Tags: Gran Canaria, Canarias, Canary Islands, Fires, Spain, Tragedy, Drama, Paradise, Incendio, Tenerife, Mixed Feelings, Arde Canarias, JRMora, J.R. Mora, Viñeta, Cerillas, Blogosfera

Hacía ya tiempo que no había creado ningún artículo en español en ninguno de los blogs que llevo manteniendo durante varios meses, y creo que ya va siendo hora de que vuelva a escribir alguno que otro artículo y así poder llegar un poco más a la blogosfera hispana que últimamente la tengo un poco abandonada.

Y me alegro de que me re-encuentre con la blogosfera hispana haciendo referencia a una viñeta que el gran, e insuperable, J.R. Mora (JRMora) compartió no hace muchas horas con motivo de los diferentes desastres ecológicos que se están dando tanto en Tenerife como en Gran Canaria y que expresa muy, pero que muy bien, algunos de los mixed feelings por los que he ido pasando durante los últimos días.

No tiene desperdicio y desgraciadamente no será la última vez. ¿Hasta cuándo?

Aquí tenéis la viñeta en sí:

Tags: Gran Canaria, Canarias, Canary Islands, Fires, Spain, Tragedy, Drama, Paradise, Incendio, Tenerife, Mixed Feelings, Arde Canarias

While the news items keep popping up on what has been named as Gran Canaria’s worst ecological disaster in recent history, we can already start seeing some folks coming out of the places where they have been hiding for a while, looking for those who should be responsible for such tragic set of events. Yes, that is right, while we are starting to witness some of the political games coming from various fronts, all of them blaming someone else, probably like it usually happens in these cases (Blame your neighbour, it’s easier), the fires are still blazing away while we all hope that the high temperatures and the strong winds would give everyone a break to finish off the job.

Over the course of the last few hours, there have been a number of different webloggers commenting further on what is actually happening out there and I just thought I would share a few links in here to give you a sense of some of the mixed feelings that we are all going through these tough times:

— Canarias está ardiendo
— Arde Gran Canaria (5)
— Hace fuego
— El incendio de Canarias en la red
— Incendio en Canarias: el fuego arrasa reservas de la biosfera
— Arde Canarias
— Fuego arrasa 65 por ciento superficie “Palmitos Park” y afecta a 60 por ciente animales y plantas
— Special Canariasbruta coverage
— Mi isla se quema

I have been sharing a few pictures already over here on what is going on at the moment, but I would strongly encourage you to have a look and check this weblog post, Pictures, from Isle of Gran Canaria, to see the kind of impact that this disaster is having.

And, like you would not have expected otherwise, the first video clips from YouTube are starting to emerge. So instead of sharing some more additional pictures I am just going to embed some of the dramatic clips put together thus far:

Finally, here is a detailed description of the events as they are happening and courtesy from Canarias7. And thank goodness, it looks like things are starting to improve a bit as mentioned in Gran Canaria tiene “estabilizados” todos los focos tras 100 horas de incendio, pero desconfía de las cambios de viento. Although, still on guard, of course.

Tags: Gran Canaria, Canarias, Canary Islands, Fires, Spain, Tragedy, Drama, Paradise, Incendio, Tenerife

And while several different fires continue to spread around the South-West of the island of Gran Canaria (With one soldier injured at the moment) and while there are more and more news items coming through just as horrifying as the previous ones, things are getting a whole lot worse now with another massive fire spreading around like mad in Tenerife, the other major island from the Canary Islands.

So far here in Gran Canaria 10,000 hectares have burned with 5,200 people evacuated, whereas in Tenerife it is already going for 13,695 hectares and 4,200 people on the move. An unprecedented catastrophe for all of the Canary Islands and Spain, no doubt! From here onwards, here is a positive message going out to everyone affected to let you all know: we will get things back again in shape soon, we have to, we don’t have a choice, we will:

“[…] sólo os puedo decir que no olvidéis ni permitáis que os hagan olvidar.” (Comment in Spanish from a weblog post shared in Mangas Verdes by Dani)

Here are some more pictures from the catastrophe thus far:

Courtesy from Pablo César, a.k.a. pcesarperez / AdAstra

Courtesy from artevirgo (Impressive set of pictures):

Courtesy from Víctor, a.k.a. rvr:

And perhaps one of the most impressive, courtesy from GrJMontero (For a more recent one from both Gran Canaria and Tenerife click here):

PS. There is also a Flickr group: Incendio Gran Canaria - Julio 2007, where we can share the pictures we have taken about the fires. Feel free to add yours as time goes by.

Tags: Gran Canaria, Canarias, Canary Islands, Fires, Spain, Tragedy, Drama, Paradise, Canarias7, La Provincia, Planeta Canarias

If you would want to follow some more of the tragedy we are going through at the moment, check out the following resources live:

– Canarias7
– La Provincia

And, specially Planeta Canarias, where a whole bunch of us bloggers are sharing our first impressions of this unforgetable dramatic event!

PS. And, of course, I will be twittering some of my experiences about the whole, unprecedented, event. Stay tuned for more updates…

Oh, and for those folks who have shown their interest and further support a quick word to just simply say “Thanks!” for the concerns and for the support. It is greatly appreciated. I am doing fine for the time being, although it is incredibly impressive to see the fire in the horizon from the several mountains that surround the place I live in, down South of the island!

Update - 3:00 am 31st of July: Here are some more links covering the news on how the fires spread around the South-West of the island into what has been flagged already as the worst catastrophe in history (Of the island, that is):

— Wildfires in Gran Canaria
— Spain arrests forest ranger who confessed to setting blaze in Canary Islands
— Algo se quema
— Incendios en Canarias via satélite
— Arde Gran Canaria
— El fuego arrasa Palmitos Park y el hotel aledaño
— Hace fuego
— En llamas
— Palabra del lector
— Have fuego
— Vecinos de Fataga y Tunte se niegan a evacuar sus casas, mientras que el próximo núcleo podría ser El Salobre (El Salobre being the village next to the one where I currently live in, El Tablero)

Tags: Gran Canaria, Canarias, Canary Islands, Fires, Spain, Tragedy, Drama, Paradise

I know that this weblog post is very much off topic, and you would have to excuse me for it, but if there are ever pictures out there that would be worth while 1,000 words, the following set would be those that would provide you with a intensive sense of drama, if not tragedy. For all of us:

My dearest paradise is burning and it hurts. It truly hurts…

Tags: Mobile 2.0, Mobile, Nokia, N95, iPhone, Mobile Devices, Reviews, Robert Scoble, Gadgetnutz, Passion, Comprehensiveness, Thoroughness

Ok, say that you are presented with this kind of review on any particular kind of product, you name it. Then say that you bump into this other kind of review (Part I and Part II) from the same product (Although in here you have got a completely different product). But as an example, which one would you be more inclined to follow in your purchase of the latest mobile gadget available out there?

Would you follow the passion (That in this case Scoble puts together) or would you rather focus on a cold review that provides you with the most extensive, and comprehensive, of reviews that may be around out there, like you can read over in Gadgetnutz? Which one is going to be the most enticing for you to finally make that purchase?

Not an easy answer, right? Yes, that is what I thought myself, too! I think I would be torn between the two of them. Or, even better, I think I would love to have such an extensive and thorough set of reviews, but with all the passion you can get. Yes, I know, the best of both worlds, but why can’t they be combined with one another, right? After all, isn’t that the best thing for our own interests?

What do you think then? Passionate or extensive, and comprehensive, reviews for that latest gadget you have been thinking about buying for some time now?