Anarcocapitalismo y por que es lo que mejor puedes hacer para cambiar tu vida.

Han pasado muchas cosas desde mi último post, y puedo decir que soy una persona completamente diferente. Me he dedicado mas a observar la vida y cambiar la forma de verse. Una de las cosas que mas han llamado mi atención es la política o podiamos decir antí-politica.

Toda mi vida me he considerado apolitico. Pero explorando mas y mas de las cosas que me he relacionado he descubierto un movimiento que se acerca a lo que he considerado como algo ironicamente politico que se acerca a mi sentimiento apolitico. Y ese es el anarcho capitalismo y como creo que es algo que se debe promover en latinoamerica para que pueda salir del hoyo en el que se encuentra.

Como diría la canción de mi grupo favorito Wu-Tang Clan, en su clásico C.R.E.A.M. Inspectah Deck da una de las lineas que se relacionan mas con mi actitud.

But shorty’s runnin’ wild, smokin’ sess, drinkin’ beer
And ain’t tryin’ to hear what I’m kickin’ in his ear

La traducción:

Pero los chicos siguen corriendo a lo loco, fumando y bebiendo
I siguen ignorando lo que les vivo diciendo

Y bueno, lo que me he dado cuenta es que mucha de la academia y discurso mediatico ha estado muy radicalizado hacia la izquierda con retoricas y cuentos que simplemente no son verdad o los datos son demasiado abiertos a la interpretación, eso aunado a creencias generacionales que simplemente no funcionan.

La mayoría de latinoamerica vive en sociedades capitalistas, y poco se hace para educar a la gente a ser capitalista. Consumista si, pero capitalista y como crear medios de producción es casí escondido de forma voluntaria. Mientras que el cuento de una oligarquía sea politicos o ultra ricos o de plano, narcotraficantes. Se vuelven los rockstar de este medio el cual es bastante exagerado y mitificado al punto de que lo hace ver inalcanzable. A esto se le cubre con el cuento de la falta de igualdad y tenemos una receta de fracazo.

Y aquí es donde entra el anarcocapitalismo. Para empezar, una de las grandes modificaciones es que rompe el mito del estado. Clasifica todos esas creencias y las mete en una bolsa llamada Estadismo y ahi se reunen todos esos sentimientos de auto-proclamación de derechos y forma de como se ve el mismo.

Lo segundo es que te pone la responsabilidad a ti como único responsable de todo lo que puedas considerar bueno y malo en tu vida, economica, calidad de vida, social y futura. Esta auto-sentido de responsabilidad es lo que hace que puedas redefinir y reconstruir mucho de los mitos populares. Empezando por los laboristas, y meritocracia y tributarias. Re-defines el rol del estado en tu vida como un medio controlador y te forza a buscar tu propia supervivencia y prosperidad.

Aquí es donde nace una nueva actitud ante la vida, pasas de esperar algo a decifrar algo. A empezar a ver medios por el cual puedes cortar y protegerte economicamente del estado quien en su parte incluye la sociedad, y al buscar esta independencia financiara te hace mas eficiente y un capitalista mas hábil.

Y que tiene que ver esto con Latinoamerica?

La región lastimosamente vive en una fuerte cultura estatista donde las personas buscan que el estado sea el responsable de la calidad de su vida. Y esto hace que solo se refuerze el estado y se creen estructuras mas y mas opresivas con historias que manipulación masivas que son dificiles para un estadista de reconocer.

Y es aquí donde el movimiento libertario tiene la obligación de poder facilitar los ideales del libertarismo en la sociedad y pueda empezar a ver a mas personas volverse eficientemente capitalistas, dueños de su propio destino en vez de esperar que alguien mas los avale, les permita o las cosas se resuelvan solas como ha pasado por muchas decadas ya.

Una de las cosas que en el grupo capitalistas se ha reconocido desde el mundo tecnológico es la creación de Bitcoin como una forma automata, y no humana de proveer confianza y valor. Cosas que pueden implementar como autoridad sin necesidad de una autoridad humana como la del gobierno. En una estructura capitalista, esta funcionaría de forma mas eficiente ya que esta delegación de dinero se hace sin corrupción ya que las maquinas en vez de los humanos son los que juegan parte y las matematicas son mas exactas que la subjetividad humana o los sospechosos tarifas de manejo de la misma como se ha visto en paises alrededor del mundo.

Al ser programdor es casi lógico que confiaria mucho mas en el código que en el ‘honor’ de un humano. Por el simple hecho que lo he comprobao infinidad de veces al gestionar mi vida alrededor de una tecnologia eficiente y ver como la contraparte humana esta tan llena de defectos que lo vuelve infinitamente mas deficiente.

Start investing your internet time on research

Yesterday I had a friend coming over and have a serious discussion about the way people view the internet, and even if we know we have the worlds knowledge at a few click reach, most people refuse to make use of it to connect with the knowledge they really lack.
I think even in an age of apparent information overload, there is still a lot of people cognitively disconnected from it. We should try to start connecting our search skills to the current information we are lacking in our lives and start connecting to the information pools that are actually valuable in our lives.

Making this happen is more about discipline than money, or speed of your internet or even your technical knowledge. The basics of searching is really just a mind map of words that you can sometimes, even, randomly spew at the search bar and will often come up with the right answer. If your phone is not that old you could even dictate the query to it.

The important thing is that when you are in doubt your brain will be hardwired to search those terms.

The next step is learning the value of links, sure some people are very anal about their bookmarks, I am kind of the opposite. I seldom bookmark sites, but on the flip side I live with a 10000 tabs open just to make sure I am able to go back to where I was.

The next thing is really to read but also give back, a two-way conversation is better than just reading, for that you will need to type. Getting in touch with people on the internet is rather simple. Just look for their twitter, Facebook or email account and more often than none, you will get a reply.

Social searching is incredibly powerful, specially if your search is about a current event, or something that is becoming big in the news.

Youtube is also an alternative way of searching, if you are not the reading type, a video might be the way to go. Conferences, talks, discussions opinions, or even vblogs.

So next time you want to learn about something, just do that, it doesn’t really take that long come up with a whole bunch of material.

Structure ideas on the blockchain

This week I went to LaBitConf in Mexico City, we got the opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world doing things that matter in the Bitcoin space. And then there were the mexicans that got their way into the conference. Not to say that there aren’t smart people, but sometimes I feel that we just don’t know what are supposed to be doing.

One of those is how are supposed to think, during my talk with many of them I couldn’t shake away from my head the many people I talk at the GNU/Linux conferences in Mexico.

The biggest difference I can tell is the age, but with the age also a vision that is somewhat shortsighted. Wanting to do things local are the kind of things that well, wrap around our thought process and keep revolving over this concept.

Being native to the cryptoworld my hope was of finding people eager to help this world. But what I found is again the same pattern, the itch they want to scratch being too narrow for the world. Too local, too shortsighted.

So I want to build a framework on how to formulate Ideas. Ideas that can form  global projects and can gain traction. First step is to learn that we are not citizens, we are internet entities, dealing with an internet asset. We need to use these assets as a platform to transform our digital ecosystem. Code is our tools to change the ecosystem and also the way we can make a difference in the world.

There is a tendency to make a difference in the physical world but I think that we first need to explore our own digital world. After all, nobody drop an actual bitcoin on our head. We learned about it through a digital system or service, and for that we can control it and use it. The physical world is an effect, almost side effect of what is happening on the digital one.

Once we are aware of our digital existance then we will be able to move forward with our ideas. Solving issues, building on platforms, creating services and making data and value move way faster.

We need to be aware that ‘flags’ are holding us back more than giving us identity. A quote that I always get reminded of is: “On the web we are all dogs” Meaning basically, that it really doesn’t matter, where we are from and it shouldn’t matter. Let’s move on and make an application for the internet and by the internet.

A good example is our own Satoshi Nakamoto. Does he matter if he is Japanese? That he is a he, or a they? Was his vision to help the people from Japan, the people from his hometown, to pitch to the local investor? Should we be more like satoshi and less like the ‘digital crusader that just learned a new trick‘?

The Volabit Bitcoin Card

So yesterday I finally got my first bitcoin card. The issue is that is not really a bitcoin card and it doesn’t really add value to the disposal of bitcoins. Biggest issue is that is not even linked to the bitcoin wallet so you can’t really deduct from it. Is also not possible to top up the card 24/7 like I thought I would and finally the interface from the wallet carrier doesn’t really focus enough on the card.

My volabit card arrived this morning.
My volabit card arrived this morning.

Let see if the SatoshiTango card which I order last week goes any better.

Contributing to OpenERP translated documentation

So this is my official contribution to the project, I’ve decided to spend some time translating the strings from the OpenERP documentation. The OpenERP book holds a good amount of information about what the history, development and goals of the OpenERP project. I also appreciate the way this book have been put together, as opposed to spend time describing each screen and talking on how to use it. This book spend time looking at the tool as a business people, accentuating on the business goal. For example, titles like “How to better manage your books”, as opposed to a more boring “Accounting Module”.

The localization in Spanish have been lagging greatly mainly because the way to contribute is a bit obscure. I found out the system itself is not obscure since they use a standard Launchpad-Open Source translation tool based on PO files. The way the po are managed online is very similar to the Pootle application.

The next step is to become legit on the Launchpad application, which allow my user to get fully integrated on the OpenERP teams. I added myself to the OpenERP-Mexico group, and the OpenERP-Documentation group.

The Spanish localization is located under the 7.0 branch, where you click on translations. And are presented with a table of different languages and the progress for each language. There you can select the preferred language and then are presented with the different type of localization projects including the book, contents, contribute, faqs, index, install, legal, odoo, usability-book, etc.

My main goal is the book one which listed around 6544 with 6453 untranslated and 305 for review. You can check the project here.

One thing that was noticed earlier today was that I need to be part of the Spanish team in order to get my reviews and comments approved. You can see me already on the team either as pending or if this post is rather old, I will hopefully be approved.

Spanish locale
Graph showing the different openerp project for the spanish locale.

Comments on: How to run 2 or more OpenERP Servers on same machine?

Recently I read this tutorial by the recognized consulting firm SerpentCS: How to run 2 or more OpenERP Servers on same machine?

The tutorial was very helpful however I was still a bit throw back with manual process of it all. I believe a python or even shell script would help to process and generate the configuration file.

OpenERP power in open business software

Looking for a great video on OpenERP, I got a great presentation about why OpenERP is a good thing to have for small to medium size business owner and why is a much better asset than the hundreds of dollars invested into accounting software like Sage. OpenERP is a long standing business framework as oppose to a single purpose software.

OpenERP effectThe key is recognizing the area of connecting the business areas between each other. A personal experience during my workshop last year on business application showed how many business areas can be improved through workflows and automation of process talking between each other.

For more information on my involvement with the platform please listen to the interview last year on Caribe Think Tank as well as the earlier post on the workshop for open source Business applications.

Creating a coder portfolio

I have usually mentioned of the advantage of the Internships in Open source, whenever is Google summer of code, or FSF collaboration projects, or project specific internship. However there is some pre-required knowledge students should get. Having and organizing a professional portfolio is very important.

Companies and other developers have some new protocols to view and understand the way programmers can be recognized from their work. Although there are still many things that haven’t catch on. Social networks, code repositories, and open development has definitely been part of them.

First thing is first, who are you? Having a personal page help, whenever this is on a local host or this is a free account on a service like about.me. Or even your G+facebook or blog. Is important to list your contact mediums, make sure they point to active mediums like avoid having your old college email that you haven’t touch since you left many years ago.

Although you are not forced to change, be aware there is certain elitism in technology and using AOL or Hotmail account will lower people’s expectation. Some people tend to think that your IT skills are very outdated. On the opposite side of the spectrum, having your own email like me@myname.com or pointing to a project you contribute like in my case jza@apache.org and previously jza@openoffice.org, may generate the opposite reaction.

Is important to also be able to show your work, here is where there are many issues and controversies. As a private employee, there is contractual obligations in order to show or not how your code.

This is why is important to have personal projects that you can show your proficiency. Showing and describing the modules or classes you have generated is always a good way to show off your knowledge in the area.

Here is where public repositories make their play. For almost 2 decades Sourceforge has been the most popular code repository. Since then, we have other well recognized repos like Google Code, and more recent Bitbucket, Gitorious and the premier GitHub.

Having a good amount and up to date projects could be a great way to show your skills. Updates could be fixes for updates on the language convention (making your code Python 3 or PHP 6.x compatible). Fixing bugs or just having other developers adopt it and contribute patches to other projects could be a great YES.

Writing whitepapers is also a non-coding way to show your knowledge. Having research, and something more complex than a random blog post could be a good way to let employees know, that you are actively looking for ways to improve the status quo. Something that companies with the right culture will be open to.

Talking about development processes like XP programming, SCRUMsoftware architecture and IT Project management. If you ever had the opportunity to have a presentation on slideshare or a youtube conference.

There could be a time that you have too much of everything, there is when your content management skills need to kick in. It should be easy to read and follow through, the last thing you want your scout is to get distracted with un-related content that could affect you. This is why is good to maybe have a service like storify or a link bank that can pick and choose what show and what not. This will maximize the possibilities to hit of their needs.

Image
Mind maping

Mind maps is also a good way to expose your broad experience in different topics all in one simple image. A friend of mine, did this on his site, where he show it’s specialties and also link to different areas. Mind maps can be done on a more artistic or more mundane fashion, important is to make your strong points more prominent and not confusing. Semantik is a great software for this, an alternative would be Freemind.

If you want it to take it the next level, you can also plan on having a dedicated website and look your image as a business brand. Investing in a good photo shoot, with a good make-up using a image manipulation software like Gimp or MyPaint. Editing an introductory video using KdeLive, or OpenShot. If you aren’t the best looking guy for a photo shoot, you can always get a service or artist to draw a cartoon of yourself. This will make you a bit more marketing-driven than competitors. Don’t over do it, but also show interest in your image.

A good example is the Twit avatars here:Image

Here are different options, you can hire a professional artist, if you don’t know any in your area you could use services like liveperson, elance, or good ol’ craiglist.

To finalize you want to be able to promote your image on the web, a good way to do it is to be able to generate visitors. Adding your website to your email signature, or to your personal card is a good way to start. But also be able to spread it through professional networks and old friends is also a great way to get business going.

Business contacts as well as commerce chambers are great way to establish professional networks, events at local chamber of commerce or just be able to subscribe to their feed can allow you to open the door to interact and push your brand. Although you shouldn’t be too aggressive to an extend to hijack conversations. But should open enough to people to learn about you and recognize your skill sets.

Linkedin is a great resource since you already have a uniform way to present content, however, the key to Linkedin is their groups and their Answers areas, where people get to interact and people looking to either hire or get hired are in one central point of communication. Even as a freelancer, you should let people know that you are always looking for projects, and how you can benefit to their business.

This is by no means a small point, is actually the very first point. Most users would be thinking on how can this guy make me money. So is important that you don’t hide this information but quite the opposite put it right next to your name. Something like John Doe: Making your operations run smoother, but also that doesn’t look as cheesy. A quote is usually useful, and understanding business and buzzwords can get to the perfect quote. Something like Mary Jane: Social media is the fastest growing market, make your business be part of it. As a programmer, or coder a good quote would be Mike Johnson: Code is art, without passion is just math. Obviously here we have some keywords like code and passion. For people that read this, they understood that you care about your craft.

Think about your own buzzwords and come up with a nice quote and embrace it for you and for everyone that meets you.

Process of selling

Sales cycle
The sales cycle about how to manage the leads.

Following an advice when I went to my hometown was to get more academic about sales, and read books and watch talks about the topic of selling. When I was young, my dad took me to a business seminar about selling and how to sell. So following that advices, I decided to get into it and start researching. This haven’t been the first time I have try to do this research and I found great podcast, and even if the podcast was interesting, it came to a close.

This time around I went to youtube and found the guy I once watched as a younger guy and was able to watch all their videos from their sales video seminar. One of the things that I like were the following:

  • Clear explanation of the steps
  • Methodological process of the sales
  • Requirements
  • Case studies

Watching the guy perform the scenarios really gave me an input into failed scenarios that I can relate, and how to approach them. Some of the cases depended on phone sales, face to face, written sales. The process described however the same pattern, something called AIDA. Preparing some key areas making potential closes.

  • Sales AIDA
    Curves and process of sales

    Attention – Getting your costumer attention.

  • Interest – Stimulate their interest
  • Desire – Generating a desire for the product
  • Action – lead your costumer into a purchase action

This makes also a psychological flow of high and lows on the consciousness of the client and how to develop a pitch around these flow of emotions. Understanding what triggers these emotions is key to be able to have a competitive sales pitch. Understanding the time management such pitch has to implement is key since one step depends on the next one so close by. [1] [2]

The distribution of the time and be able to move on needs to be cover by a series of moments that can guaranteed the sale. This is where open and close questions enter and cover your pitch with such also needs to happen. Practicing and tinkering such pitch will lead until the next step which is the acting and making it more natural and conversational. That way we also learn a series on techniques depending on a category of clients that exist.

Other topics include:

  1. Closing techniques
  2. Deal with objections
  3. Producing leads
  4. Features and Benefits

I will talk about them as a I go along the review of the videos.