Rainy holidays are a very good time to do things like this: I have analyllsed my Facebook network and I have some interesting conclusions.

• I have 512 «friends»; 40 are organizations and 472 are persons.
• 2 of that persons are from my own family (0,5%)
• 39 are really friends (8,5%) , I mean, that kind of people who I could ask them a favour, something important, not a trivial thing, and I’m sure they will do it for me.
• 57 are people I know personally  (12%), I could go with them to a party, or I could work with them, but I haven’t enough confidence to call them friends.
• 84 are people I know basically through Internet (18%), I follow their blogs, or their twitters, and I know personally to some of them through bloggers gatherings, or similar meetings.
• 13 are politicians or personages (3%), they are people in which I’m interested, and thats why I follow them through Facebook, but I don’t know them personally.
• And finally, 277 are complete strangers (58%) for me. About 40 of them are distant relatives or people all over the world whose surname is Aretxabala, like mine. In the rest, I suppose there must be people I have known sometime but now I don’t remember, people who knows to me but I don’t know them, and a lot of people that are really strangers.

Till now the pure facts, but what conclusions could we take from them?

• First of all, I think I’m a fortunate man: I have a lot of good friends, and I can be in contact with some of them through Facebook, that is an easy and funny way of comunication.
• With Facebook I can keep the contact with a lot of people who I meet sporadically and I can know more things about them and perhaps make a new friendship.
• I don’t accumulate «friends», I only look for people that I really know, but I don’t refuse any request of anybody even if I don’t know him.

I think Facebook is a funny comunication tool, and is very interesting you’ll be there because if not, probably it’s going to be much more difficult for you to take the followings evolutions of the net, and you can be sure they will arrive sooner than later.

That photo is from the web http://www.naziogunea.net

For the catholics, today is the Easter Sunday and for basques nationalists is also their day of the Basque Fatherland (Aberri Eguna in Basque language)

That’s not a day like the 4th of July for the northamerican people or the 14th of July for the french citizens, even is like the 11th of september (Diada) for the catalonian people. Aberri Eguna is not like those others days of the fatherland from different countries or comunities, because the Aberri Eguna is not accepted for all the basque citizens as their fatherland’s day.

Only nationalist parties have celebrated this day that was «invented» by  Sabino Arana, the founder of PNV (the most important basque nationalist party)

Today, Ibarretxe, the President of the Basque Country, and member of PNV, has said in reference to the terrorist organization ETA: «could die for a fatherland but couldn’t kill for it»

I suppose he is trying to discredit the terrorism of ETA but, in my opinion, only one thing is clear: Ibarretxe thinks that the fatherland is more important than the life, and this is a terrible affirmation.

In this question I have the same opinion than Seneca, «Patria mea totus hic mundus est» (My fatherland is the whole world), or than Mario Benedetti who wrotte the poem «Patria es Humanidad» (The Fatherland is Mankind)

Any Fatherland worth a life.

«Drugs were damaging the one who was consuming them, so they decided to chase them…

Now already are damaging to all of us

It’s been a great success»

Legislation of drugs could save UK £14bn, says satudy

The regulated legalisation of drugs would have major benefits for taxpayers, victims of crime, local communities and the criminal justice system, according to the first comprehensive comparison between the cost-effectiveness of legalisation and prohibition. The authors of the report, which is due to be published today, suggest that a legalised, regulated market could save the country around £14bn.

In Basque Country (including la CAV and Navarra), we have important financial institutions of three types: banks (BBVA and Banco Gipuzcoano), Savings Banks (BBK, Vital, Kutxa and Caja Navarra) and Credit Unions (Caja Laboral, Ipar Kutxa and Caja Rural)

Till now, the financial institutions in Spain and specially in Basque Country have a solid performance to tackle the global crisis.

In fact, Basque Country has a «AAA» from Standard & Poor’s meanwhile Spain has only an «AA+», being the first case in Europe that a region of a estate has more rating than the estate.

In this image, you can see the good position of three of theese financial institutions, with facts from JP Morgan

(I saw it in: Hay cajas y cajas: Euskadi is different (2). arkimia)

«No crisis like this has a simple or single cause, but as a nation we borrowed too much and let our financial system take on irresponsible levels of risk. Those decisions have caused enormous suffering, and much of the damage has fallen on ordinary Americans and small-business owners who were careful and responsible. This is fundamentally unfair, and Americans are justifiably angry and frustrated.» (Mr. Geithner, the U.S. Treasury secretary, today)

I agree, and I think those words can be said also about the rest of the citizens of the world.

So, with this kind of analisys, what must we do? By the moment Obama’s Administration have decided to dedicate 1 billion dollars to guaranty private investors who will be willing to buy «toxic assets»: Wall Street reacts with euphoria to this plan. It’s understandable, it will be a real good deal: if the investment rise his value, the benefits are for the private investors, but if the investment low down, the taxpayer will take charge of the disaster.

We are really solving the situation or running faster to the abyss? The time will say, but it makes me suspicious.

(Si prefieres, en castellano)