Posts

It’s roughly a year since we made it to the Finalists to the Apps for Development competition of the World Bank. To commemorate the date, the Bank prepared an article to assess the impact. They contacted all finalists and made a little interview (Here is the full interview with our team). I was fascinated with the idea and eager to read the outcome. With all finalists, we share a Facebook group so we are more able to keep track of each other’s whereabouts. I do see being finalists was very positive personally and professionally for all of us. But I was also interested on the impact for all those non-finalists. Many of them jumped into the Open Data portal to participate. Are they still engaged? Was participation incentive enough to continue developing in the area? Are they likely to participate again? Unfortunately none of these questions was answered. ...

Hace unos días estuve en la Habana, Cuba, con mi padre de vacaciones. Tenía muchas ganas de ir, y aprender. Me preguntaba ¿Qué es lo que opina el cubano de la calle? ¿Qué es el régimen revolucionario, en términos reales? ¿Cómo es el sector privado allí? ¿Qué no se puede hacer? ¿Que beneficios tiene un sistema comunista? ... Esto es lo que he podido medio entender después de una semana de vacaciones allí, charlando con cubanos, viviendo en un apartamento alquilado, yendo a varias ciudades en las afueras (Mariel y Viñales), visitando un hospital, una universidad, un conservatorio, varias casas particulares... ...

[Cross posted at GAIN] Engineers will be among those on the front lines of adaptation. From improving the resilience of water pipes and energy transport systems to redesigning how entire urban areas are built, engineering firms will need to solve new challenges created by population growth, urbanization and climate change. Incorporation of new scientific, economic and social science data is becoming more critical as unprecedented changes are upon us. Engineering innovation and technology will be part of the solution. These were the main takeaways according to participants at the Engineers Without Borders (EWB)–USA 10-year anniversary International Conference in Henderson, Nev., March 22-24. ...

The cost of ending hunger globally is less than the value of wasted food only in the US, and orders of magnitude smaller than the Wall Street bailout. "The world only needs 30 billion dollars a year to eradicate the scourge of hunger." FAO Newsroom. 2008 "14-15 per cent of United States edible food is untouched or unopened, amounting to $43 billion worth of discarded, but edible, food". Wikipedia quoting a study by the University of Arizona in 2004 ...

It is roughly one year since I joined GAIN, the Global Adaptation Institute. GAIN is dedicated to facilitate data-driven pragmatic solutions to face the challenge of adaptation to climate change. You can learn more about us here, or about my role here. One year seems a nice excuse to stop and think about what one has done and evaluate where to improve. I am very thankful to the Institute for giving me the opportunity to work on such an important topic with amazing people. I think we have lots to celebrate and be proud of. Motivation has been and is the main engine for this journey. ...

Today I went to a lunch meeting with the Apps 4 Climate folks. It is basically a challenge for developers to make apps using the vast archive of open data at the Bank. It was great to see such a motivated team behind the project. We talked about the challenge itself, requirements and timelines. It was very appropriate for Habiba Gitay to point out the importance of rightful sourcing attribution (most times the Bank acts as a portal that archives someone else’s data). Alex Barth also gave a talk about building maps with World Bank Climate Data (slides here). ...

[Cross posted at Global Adaptation Institute] Today I've published the article «Más Acción, Menos Palabras,» in the Madrid-based daily national newspaper, La Razón. One of the goals of the article is that in the wake of no clear path forward on tackling climate mitigation, concrete steps taken by world leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting can harness the power of the private sector in helping those most vulnerable adapt to the challenges of climate change and other global forces: The harsh reality is that, after seventeen annual international [UNFCCC COP] conferences, intentions still fall far behind action. The necessary consensus for taking global steps to address climate change becomes lost among competing agendas. They have become business meetings where solutions are not coordinated. Adaptation is a parallel track, and complementary to tackle climate change. The meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week brings together over a thousand leaders representing many sectors of the economy that drive its evolution. Not surprisingly, one of the issues at the top of the agenda is climate change and global adaptation to this phenomenon. Read the whole article, in spanish, here. ...

Some of you asked me today. Yes, the Sun is pretty active lately. Not many hours ago it did flare on its surface. With such luck that the ejecta pointed towards us. That´s rather unusual considering the tiny size of the Earth in comparison to the huge distance from the Sun. [caption id=“attachment_2158” align=“aligncenter” width=“448” caption=“Original source: https://www.facebook.com/game.esp”][/caption] The flare occurred because a massive magnetic rope emerged from the Sun, it twisted once there and, hence, there was a reconnection (like a shortcut) that liberated huge amounts of energy and light to space. (that´s magnetohydrodynamics 101 — the how; no one really knows why) ...

Antonio claimed in the future we´ll use QR-codes and our phones to identify ourselves online: [tweet https://twitter.com/zugaldia/status/157946012005183489 align=‘center’] I tend to agree, and this is one way, I think, it could work. Just scanning 2 QR-Codes either by using your phone’s camera or the computer´s camera. Your computer has a camera. The server (e.g. Gmail) asks who you are. You show your QR-code. That code would be created on the phone using the algorithm that changes the pattern every few seconds. The QR-code is read by the integrated camera most computers now have. The server accepts the ID, but still needs to confirm he is a trustworthy server and that that the login/QR-code was just not used by someone else. The server connects with the phone (since it knows the info from the QR-code) and sends a random number with which the phone makes another QR-Code. The user has to show the new QR-code.You are now sure that the person holding the phone is the person trying to access the account. [Extra] The server (or the phone) shows few pieces of information only the user would know. Some correct, some not. If you click the wrong one, you are out. Both server and phone log you out. If the phone has a camera: ...

Via Hackers News I found this post by Pau Ramon about the difficult experience of being recruited in the USA. I went through a similar process twice. First to work at a space and rocket lab, then to work at an NGO. I'll try to summarize it, hoping it might help others. As a research postdoc: I sent three emails to those places I wanted to work with. Short email with three short paragraphs: My name and affiliation, why I like what they do and why I think I can help them with their research. CV was linked (not attached to keep the email light) ...