Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward

Top 10 bands of 2008

Santiago B. — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:34:15 +0000

After Yesterday’s Top 20 Songs (with links to listen to the best ones), in this second part of the year end Bilinkis chart, my top 10 bands for the year. I still cannot believe an Argentine band can be on top. If you asked me at the beginning of the year the chance of that happening I would have said: “Zilch!”. And here we are…

The same as Yesterday, I invite the readers to share what was THE band of 2008 for each of you…

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Top 20 songs of 2008

Santiago B. — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:14:36 +0000

I say good bye to 2008 with a special edition of the Bilinkis Top 20 for the full year. Tomorrow my top 10 bands… But today, here they are, the Top 20 songs I listened to the most in ‘08.

I invite the readers to share what THE song of 2008 was for each of you…

At the top of the chart, the same band that was number 1 in 2006 with “Truth”, although at that time I did not have a blog so no one know what that it. Great song!

The rest of the Top 5 with a lot of slow music to my own surprise (my ranking is based on what I listen and sometimes I am myself surprised with what I listen!)… It seems my soft side emerged this year. I included links so you can listen to the best songs. Enjoy!

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© Santiago B. for Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Buckcherry, Catupecu Machu, Charts, Entertainment, Linkin Park, Maroon 5, Music, Sara Bareilles, Seether, Serj Tankian, Staind, The Offspring, Top 20

No goals, no glory

Santiago B. — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:01:00 +0000

A while ago, while talking with a friend, she asked me for a tip saying that she did not know what to do with her life. She was running in circles for months, without deciding what to do. My answer was simple: “No matter what you choose. Flip a coin and let chance decide”.

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The country where the bad guys always win

Santiago B. — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:28:29 +0000

In the international corruption rankings, Argentina is very bad located. According to Transparency International we are in the 109th place, worse than the prior year, and have a score of 2,9/10. As a reference, we can compare this situation with that of our nearest neighbors, Uruguay and Chile, who share the 29^th place and have a score of 6,9. How can we understand why are we such a corrupt country?

In my opinion, the answer is simple: you get from people what you recognize and reward, not what you condemn and punish.(...)
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© Santiago B. for Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Argentina, Corruption, Discussion, Jaim Etcheverry, Politics, Tax evasion, Transparency International, Values

Reputation in the 2.0 World and the importance of being credible

Santiago B. — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:16:04 +0000

In this new 2.0 World there are countless sources of information on almost everything. If, for example, you want to decide which movie to see this weekend, Google offers thousands of different sites where you can gather info to make up your mind: newspapers, specialized sites, social networks on cinema, blogs, etc. Which ones are you going to read? Whose opinion will you trust to make your decision?

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© Santiago B. for Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Entertainment, Google, Groundswell, Identity 2.0, Science and Tech, Television, TV Registrada, Web 2.0

At the precise distance from the unknown(s)

Santiago B. — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:41:19 +0000

The use of the Web 2.0 opens new doors as it gives us the chance to meet a lot of unknown people. For a phobic like me, this is enough to crisp my hair.

Getting acquainted with strangers is not an easy task for me. For instance, I would never chat with someone I don’t know. But, you know what? In my 2.0 life I was twice surprised by this subject.(...)
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© Santiago B. for Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Andres Huerta, Comfort Zone, Entertainment, Facebook, Friendfeed, Martin Varsavsky, Science and Tech, Social Networks, Twitter, Web 2.0

The karma of being an “early adopter”

Santiago B. — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:56:45 +0000

My will to embrace change makes me an “early adopter” in many areas. The use of 2.0 tools is one of them. Another is having a blog, while being an entrepreneur, an old guy and not a “techie”. Not one of my closest friends has a blog. They don’t even read them!

When I told them that I was starting with Risk and Reward, they didn’t say a word but I know they thought it was a stupid thing to do. When I tell them that even though this effort will not bring any economic reward, I am so enthusiastic as I reach my goals on the number of persons that read it and subscribe to it, they answer politely, but we all know they think I am a fool.

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Identity 2.0 and the challenges to privacy

Santiago B. — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:14:24 +0000

How private is your privacy today?

The fact that there is no danger in adopting 2.0 tools does not mean they are free from generating some serious challenges for our privacy. But, let me tell all those who wouldn’t show their photos or share their stuff, the following: our World today is such that it doesn’t matter whether we want to have our stuff online or not, it will be there anyway! More so, unless you live in a nutshell, mostly sure they are already in it. If you didn’t put your data there, a friend of yours did. Or, even worse, an enemy!
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Is Life a right or an obligation?

Santiago B. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:46:53 +0000

Yesterday night a television channel aired a British documentary called “Right to Die: The Suicide Tourist” showing the process by which Craig Ewert, a U.S. university professor who suffered an incurable degenerative disease, took his own life at the Swiss clinic Dignitas, where he practiced euthanasia .

This generated a wide range of reactions, most of them against euthanasia and contrary to the broadcast of the show itself.

I find it hard to believe that in the 21st century most people oppose to something as basic as the right of every person to decide how and when to die.

In this world where the right to a dignified life is denied to millions of people suffering from hunger and poverty, and millions of victims die from preventable diseases, there are also those who turn the “right to live” into a “duty to be alive”, as long as possible at any price, thereby denying the dignity both in life and in death.

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The risks of social networks

Santiago B. — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:59:48 +0000

Recently, I gave two conferences at Wordcamp and Buenos Aires 2.0 offering some of my ideas concerning social networks and the Web 2.0. In this post and in a few more to come I will try to share with you the main points I made there. First, a question: Is the use of social networks dangerous?

We frequently hear from those who are reluctant to the use of web 2.0 tools that they do not do so because they find them dangerous. Don’t upload your pictures to Flickr!, they say. Don’t publicize your activities on Facebook, Twitter or Friendfeed! -they add- as someone might use that information to harm you or even kidnap you!

In my opinion, this argument is senseless. At least in Argentina, where the probability of dying in a car crash is MUCH HIGHER than the chance to be kidnapped, let alone die as a result of a kidnapping. We all know that, yet nobody gives up using cars.

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© Santiago B. for Santiago Bilinkis l Risk and Reward, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Post tags: Buenos Aires 2.0, Comfort Zone, Entertainment, Facebook, Flickr, Friendfeed, Science and Tech, Social Networks, Twitter, Web 2.0