Nació en San Francisco en 1876, murió en 1916
Nombre verdadero: John Griffith London
Escritor de cuento y novelas, logra realismo a través de sentimientos humanitarios y pesimismo. Una vez recibido de bachiller, luego de haber sido marino, pescador y contrabandista, viajó a Alaska en búsqueda de oro. En 1900 alcanzó reconocimiento popular al publicar El hijo del lobo. A pesar de las ganancias que logro por sus más de cincuenta libros, perdió todo por el alcohol y los viajes. A los cuarenta años, después de dos matrimonios fallidos, se quitó la vida.
Este comunista agitador y político sostenía que el ser humano no era bueno por naturaleza, y que sólo los más fuertes sobreviven.
Sus trabajos fueron brutales y apasionantes. Fue traducido a muchos idiomas ya que alcanzó un gran éxito en el exterior. Bibliografía: La llamada de lo salvaje (1903) Los de abajo (1903), El lobo de mar (1904), Colmillo blanco (1906), John Barleycorn (1913), El vagabundo de las estrellas (1915).
среда, 13 февраля 2008 г.
Acerca de "El llamado de la selva"
Pocos libros pueden crear un personaje y una situación que abren a nuevas formas de comprender la realidad. El llamado de la selva sigue suscitando preguntas en torno al sentido de la existencia y a los misterios de la identidad.
Es la historia del perro Buck que va descubriendo, de a poco, su costado salvaje, su parentesco con la raza de los lobos, en un paisaje en el que conviven la ambición, la violencia ciega y las lealtades inexplicables. Jack London ha dejado una novela que mira la realidad con los ojos de un perro que nunca cae en humanismos vacíos.
Es la historia del perro Buck que va descubriendo, de a poco, su costado salvaje, su parentesco con la raza de los lobos, en un paisaje en el que conviven la ambición, la violencia ciega y las lealtades inexplicables. Jack London ha dejado una novela que mira la realidad con los ojos de un perro que nunca cae en humanismos vacíos.
вторник, 12 февраля 2008 г.
Food and petrol push up inflation
Rising food and petrol prices pushed up UK inflation in January, figures show.
Last month's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation figure rose to 2.2%, up from 2.1% in December. The rate is the highest since June 2007.
The Retail Price Index (RPI), which includes mortgage interest payments, rose to 4.1% from 4% in December.
However, while price growth was strong, it was not as quick as many analysts had feared, boosting hopes of further interest rate cuts in the UK this year.
Below trend
The Bank of England cut UK interest rates last week to 5.25% from 5.5% in an attempt to prevent a major slowdown in the economy.
But the Bank signalled that it was unlikely to cut rates as sharply as the US Federal Reserve - which has slashed borrowing costs to 3% - because of fears over inflationary pressures.
"It will be some time yet before the MPC's inflation concerns evaporate," said Jonathan Loynes at Capital Economics.
Many analysts are predicting that the Bank will keep rates on hold in order to get a clearer picture of long-term economic and inflationary trends, and the impact slower growth will have on consumer prices.
"We do not expect the Bank to cut interest rates again until May, unless it becomes clear that growth is slowing substantially," said Howard Archer of Global Insight.
"Further out, we still expect interest rates to fall to 4.5% by the end of the year as we believe that the economy will see extended below trend growth and that this will eventually contain inflation."
Price pressures
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the largest upward pressure came from the price of fuel.
Average petrol prices rose by 1.3p in January to stand at 103.9p per litre.
Food prices also contributed to the rise in inflation, particularly fruit such as grapes and grapefruit, the ONS said.
However, a number of factors helped to offset food and fuel increases, not least downward pressure on clothing costs and cut-price offers on the High Street aimed at luring consumers, analysts said.
"January's UK consumer prices figures suggest that, for now at least, retailers are largely absorbing the steep increases in costs seen over recent months in their profit margins," said Capital Economics' Mr Loynes. "Nonetheless, there is some encouragement here that weaker demand is doing the job of containing price pressures," he added.
Last month's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation figure rose to 2.2%, up from 2.1% in December. The rate is the highest since June 2007.
The Retail Price Index (RPI), which includes mortgage interest payments, rose to 4.1% from 4% in December.
However, while price growth was strong, it was not as quick as many analysts had feared, boosting hopes of further interest rate cuts in the UK this year.
Below trend
The Bank of England cut UK interest rates last week to 5.25% from 5.5% in an attempt to prevent a major slowdown in the economy.
But the Bank signalled that it was unlikely to cut rates as sharply as the US Federal Reserve - which has slashed borrowing costs to 3% - because of fears over inflationary pressures.
"It will be some time yet before the MPC's inflation concerns evaporate," said Jonathan Loynes at Capital Economics.
Many analysts are predicting that the Bank will keep rates on hold in order to get a clearer picture of long-term economic and inflationary trends, and the impact slower growth will have on consumer prices.
"We do not expect the Bank to cut interest rates again until May, unless it becomes clear that growth is slowing substantially," said Howard Archer of Global Insight.
"Further out, we still expect interest rates to fall to 4.5% by the end of the year as we believe that the economy will see extended below trend growth and that this will eventually contain inflation."
Price pressures
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the largest upward pressure came from the price of fuel.
Average petrol prices rose by 1.3p in January to stand at 103.9p per litre.
Food prices also contributed to the rise in inflation, particularly fruit such as grapes and grapefruit, the ONS said.
However, a number of factors helped to offset food and fuel increases, not least downward pressure on clothing costs and cut-price offers on the High Street aimed at luring consumers, analysts said.
"January's UK consumer prices figures suggest that, for now at least, retailers are largely absorbing the steep increases in costs seen over recent months in their profit margins," said Capital Economics' Mr Loynes. "Nonetheless, there is some encouragement here that weaker demand is doing the job of containing price pressures," he added.
US banks join mortgage help plan
Six major US banks are taking part in an initiative to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages.
Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide Financial, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo are those taking part in "Project Lifeline".
Backed by the US Treasury Department and Housing Department, people failing to pay their mortgages will have the foreclosure process halted for 30 days.
It is hoped that more affordable payments can then be negotiated.
'Way out'
Project Lifeline extends the current assistance available to holders of sub-prime mortgages to those with all forms of home loans.
Project Lifeline is a valuable response, literally a lifeline, for people on the brink of the final steps in foreclosure
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson
It will be available to those homeowners whose mortgage payments are 90 days or more late.
The six banks taking part service almost 50% of the mortgages in the US.
"Project Lifeline is a valuable response, literally a lifeline, for people on the brink of the final steps in foreclosure," said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson.
He added that the aim was to provide a temporary pause in the foreclosure process "long enough to find a way out" by allowing homeowners and lenders to negotiate more affordable mortgage payments.
Yet Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson cautioned that Project Lifeline would not be a "silver bullet".
He said it was not designed to bail out real estate speculators, "or those who committed fraud during the mortgage process".
Bank of America president of consumer real estate, Floyd Robinson, said each case would be looked at individually.
"We will look at each individual circumstance, homeowner to homeowner, and certainly be willing to do that if necessary," he said.
The current sub-prime assistance plan is called "Hope Now".
The banks say this has helped 545,000 sub-prime borrowers in the last six months of 2007.
Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide Financial, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo are those taking part in "Project Lifeline".
Backed by the US Treasury Department and Housing Department, people failing to pay their mortgages will have the foreclosure process halted for 30 days.
It is hoped that more affordable payments can then be negotiated.
'Way out'
Project Lifeline extends the current assistance available to holders of sub-prime mortgages to those with all forms of home loans.
Project Lifeline is a valuable response, literally a lifeline, for people on the brink of the final steps in foreclosure
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson
It will be available to those homeowners whose mortgage payments are 90 days or more late.
The six banks taking part service almost 50% of the mortgages in the US.
"Project Lifeline is a valuable response, literally a lifeline, for people on the brink of the final steps in foreclosure," said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson.
He added that the aim was to provide a temporary pause in the foreclosure process "long enough to find a way out" by allowing homeowners and lenders to negotiate more affordable mortgage payments.
Yet Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson cautioned that Project Lifeline would not be a "silver bullet".
He said it was not designed to bail out real estate speculators, "or those who committed fraud during the mortgage process".
Bank of America president of consumer real estate, Floyd Robinson, said each case would be looked at individually.
"We will look at each individual circumstance, homeowner to homeowner, and certainly be willing to do that if necessary," he said.
The current sub-prime assistance plan is called "Hope Now".
The banks say this has helped 545,000 sub-prime borrowers in the last six months of 2007.
Argentina's Guarani see benefits in isolation
There is a dark shadow hanging over Fort Mborore, a Guarani indigenous community in north-eastern Argentina, near its border with Brazil.
Last year, two of its youngsters killed themselves in the same week. There have been other suicides.
Guarani who simply could not see a future for themselves or their community in a fast-changing modern world.
But the village chief, Silvino Moreyra, decided there was one last drastic step he could suggest to save his people: a 60-day quarantine that would protect Guarani youth from what he saw as the corruption of modern society.
It proved such a popular move, that when the first 60 days were up, the community signed up for another 60 days, due to expire sometime in the middle of this month.
Sitting outside his wooden shack surrounded by lush green vegetation, Mr Moreyra explained what the community was trying to do.
"It's very difficult to contain youngsters in the community," he said. "But they've given us their help, their support. One-hundred per cent signed up to the measure."
Volunteers patrol the perimeter of the community, armed with sticks.
Two that I saw were reluctant to talk, but admitted that sometimes their sticks had to be used.
Potent symbol
Under the quarantine, no alcohol comes in and the youngsters, aged from their teens into their 20s, can only leave the community with special permission.
Silvino Moreyra is himself a former alcoholic. He now rides around the village's dirt roads on his motorbike, his long black hair flowing in the wind, organising, cajoling and talking to his people.
He has words for everyone, in both Spanish and Guarani, and his popularity is obvious.
He took me on a precarious ride on the back of his bike from his wooden house, dodging pigs, chickens and potholes, to the top of town where meat was being distributed.
We're moving slowly, getting better a little at a time
Graciela
A government agency comes every 15-20 days to hand out meat to the families - 5kg (11lbs) a family.
But Silvino said it was not enough and that many children in the community were malnourished.
But he does not want the Guarani to live from handouts. He wants tools and seeds.
"I want the community to feed itself from its own production," he said.
Alcohol is the most potent symbol of the negative influence of modern society, but the quarantine was not simply a quest to fight the drink that has devastated indigenous communities across the Americas.
It is about the community finding its way in a world in which many indigenous people feel they do not have a place.
Isolated
Silvino explained: "We've lost the Guarani customs, to cultivate our own food, to be self-sufficient.
"We started to fail because if one is just taking food and not working, you can... end up taking up vices. You stop being a real person, stop being Guarani."
The community is now looking to its past to try to rediscover what Silvino calls its spiritual roots, rediscovering traditional music and dance.
Most of the community are bilingual in Guarani and Spanish, and the village school is now attempting to consolidate that by teaching both.
We have to work like the whites but always maintaining pride in our culture
Silvino Moreyra
But many are still illiterate and have few skills of use in the outside world.
They are poor and rates of child mortality and alcoholism are some of the worst in Argentina. Many in Argentina believe there is no indigenous Argentine community, that most died out in the 19th Century battles to conquer territory.
Those that remain are usually on isolated, small strips of infertile land wedged between more productive territory.
Crispin is one of the young people banned from leaving the community.
"I think in the future the community will get better," he said.
"I'm thinking about my kids, my mother. The youngsters - I'd like to help them get off alcohol and cigarettes."
Graciela, aged 24, said the youngsters had changed a great deal.
"They've started thinking about their future," she said. "We're moving slowly, getting better a little at a time. We're also recovering a part of our culture. We're moving forward - we say 'opu'. That's very important to us. It's like a rescue operation."
Positive pastimes
The Guarani people arrived in what is now north-eastern Argentina from the Amazon jungle 700 years ago, looking for what they called The Land Without Evil.
They found lush green forests and dark red soil.
But the first Spanish explorers arrived shortly afterwards in search of their own dreams.
Jesuit missions were set up to impose a different kind of civilization, and indigenous communities were decimated by European diseases against which they had no defence.
The main attraction to this region, then and now, are the mighty Iguazu waterfalls, with close to two million litres of water a second spilling over the edge.
Villagers sell trinkets to tourists at the Iguazu waterfalls
What the Spanish explorers would have made of it one can only guess.
The foreign visitors are still coming, but now as tourists, while the indigenous people are reduced to selling trinkets in the entrance to the falls.
With the alcohol gone, Mr Moreyra wants to fill Guarani youngsters' lives with more positive pastimes.
As well as the traditional dancing and music, he is organising football matches for boys and girls.
They're building traditional wooden houses and producing crafts for sale to tourists brought by bus to their community twice a day.
Mr Moreyra explained: "What I always say to the youngsters is that you have to understand who you are. You've got to have pride deep down to know 'I am an indigenous person', and then to say 'I am proud of what I am'."
He added: "The white community is growing rapidly so we have to adapt. We have to work like the whites but always maintaining pride in our culture, always saying we're proud to be indigenous and not thinking that we're white, because we never will be."
The community will vote again at the end of this quarantine on whether it should be extended.
Its benefits have been so apparent that it seems likely that it will. Other indigenous communities around Argentina are showing an interest as they too battle to find their place in a modern society that has not only excluded and exploited them, but sometimes corrupted them.
The Guarani of Fort Mborore are saying they should be heard but that drastic measures are needed to make that happen
Last year, two of its youngsters killed themselves in the same week. There have been other suicides.
Guarani who simply could not see a future for themselves or their community in a fast-changing modern world.
But the village chief, Silvino Moreyra, decided there was one last drastic step he could suggest to save his people: a 60-day quarantine that would protect Guarani youth from what he saw as the corruption of modern society.
It proved such a popular move, that when the first 60 days were up, the community signed up for another 60 days, due to expire sometime in the middle of this month.
Sitting outside his wooden shack surrounded by lush green vegetation, Mr Moreyra explained what the community was trying to do.
"It's very difficult to contain youngsters in the community," he said. "But they've given us their help, their support. One-hundred per cent signed up to the measure."
Volunteers patrol the perimeter of the community, armed with sticks.
Two that I saw were reluctant to talk, but admitted that sometimes their sticks had to be used.
Potent symbol
Under the quarantine, no alcohol comes in and the youngsters, aged from their teens into their 20s, can only leave the community with special permission.
Silvino Moreyra is himself a former alcoholic. He now rides around the village's dirt roads on his motorbike, his long black hair flowing in the wind, organising, cajoling and talking to his people.
He has words for everyone, in both Spanish and Guarani, and his popularity is obvious.
He took me on a precarious ride on the back of his bike from his wooden house, dodging pigs, chickens and potholes, to the top of town where meat was being distributed.
We're moving slowly, getting better a little at a time
Graciela
A government agency comes every 15-20 days to hand out meat to the families - 5kg (11lbs) a family.
But Silvino said it was not enough and that many children in the community were malnourished.
But he does not want the Guarani to live from handouts. He wants tools and seeds.
"I want the community to feed itself from its own production," he said.
Alcohol is the most potent symbol of the negative influence of modern society, but the quarantine was not simply a quest to fight the drink that has devastated indigenous communities across the Americas.
It is about the community finding its way in a world in which many indigenous people feel they do not have a place.
Isolated
Silvino explained: "We've lost the Guarani customs, to cultivate our own food, to be self-sufficient.
"We started to fail because if one is just taking food and not working, you can... end up taking up vices. You stop being a real person, stop being Guarani."
The community is now looking to its past to try to rediscover what Silvino calls its spiritual roots, rediscovering traditional music and dance.
Most of the community are bilingual in Guarani and Spanish, and the village school is now attempting to consolidate that by teaching both.
We have to work like the whites but always maintaining pride in our culture
Silvino Moreyra
But many are still illiterate and have few skills of use in the outside world.
They are poor and rates of child mortality and alcoholism are some of the worst in Argentina. Many in Argentina believe there is no indigenous Argentine community, that most died out in the 19th Century battles to conquer territory.
Those that remain are usually on isolated, small strips of infertile land wedged between more productive territory.
Crispin is one of the young people banned from leaving the community.
"I think in the future the community will get better," he said.
"I'm thinking about my kids, my mother. The youngsters - I'd like to help them get off alcohol and cigarettes."
Graciela, aged 24, said the youngsters had changed a great deal.
"They've started thinking about their future," she said. "We're moving slowly, getting better a little at a time. We're also recovering a part of our culture. We're moving forward - we say 'opu'. That's very important to us. It's like a rescue operation."
Positive pastimes
The Guarani people arrived in what is now north-eastern Argentina from the Amazon jungle 700 years ago, looking for what they called The Land Without Evil.
They found lush green forests and dark red soil.
But the first Spanish explorers arrived shortly afterwards in search of their own dreams.
Jesuit missions were set up to impose a different kind of civilization, and indigenous communities were decimated by European diseases against which they had no defence.
The main attraction to this region, then and now, are the mighty Iguazu waterfalls, with close to two million litres of water a second spilling over the edge.
Villagers sell trinkets to tourists at the Iguazu waterfalls
What the Spanish explorers would have made of it one can only guess.
The foreign visitors are still coming, but now as tourists, while the indigenous people are reduced to selling trinkets in the entrance to the falls.
With the alcohol gone, Mr Moreyra wants to fill Guarani youngsters' lives with more positive pastimes.
As well as the traditional dancing and music, he is organising football matches for boys and girls.
They're building traditional wooden houses and producing crafts for sale to tourists brought by bus to their community twice a day.
Mr Moreyra explained: "What I always say to the youngsters is that you have to understand who you are. You've got to have pride deep down to know 'I am an indigenous person', and then to say 'I am proud of what I am'."
He added: "The white community is growing rapidly so we have to adapt. We have to work like the whites but always maintaining pride in our culture, always saying we're proud to be indigenous and not thinking that we're white, because we never will be."
The community will vote again at the end of this quarantine on whether it should be extended.
Its benefits have been so apparent that it seems likely that it will. Other indigenous communities around Argentina are showing an interest as they too battle to find their place in a modern society that has not only excluded and exploited them, but sometimes corrupted them.
The Guarani of Fort Mborore are saying they should be heard but that drastic measures are needed to make that happen
Robinho doubt for Real's Roma trip
Robinho is set to miss Real Madrid's Champions League trip to Roma next week after being ruled out for 10-15 days with a torn abdominal muscle.
The in-form Brazilian was substituted in the 14th minute of his team's 7-0 Primera Liga thrashing of Real Valladolid at the Bernabeu on Sunday after sustaining the muscle injury.
Robinho will miss this weekend's clash with Real Betis and must now be considered a major doubt for the last-16 first-leg encounter in the Eternal City next Tuesday.
Robinho is set to miss Real Madrid's Champions League trip to Roma next week after being ruled out for 10-15 days with a torn abdominal muscle.
The in-form Brazilian was substituted in the 14th minute of his team's 7-0 Primera Liga thrashing of Real Valladolid at the Bernabeu on Sunday after sustaining the muscle injury.
Robinho will miss this weekend's clash with Real Betis and must now be considered a major doubt for the last-16 first-leg encounter in the Eternal City next Tuesday.
Robinho is set to miss Real Madrid's Champions League trip to Roma next week after being ruled out for 10-15 days with a torn abdominal muscle.
The in-form Brazilian was substituted in the 14th minute of his team's 7-0 Primera Liga thrashing of Real Valladolid at the Bernabeu on Sunday after sustaining the muscle injury.
Robinho will miss this weekend's clash with Real Betis and must now be considered a major doubt for the last-16 first-leg encounter in the Eternal City next Tuesday.
The in-form Brazilian was substituted in the 14th minute of his team's 7-0 Primera Liga thrashing of Real Valladolid at the Bernabeu on Sunday after sustaining the muscle injury.
Robinho will miss this weekend's clash with Real Betis and must now be considered a major doubt for the last-16 first-leg encounter in the Eternal City next Tuesday.
Robinho is set to miss Real Madrid's Champions League trip to Roma next week after being ruled out for 10-15 days with a torn abdominal muscle.
The in-form Brazilian was substituted in the 14th minute of his team's 7-0 Primera Liga thrashing of Real Valladolid at the Bernabeu on Sunday after sustaining the muscle injury.
Robinho will miss this weekend's clash with Real Betis and must now be considered a major doubt for the last-16 first-leg encounter in the Eternal City next Tuesday.
Robinho is set to miss Real Madrid's Champions League trip to Roma next week after being ruled out for 10-15 days with a torn abdominal muscle.
The in-form Brazilian was substituted in the 14th minute of his team's 7-0 Primera Liga thrashing of Real Valladolid at the Bernabeu on Sunday after sustaining the muscle injury.
Robinho will miss this weekend's clash with Real Betis and must now be considered a major doubt for the last-16 first-leg encounter in the Eternal City next Tuesday.
Del Bosque Interested In Spain Job
Former Real Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque says he has "a healthy interest" in taking over from Luis Aragones as coach of Spain.
Del Bosque was keen to stress, however, that he was only interested taking charge of the nation after the European Championships and not before.
Aragones is to step down from his post after Euro 2008, although some Spanish fans are unhappy with his handling of the team and are putting pressure on the coach to leave his post before then.
But Del Bosque says he would feel uncomfortable negotiating with the Spanish FA (RFEF) prior to the summer championships.
He told Spanish sports daily Marca: "What I don't like is giving the impression that I want to be coach at all costs.
"Right now I want to show my healthy interest in being coach, but for the moment, while Luis Aragones is still there, I have no intention of getting myself involved.
"Right now it's a bit of an uncomfortable topic.
"As the RFEF has reiterated many times Luis is the coach and will be the one to take Spain to Euro 2008."
Del Bosque was named in 2004 as one of the candidates to replace Inaki Saez as national coach, but was beaten to the post by Aragones.
The tactician won two European Cups and two Primera Liga titles during his four-year spell in charge at the Bernabeu but has faltered since.
He has been out of management since being sacked from Turkish side Besiktas in 2005.
In 2006 he turned down the chance to coach Mexico, stating his priorities lay in Spain.
Del Bosque was keen to stress, however, that he was only interested taking charge of the nation after the European Championships and not before.
Aragones is to step down from his post after Euro 2008, although some Spanish fans are unhappy with his handling of the team and are putting pressure on the coach to leave his post before then.
But Del Bosque says he would feel uncomfortable negotiating with the Spanish FA (RFEF) prior to the summer championships.
He told Spanish sports daily Marca: "What I don't like is giving the impression that I want to be coach at all costs.
"Right now I want to show my healthy interest in being coach, but for the moment, while Luis Aragones is still there, I have no intention of getting myself involved.
"Right now it's a bit of an uncomfortable topic.
"As the RFEF has reiterated many times Luis is the coach and will be the one to take Spain to Euro 2008."
Del Bosque was named in 2004 as one of the candidates to replace Inaki Saez as national coach, but was beaten to the post by Aragones.
The tactician won two European Cups and two Primera Liga titles during his four-year spell in charge at the Bernabeu but has faltered since.
He has been out of management since being sacked from Turkish side Besiktas in 2005.
In 2006 he turned down the chance to coach Mexico, stating his priorities lay in Spain.
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