice bearing the very, very heavy load that is the American lifestyle. Katrina has brought all eyes back home (where they should be) and many questions are being asked. The tragedy has revealed weaknesses and vulnerabilities not only in our government but in our image of ourselves. It has also revealed great strengths, causing people to rely on their neighbors for support. I know many will never be the same after this, and I deeply hope that my country will also change for the better.