Translations 677
Farewell Letter to a Lost Cell Phone
Farewell Letter to a Lost Cell Phone
By Liudmila Peña Herrera digital@juventudrebelde.cu
January 30, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Cell Phone Author: LAZ Published: 03/02/2020 | 01:23 pm
My good Samsung Note 3:
Although it sounds corny, I must say that I miss you; that everything seems boring and unimportant without you; that I will try to learn to love the Xiaomi that I will buy for myself when I get my 13th month and my uncle Alcides gets paid for the pig he sold us for the 31st there in La Caoba; that now I am going back to study for my Master’s thesis because of the books or the handwritten notes, but nothing, absolutely nothing, is the same without you: neither the HD videos I recorded with you, nor the photos, nor the 3G, nor the audio, nor the music – alas, the last records of Buena Fe and Carlos Varela went with you!—. I can’t even listen to music now, my never well-pondered Note 3. I’m crestfallen and forgetful, because not even the calendar of this little task I was lent is any use at all (nor any reminder!)
Who knows in whose hands you are! Maybe at the bottom of a drawer, hidden by the guy who put his hand in my purse in the middle of the P-12 full of people squeezed and protesting. And I was taken away by the demands of my girlfriend to look her in the face and attend to her when she began to tell me, in the middle of the bus, and to all of the other guys, another of her banal anguishes of a contemporary woman: that if the boss only listens to himself and laughs out loud at his own jokes, that if the receptionist is a gossip and applies the x-ray or ultraviolet rays to every nylon jaba [Cuban shopping bag] she enters the office with, that if she doesn’t have a balance left in the Nauta account and all that blablabla that, you and I know, was never of interest to me when you were with me.
Who would have sent me to roll up your headset around your waist and put them in your purse pocket? What feminist article would have convinced me that women are right or should be made to believe they are! Nothing, I’m keeping my talking girlfriend, but I’m getting ready for a new cell phone.
Now she says she’s got me back, that I’m finally the same person she knew at the university when neither of us knew what a mobile phone was. This was because we didn’t even have a flash memory, just five or six three-and-a-half inch discs to make the many copies of the research methodology papers we kept like a gold chain inside a pullover in a Santiago van.
It’s true that I’ve been sexually active for a week since that bastard put his hand in my purse. It’s true that I talk more and am noticed to be a little less entertaining and anxious. I have to admit that I don’t wake up anymore and the first thing I do, almost without opening my eyes, is to look for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter notifications. I don’t even have bad digestion anymore!
Oh, but how I miss you in the bathroom, especially when I sit on the toilet and do my thing calmly. Now you can call and call, and if I’m in the bathroom, I don’t answer.
And how envious I am of people who arrive at the office meeting, at the policlinic emergency room, at the bus stop – and even on the bus itself – and take out their cell phone, activate their mobile data and go surfing! And those who have no data start looking at the photos in the gallery, reading their digital books, playing games?
How hard it is for me to wait without you. I didn’t know, before my partner Robert brought you “from the outside”, after I broke that iPhone that was also in use, that you could love a Note 3 so much. It’s true that when I met you you already had miles traveled with Robert on the fast lane roads in the First World Internet, but how efficiently you always worked with me, after they changed your little piece that cost me 15 cuc in that “cell clinic”.
Now my girlfriend, who criticized me so much for my obsessive-compulsive stance towards you that she even took it out on her students at the university. She took all their cell phones and put them on the desk until after class so that they wouldn’t get distracted. Now she is now the one who walks around the house all day with her headphones stuck in her ear every Saturday while she washes or lays out her clothes.
It makes me angry every time I go to stay at her house and when we talk or watch a series, between one sentence and another, I catch her activating the data and reacting to some publication of her friends with a face of “I love you” or “I adore you”. Why lie to you: I even hate it when she says “Titi, come, open me up, let’s make a selfie” (this token doesn’t have a front camera, boy). Sometimes I see her attached to her Galaxy S10 that her uncle brought her and I think she looks like a woman attached to a cell phone. I tickle her ear and she doesn’t even notice, with that modern appendage in her hands.
Then I see it all so clearly: I hate both my girlfriend and her cell phone. She doesn’t even listen to me anymore. I look like a monkey talking to itself. Oh, my Note 3, I can’t wait for my girlfriend’s phone to be stolen!
Desperately,
The owner of the “tarequito”. [old clunker, wl]
Russia Increases Parliament’s Role
Russia Increases Parliament’s Role
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
During his annual message to the Federal Assembly (Russian Parliament), the President of that nation, Vladimir Putin, proposed a series of constitutional amendments that he considered important for the development of Russia as a legitimate social state, one whose highest value lies, he said, in the freedoms and rights of citizens, the dignity of people and their welfare.
Putin proposed that a package of legislative actions to be put to a citizens’ vote, the outcome of which would serve to make the final decisions. Putin’s most publicized proposal was to transfer from the President to Parliament the power to approve nominations of the Prime Minister and members of the government.
It also gives Parliament the power to approve, on the proposal of the head of government, the appointment of all deputy prime ministers and federal ministers. However, the Prime Minister shall retain the power to dismiss the Prime Minister, his vice ministers and other ministers, when they lose their confidence or perform their duties incorrectly.
It consolidates the regular indexation of pensions and sets the minimum wage that cannot be below the level of the current subsistence minimum. It prohibits the adoption of foreign citizenship or any residence permit abroad for certain categories of public officials who hold positions critical to ensuring the country’s security and sovereignty, such as regional leaders, parliamentarians, ministers, heads of other federal agencies and judges.
It adjusts the requirements in order to ensure that candidates for the Russian presidency have permanent residence in the country for no less than 25 years and that they do not have citizenship or a residence permit in a foreign country.
It consolidates the status and role of the Council of State, so that the highest leaders of all regions of the country are included in this high legislative body.
Limits the priority of international law so that the requirements of international law and treaties, as well as the decisions of international bodies, may act on the territory of Russia only to the extent that they do not restrict the individual rights and freedoms of citizens, and do not contradict the [Russian Federation’s] Constitution.
It grants the Council of the Federation (the upper house of the Russian Parliament) the power to dismiss federal judges and, in some cases, to remove – on the proposal of its president – judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court.
It strengthens the role of the Constitutional Court, giving it the right to verify the constitutionality of federal laws that are initiated by the President, before they are signed by the Head of State.
It assigns to the Russian President the power to appoint the heads of law enforcement agencies, after agreement with the Council of the Federation.
Currently, under the Russian Constitution, the President only requires authorization from the State Duma to appoint the head of government and, after that, to appoint the head of the Cabinet, his
deputy ministers and all ministers.
Now Putin has proposed changing this order and entrusting the State Duma not only with the authorization, but also with the approval of the candidacy of the President of the Government of the Russian Federation, and then, on the proposal of the President of the Government, of all the deputy prime ministers and federal ministers”.
The Head of State will also be obliged to appoint them to the post, i.e. he will not have the power to reject the nominations of officials approved by Parliament.
Putin said that this is “a very serious change in the political system that will increase the role of Parliament, as well as the importance of the State Duma, the parliamentary parties and the accountability of the head of government and all members of the Cabinet.
He assured that they will assign greater responsibility in the formation of the Executive with “more responsibility for the policies that the Government implements”.
Currently, under the Russian Constitution, the President only requires authorization from the State Duma to appoint the head of government, and after that the President appoints the head of the Cabinet, his deputy ministers and all ministers.
Putin argues that greater responsibility in the formation of the executive augurs well for greater accountability in the policies that are implemented.
After the opinions of 75 experts with diverse profiles created to discuss the constitutional amendments proposed by Putin are known, they will be voted today, Thursday 30th, in the Duma.
January 31st, 2020.
Trump’s Impact on U.S. Youth
Trump’s Impact on US Youth
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
It’s easy to imagine the formidable negative impact that the presidency of the energetic Donald Trump may be having on America’s youth.
In every action, every gesture, and every word of his behavior as head of the nation that rules the destiny of the capitalist world, Trump sends signals that being racist, sexist, homophobic, or misogynist is a merit equivalent to an honorary badge.
Historically, inept presidents are challenged, among other defects, for being liars, spoiled and rude, which are precisely the adjectives that most “adorn” Donald Trump’s daily behavior.
This is highlighted in a new book entitled The Fixers, which examines the relationship between Trump and Roy Cohn (1927-1986), an American lawyer who was best known for being Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief advisor during the anti-Communist Senate hearings held by the Army and Senator McCarthy himself in the 1950s.
It was Cohn who orchestrated the McCarthyite persecutions of suspected communists that later extended to homosexuals. Thousands and thousands of Americans were subjected to police and legal investigations. Their lives, families, and careers were destroyed as a result.
Later, Cohn would become the personal lawyer of Donald Trump, the current president of the American nation. Roy Cohn was publicly homophobic and encouraged public persecution of homosexuals. It is now known that he himself was a homosexual man and died in 1986 at the age of 49 due to AIDS-related complications.
Trump had “distanced himself” from Cohn after he became ill. However, the President organized a “farewell dinner” in his luxurious Mar-a-Lago club shortly before his death from AIDS, according to the book mentioned above.
The book states that Trump would later recall Cohn’s visit when, in 2016, he jokingly told guests at his club that he had to have Mar-a-Lago sprayed after the man’s visit because he was dying of an AIDS-related illness. “I had to spend a fortune to fumigate all the dishes and silverware in this place,” he said amid jokes.
In an excerpt from the book published in the Wall Street Journal, authors Joe Palazzolo and Michael Rothfeld wrote that Cohn, as Trump’s first fixer, “manipulated the media and the legal system to secure business advantages for Mr. Trump. “He passed his client off as a fabulously successful developer who transformed his father’s collection of low-cost apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Queens into a Manhattan-based luxury condominium tower empire.
Trump’s views on the media and celebrities were shaped by Cohn and his successors, people he trusted to project a particular version of himself that often bore little resemblance to reality.
“Their careers with Mr. Trump shed light on his rise in public life and his victory in the 2016 presidential election. In 2017, recordings emerged of President Trump joking that he forced Princess Diana to take an HIV test before having sex with her. Trump made such horrific comments shortly after Princess Diana’s death in 1997, in a radio interview with athlete Howard Stern. When Cohn died of AIDS in 1986, his biography was as fascinating as it was despicable. His life journey made him more like a movie villain than a royal lawyer. Which might be funny if it weren’t for the fact that the consequences of his worst acts still reverberate throughout the world.
After graduating from law school at the age of 20, Cohn made a name for himself by prosecuting the couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg on espionage charges. Even then, he set aside ethics to ensure that the Jewish couple would not only be found guilty but also sentenced to death and executed, even though the evidence was clearly insufficient to do so.
Throughout the 1950s, he became McCarthy’s right-hand man during the witch-hunt and the lawyer for mob boss Anthony Salerno. Two moves that propelled him into the circles of power – and corruption – in New York. His figure was something like a bridge between the bosses of organized crime and the politicians and businessmen who had to deal with them.
His lack of scruples and his bellicose ways made him a notorious character, who surrounded himself with the most prominent people in the country: celebrities, communication magnates, the Reagans… and Donald Trump.
The two men first joined forces when Trump, then a young construction entrepreneur, was sued, along with his father, for refusing to rent his apartments to Black tenants. Contrary to Cohn’s initial opinion, Trump settled with the plaintiffs, not without first suing the government for $100 million. Trump had learned one of Cohn’s golden rules: “never admit you’re wrong and never apologize.”
The Role of Fear in U.S. Elections
The Role of Fear in U.S. Elections
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Although there are still several months to go before the U.S. vote is held for the 2020 presidential election, scheduled for November 2020, the U.S. media has been noting concerns about the vulnerability of the event to foreign interference.
The initial factor in the escalation of fear appears to have been the release of a joint statement issued by key members of the Trump administration last November, authored by Attorney General Bill Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Security Agency Director General Paul Nakasone, and Director of the Infrastructure Security and Cybersecurity Agency Christopher Krebs.
This document states that foreign interference in the voting for the 2020-2024 presidential election is imminent although it admits that there is no evidence for such a claim.
“Our opponents want to undermine our democratic institutions, influence public sentiment, and affect our government policies with Russia, China, Iran, and other malicious foreign actors who will try to interfere with the voting process or influence voters’ perceptions.
“Opponents may seek to achieve their objectives through a variety of means, including social media campaigns, directing disinformation operations, or carrying out disruptive or destructive cyber attacks against state and local infrastructure.
“While we have no evidence at this time that the electoral infrastructure has been compromised or altered to allow opponents to prevent voting, alter the vote count, or alter the ability to count votes, we continue to closely monitor any threats to the U.S. election,” the statement said.
Despite the key caveat that there was no evidence at the time the document was issued, many media reports such as BuzzFeed, ABC News and Newsweek used the statement to claim that foreign interference in 2020 was imminent.
In addition to reports that have confirmed the involvement of state actors – Russia, Iran and China – and despite the lack of evidence, other media have claimed that this supposedly imminent interference will inevitably be successful. This is, in large part, due to claims that the tactics used will be based largely on technologies that the US does not have the capacity to successfully counteract.
CSO Online, an online media outlet that provides news, analysis and research on security and risk management, recently warned that “fixing the United States’ voting and election infrastructure problems is a long-term proposition that will not be solved in time for the November election.
Meanwhile, the New York Times warned of the impending chaos. It said that “stealthy” and malevolent foreign actors had already laid the foundation for “an ugly campaign season marred by hacking and misinformation. The US monthly magazine Wired and its news website of the same name claimed last year that the security of the US elections “continues to hurt on all levels”.
The target is the mind of the American people,” says Joshua Geltzer, former director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council. “In some ways, we are less vulnerable than we were in 2016. In other ways, more. Almost all experts agree on this: The worst-case scenario – for which we must prepare – is a situation that causes Americans to question the very foundations of our democracy – “with free and fair elections.
Long before this kind of rhetoric reached the U.S. media, the Israeli intelligence-linked technology company Cybereason said in a statement on its Web site that “messing with the voter’s mind” would have a greater impact than changing the total vote, even before the 2016 election.
That statement, released by Cybereason before the last presidential election, was written by the company’s CEO, Lior Div, who was then leading offensive hacking operations against nation-states for Israeli military intelligence.
Everything indicates that a great electoral fraud is being prepared for next November’s elections and that the scene is being set for the identification of the “culprits” of an alleged “foreign interference” to cover up the simulation.
February 3rd, 2020.
Interpol Rejects Evo Morales Persecution
Interpol Rejects Bolivia Coup Government Request to Persecute Evo
The International Police (Interpol) notified the coup government of Bolivia of the rejection of the activation of the blue and red stamps against former president Evo Morales
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Author: Digital Editor | internet@granma.cu
January 30, 2020 11:01:37
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
The International Police (Interpol) notified Bolivia’s coup government of the rejection of the activation of the blue and red stamps against former President Evo Morales, who is accused of terrorism, financing of this scourge and sedition.
Attorney Eduardo León revealed that Interpol considered that the request processed by the Attorney General, Juan Lanchipa, differed from Articles 2 (i) and 3 of its Statute and decided not to publish the notification and to eliminate the data of that person (Morales) from its database.
The document stated that Article 2 states that its actions must be framed in respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, while Article 3 prohibits the entity from “intervening in matters of a political, military, religious or racial nature.
In light of this decision, León filed a complaint against Lanchipa on Wednesday for the crime of breach of duty and allegedly acting in a negligent manner in this case.
The lawyer said the attorney general lied to the Bolivians about the persecution of Morales because the activation of the red and blue stamps must be through an order issued by a judge and not only through efforts of the Attorney General’s Office.
“Interpol’s decision demonstrates the lack of seriousness with which the Attorney General acted in this case and, furthermore, it shows the lack of knowledge that Mr. Lanchipa has,” he concluded.
On the other hand, Lanchipa, in line with the coup regime, also confirmed last December the request to activate the blue notice for the former Minister of Coordination with Social Movements, Alfredo Rada.
This is a request to locate Rada, whose whereabouts are unknown and who has been accused of three deaths of opposition civilians in 2007 (when he served as head of the Interior Government), during a riot against the constituent assembly that was in session in the central-southern city of Sucre, under siege by violent groups.
The request was made in spite of the fact that, as he acknowledged, the indispensable authorization of Parliament to open a trial of responsibilities for Rada is pending, as is constitutionally required.
(Taken from CubaSí.cu)
CCP Heads Battle Against Coronavirus
Chinese Communist Party leading the battle against the coronavirus
According to Radio China International, the meeting, chaired by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CCP, Xi Jinping, was aimed at studying the next steps in the fight against the disease, with the conviction of winning that battle
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Author: International Editor | internacionales@granma.cu
February 4, 2020 23:02:42
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
The 2019-nCoV outbreak has claimed more lives in China than the severe acute respiratory syndrome that affected the country in 2002-2003. Photo: Reuters
The 2019-nCOV outbreak has claimed more lives in China than the severe acute respiratory syndrome that affected the country in 2002-2003. Photo: Reuters
The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a meeting on Monday to hear the report of the Central Steering Group on the coronavirus and related departments on prevention and control of the epidemic.
According to Radio China International, the meeting, chaired by the Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the CCPR, Xi Jinping, was aimed at studying the next steps for the confrontation of the disease, with the conviction of winning that battle.
With the death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak rising to 426, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for global solidarity, with special emphasis on collective surveillance.
According to Prensa Latina, so far there are 20,471 confirmed cases in the Asian giant, including 425 deaths; while 176 cases were recorded in 24 other countries and one death in the Philippines.
Drug in the test phase
Russian Deputy Health Minister Sergei Kraevói said Chinese specialists are testing a Russian-made drug known as Triazavirin to see if it can fight the coronavirus.
The news, published by Sputnik, assures that the Triazavirin is an antiviral drug from this Eurasian country of direct action of the azoloazine family. According to its creators, it is effective against 15 types of flu.
Cuba remains on alert although no cases of coronavirus have been reported so far.
Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) informed the people that, as part of the protective measures established at the national level to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the nation, some people who in the last 14 days were in China and other countries with the presence of the virus have been isolated.
According to Dr. Francisco Duran, national director of MINSAP Epidemiology, these people presented symptoms similar to those of the coronavirus, and therefore were admitted to the Pedro Khouri Institute (IPK)and “other hospitals” on the island. However, it has not been confirmed that any of them suffer from the disease, he told Cuban television.
Evo Morales is Bolivian Senate Candidate
Evo Morales registered as a candidate for the Bolivian Senate
According to the electoral calendar, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has until 21 February to publish the list of eligible candidates
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Author: International Editor | internacionales@granma.cu
February 4, 2020 23:02:21
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Photo: Taken from the Internet
Bolivia’s former president, Evo Morales, is running as a candidate for the Senate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in the elections next May, after the de facto government made several maneuvers to prevent him from registering.
The former Bolivian leader said on Tuesday in a tweet that “MAS-IPSP (Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples) was the first party to present lists of candidates”.
“I appreciate the hard work of our leadership in preparing them. Perhaps not everyone has been satisfied, but it is time for unity, for a conscious and reflexive vote to recover democracy and the country,” he said.
According to the electoral calendar, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has until February 21 to publish the list of qualified candidates, which means that until this date it will be known if the former president continues in the electoral race.
In addition to MAS, other parties registered for the elections include Acción Democrática Nacionalista (dna), Comunidad Ciudadana (cc), Frente para la Victoria (fpv), Partido de Acción Nacional Boliviano (pan-Bol), Juntos, Creemos, and Libertad y Democracia (Libre 21).
Five Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office
Five Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office
Although the office suite par excellence that everyone knows is the one developed by the creators of Windows, there are others with similar characteristics that are free to use
By Yurisander Guevara
January 29, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
We started with a delivery that was born in China and has been consolidated as one of the best in its field. WPS Office is, in a way, “a clone” of Microsoft Office. Not only is it similar in design, but it also has its own functionalities. This does not mean something pejorative, on the contrary, it reinforces the idea of how well Microsoft has done in this section to inspire others to follow in its footsteps.
WPS Office is multi-system. It has versions for Windows, MacOS, GNU/Linux, Android and iOS. Originally known as Kingsoft Office, this program supports all Microsoft formats. And while it has now gained more notoriety, what many do not know is that this product has been available since 1989.
Among its main applications are Writer, the word processor; Spreadsheets for spreadsheets, and Presentations for slides. It does not have software for database management, mathematical formula manipulation or vector graphics. However, in an office suite the most used are the options already mentioned.
WPS Office has a premium or paid version, which allows you to convert documents to PDF format, as well as manage documents in multiple platforms from the user account, among other benefits. This software can be downloaded at www.wps.com.
LibreOffice
Born in September 2010, and since then, with the support of the community of users of free technologies, LibreOffice has grown into a solid and full-featured product, managed by the non-profit organization The Document Foundation.
Its creation is due to a bifurcation of another office software: OpenOffice. Among its applications are Writer (word processing); Calc (spreadsheets); Impress (slides); Math (creating and editing mathematical formulas); Draw (vector graphics editor), and Base (database management similar to Access).
LibreOffice is a fairly complete solution that can cover the needs of more than 90 percent of the users. As standard it uses its own document format, .odf, but it also supports the latest and even the oldest Microsoft formats, such as .docx or .doc.
This software is available for Linux, Windows and Mac. On GNU/Linux systems it almost always comes standard with the installation. To download it you can visit en.libreoffice.org.
OpenOffice
Although its current name is Apache OpenOffice, this office suite is known to everyone as OpenOffice. It is an open-source project born in 2000 as a result of the release of the StarOffice source code by Sun Microsystems, according to several specialized sources.
The company Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, so OpenOffice was under its shadow until it was donated to the Apache Foundation, which since then manages the software as a project.
This software has fewer features than LibreOffice, although it is still a free alternative that provides the user with the same applications as the latter, but it does not have compatibility to export, at least as standard, to the most recent formats of the Redmond giant for office documents, according to the website My Computer Hoy.
The latest stable version of OpenOffice dates from last year and can be downloaded at www.openoffice.org.
FreeOffice
Although not updated since 2018, this office software package is quite interesting.
Developed by the German company SoftMaker, founded in 1989, FreeOffice is a free office suite based on SoftMaker Office technology (which is paid for and includes more features).
FreeOffice has as applications a word processor (TextMaker), spreadsheets (PlanMaker) and presentations (Presentations). Its software is proprietary, but its free version is available for Windows, Linux, MacOS and Android.
At www.freeoffice.com it is possible to download this suite which also offers, separately, a free PDF document editor.
Google docs
This is a software as a service that does not require installation in the case of computers, as it can be used only with a web browser, as it is in the cloud.
Google Docs is a simple and fast way -as long as the Internet is available-, to work with digital documents. It has a text editor, spreadsheets, a presentation editor and a form editor.
If used as a mobile application, it allows you to keep files offline, and in its desktop version it offers the possibility of downloading the document to your computer. However, perhaps one of its greatest features is the ability to archive text on Google Drive, which makes it ubiquitous and accessible if there is a network connection.
A downside to this type of application is that users could sacrifice their privacy if their Google Account is compromised. The Google office suite is available at docs.google.com.
As we have seen there are several alternatives to Microsoft Office, all free and available in a wide range of operating systems or even as a service. Do you want to try one?
To Protect or Not to Protect
Sexo Sentido
To Protect or Not to Protect, Where is the Love?
Published: Tuesday 28 January 2020 | 10:16:43 pm.
By Mileyda Menéndez Dávila sentido@juventudrebelde.cu
and Arianna Ramos Martín digital@juventudrebelde.cu
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
When the wind’s direction cannot be changed, simply adjust the sails.
Jackson Brown
Protect Yourself Author: Juventud Rebelde Published: 28/01/2020 | 09:56 pm
The origin of the word condom is still unknown. One of the assumptions is that it bears the name of its inventor, Mr. Condom or Contón. Even more curious is that the advantages of this object, for which demand dates back to ancient Egypt, are still unnoticed by some young people, as archaeological evidence shows.
We spoke with students from various technology schools and from the University of Havana about this issue. Not a few said they felt more pleasure in sexual relations without a condom (even though they knew the risks of not protecting themselves). This is because “these devices reduce skin-to-skin contact. Others see it as a deterrent to arousal or are upset by the delay in putting it on at the crucial moment, so they prefer to “take a chance”, and hope that the girl is healthy and keeping track of her ovulation.
In the survey, the girls were more concerned about the issue of protection and listed short- and long-term risks, but even this anxiety does not make them buy condoms or carry them in their bags and backpacks.
“I feel very sorry for them,” one of them said with a mischievous laugh, and if it’s worrying that at this point they are ashamed because other people know that they are sexually active, much worse is that they leave the responsibility for their sexual health to their partners alone.
Of good intentions…
One of the students interviewed said she had a boyfriend for almost a year, a steady partner with whom she never had sex without a condom – allegedly. One day the boy took it off in the middle of sex without her noticing, and then she was embarrassed to talk about her lack of control, so it was doubly irresponsible.
Weeks later, she didn’t see her period and started to worry, because she used to have it every month without fail. Then she went to the doctor she found out about the unexpected pregnancy. Then the boyfriend decided to confess, but it was too late to apologize and they had to face an abortion that who knows what consequences it will bring in the long run for the girl?
“It could have been worse,” reflected other young women when we discussed the case. If the boyfriend had acquired a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in previous relationships, he would have given her one too.
This awareness of the importance of protecting yourself in all sexual relationships is the kind of life-changing decision you make, other students said.
But if you are not consistent or do not incorporate creative ways of proposing and placing it, if you think that it takes the fun out of the moment and you cling to thinking badly of it, if you hide behind the fact that it is hard to acquire because of a shortage in the market, and you do not worry about managing it, like other scarce products, it can also have a bad effect on your erotic performance, they acknowledged.
It is not the very thin latex film that interferes with the body’s sensations, but the concern, the lack of concentration to perceive stimuli. The proof is that when a person likes you and rubs your genitals over clothes (much thicker than a condom), they react perfectly.
Responsible alternatives
Of the students surveyed, almost none knew about the alternative of the female condom (which is not available on the national market) or believed that it could be used with a male condom at the same time, which is nonsense because that friction can cause one of them to break.
As for the brands already registered in Cuba, Vigor and Momentos, all agreed in mentioning the first one as their favorite because the product is stronger and better lubricated. Alas, they cannot choose because both brands are in short supply in pharmacies and other alternative outlets, such as cafes and bars, a concern that also reaches this editorial office from other provinces.
Some fortunate people told about experiences with foreign condoms and those of the Climax brand (which are currently delivered in their prevention actions by Prosalud volunteers), designed to increase pleasure by incorporating irregular flavors and textures. Is it not possible to have an alternative sale of these products in the TRD, they ask?
At the end of the discussion, they acknowledged that using condoms or looking for alternatives without penetration is to think about yourself and that being you love or is next to you. You both need to trust that sex will be a healthy moment, something to remember and talk about later with a smile, not a calendar or a positive STI test in your hands.
Broad Support for MAS in Bolivia
Broad popular support for MAS in Bolivia
The audiovisuals show a compact crowd, with the presence of many young people carrying the flag of the original peoples, known as Wiphala
Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
February 3, 2020 23:02:39
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Thousands of people who support the Movement Towards Socialism joined to support the Arce-Choquehuanca duo for the May 3 elections. Photo: ANSA
The social networks are publishing videos of a massive demonstration by the population in La Paz, Bolivia, to support the registration of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) candidates on the last day of the term granted by the Plurinational Electoral Tribunal for this administration, said PL.
The audiovisuals show a compact crowd, with the presence of many young people carrying the flag of the native peoples, known as Wiphala. They march from the Plaza San Francisco in La Paz to the headquarters of the electoral body in the Bolivian capital.
As it is known, the registration period for the Bolivian political alliances and parties for the presidential elections of May 3 ended this Monday and from now on the electoral campaign for each of the registered candidates begins.
According to the Plurinational Electoral Tribunal (TEP), eight presidential candidates are registered, including the duo of Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca, for the MAS, while the right is divided between the self-proclaimed president Jeanine Áñez; former president Carlos Mesa, and Luis Fernando Camacho.
Meanwhile, Evo Morales presented a request before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to demand that the entity issue a precautionary measure in his favor that guarantees respect for his right to run for the Plurinational Legislative Assembly by MAS.
Recently, lawyers Patricia Hermosa and Wilfredo Chávez were arrested. They were to present before the electoral authorities the documentation required to register Evo as a candidate for the Plurinational Legislative Assembly.
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