First Pride Parade in Leon, Mexico

Hundreds of people participated in the first Pride Parade in my hometown of Leon, Mexico, yesterday (link in Spanish). Congratulations to all the participants! I’m doubly happy because, considering Leon is a very conservative city, the march went largely without a hitch.

Human Side of Software Engineering blog

Janice Singer, a researcher at the National Research Council of Canada, has a new blog out to discuss the human side of software engineering. I know it’ll be interesting; if you’re into this make sure to check it out.

In her latest post she announces some great news: the book she edited along with Dag Sjoberg and Forrest Shull, on conducting empirical studies in software engineering, is out. You can find the book here —it fills a huge gap in the area and I’m looking forward to read it.

Walk Score

Walk Score is such a nice app: Give it an address and it’ll tell you how walkable it is.

Our apartment scores a very decent 83/100: “Very walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.” Yes it is.

(via Joel on Software)

Tabasco under water

As you may already know, Tabasco, a state in south-east Mexico, is 70% under water. About one million people have been affected by the floods. 300,000 people are trapped in their homes.

The floods were caused by unusually strong rains, coming after an unseasonal drought.

If you can and wish to help out, you can try going to the Tabasco government website (in Spanish) for donation information. I haven’t yet found such information in English, but I hope it’ll soon become available from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society.

(photos from the BBC’s “In Pictures: Tabasco floods” gallery)

Google Maps weirdness

Can you spot what’s wrong with this picture of one of the busiest intersections of Toronto –Bloor St. and Yonge St., from Google Maps?

It took me a few seconds to detect why and how weird it is. This is a Google-specific thing –Live Maps and Yahoo Maps versions are just fine.