Loved The Mandalorian Chapter One. It feels even more part of the original trilogy universe than the latest episodes.

Looks like SteepShot finally got a production sample. That took longer than expected, but great news!

Disney+ doesn’t seem to work internationally… oh no, does this mean I won’t be able to watch The Mandalorian. Yeah right.

Good Context on Chile’s Riots

Patricio Navia, on americasquarterly.org:

The bad news is that people are upset, disappointed and angry. The good news is that Chile is in a good position to adopt inclusive reforms that promote social justice, defend markets (rather than business or special interests) and level the playing field.

​Great point. However this next paragraph hit me in the nuts:

When I took my first Latin American politics class thirty years ago, I learned that, having remained immune to the authoritarian wave that swept the region in the 1970s and 1980s, thirty years ago, Venezuela was the most developed and stable democracy in Latin America. But the country had three problems: high dependence on a single commodity (oil), high levels of inequality and an increasingly corrupt and unresponsive elitist political system. Other than that, Venezuela was the most successful Latin American democracy.

Today, as a professor, I teach my students that Chile is the most successful Latin American democracy, but the country has three problems: high dependence on copper, high levels of inequality and an increasingly unresponsive and corrupt political system.

​And this is a good reminder for the next Venezuela — I hope:

The Chilean elites would benefit from learning the lessons from the devastating experience of Venezuela since the early 1990s. Unless the benefits of economic growth — the promised land — are more justly distributed, the promised land will turn into hell for everyone.

​Every day I tell any tico that would listen to me that while they do have problems, all Latin American countries would give anything to exchange their problems to those of Costa Rica and Chile. I still stand by it, but this article reminds me you can’t fall into complacency.

Venezuela’s Water System is Collapsing

Anatoly Kurmanaev and Isayen Herrera, on nytimes.com:

So The New York Times commissioned researchers from the Universidad Central de Venezuela to recreate the water quality study they had conducted regularly for the water utility in Caracas from 1992 until 1999.

The scientists found that about a million residents were exposed to contaminated supplies. This puts them at risk of contracting waterborne viruses that could sicken them and threatens the lives of children and the most vulnerable.

I remember visiting Hidrocapital offices for a school project in the mid 90’s. It was a government office with all its delays and processes, but eventually some technitiancs

A History of Pizza

Alexander Lee in History Today:

While on a visit to Naples in 1889, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita grew tired of the complicated French dishes they were served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hastily summoned to prepare some local specialities for the queen, the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito cooked three sorts of pizza: one with lard, caciocavallo and basil; another with cecenielli; and a third with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. The queen was delighted. Her favourite — the last of the three — was christened pizza margherita in her honour.

[…]

It introduced the notion that pizza was a genuinely Italian food — akin to pasta and polenta.

​ Always enjoy the story of my favorite food. But I still fall for the trap that Pizza is American sometimes.

First Freddo Cappuccino wasn’t a total disaster. Actually the flavor is quite good. Need to use less ice.

Also, the coffee foam is very unstable, so the pouring of the milk foam has to be quick and even, otherwise the layers colapses.

Christian had the great idea to write our tech stack in the Slack profile. Here’s my current one:

  • iPhone XS 256GB, Apple Watch S3, AirPods 2, 🏢[iPad Mini 5, MBP 13in 2015], 🏠[iPad Pro 10.5, MacBook 2016 12″].