Political compass: the italian one...

This looks a little more biased, ne ways u can give it a go...

It's one (and) the other: #1

Robert Francis Kennedy, 1968

The gross national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and jails for the people who break them. GNP includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm, and missiles and nuclear warheads... it does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, or the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

Luca Carboni, 1987

oh no i soldi lo so che non danno la felicita', immagina pero', come puo' stare chi non li ha...

Adelantamiento prohibido

It looks like The Guardian has got a crush on Spain these last weeks, saying that Spain is taking over Italy, and that Rome is being caught up with because of its conservatism.



I really disagree with that, I like the auditorium in Rome much better than the palau de les arts in Valencia, and after all, the Bernabeu in Madrid looked a little oldish with those youngster italian furias (amarillas y) rojas last Tuesday.

Largo factotum...

History repeating...

February 6, 2001 - February 6, 2008.
Nothing new in Italy, except role swapping between Gnutella and Walter... ;)

Italy...

(Un)Visitability?

It looks like Rome is experiencing some problems with visits of big religious shots these days...
The would-be historic visit of the imam of Rome's mosque, Ala Eldin Mohammed Ismail al-Ghobashy, to the Rome synagogue has been cancelled (well, I'm actually hoping "postponed"), after the Dean of the al-Azhar University in Cairo has told him not to get into that place.
I'm under the impression that the faculties are giving clerics a hard time, no matter where they come from: but weren't they supposed to focus on science?

One to go...

Tom was just OK this time, so he needed to ask Laurence for a big favpur...
And it definitely worked...
 

Sapienza/Knowledge

It turned out that the pope has decided not to give the speech at the Sapienza University in Rome, after the protests a bunch of professors (namely, 63 out of approx. thirty-five hundreds) angry at one of his speeches in the nineties, when he apparently said that the roman catholic church at Galileo's age was more rational than Galileo himself, set a fire within the students community.
I will leave my thoughts on the so-called "bad teachers"/"cattivi maestri" apart. At the same time, I am gonna attach a new testament abstract, i think it would fit to the 63...



From the Letter of James

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot's inclination wishes. In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. … With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. … And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.

On the issues...

If you are going to participate to the primaries in US, this may be useful, and if you want to see what would be your pick based on these issues, just click here.

Political compass

..i didn't know that political leanings can be represented on to a 2-dimension graph. This is what Political compass does, based on a number of simple questions. Well, I tried, and it turned out that I'm pretty far from the positions of most of the possible candidates for US elections. And I also found it interesting that politicians are not much sparse, but tend to gather on a diagonal line: do we want to have a look at the first eigenvector for this?
Anyway, if you want to give it a go, just click on the image...

Tear the curtain down...

It's actually not the end, but quite an event...
Schengen zone now adds some 9 countries from the eastern Europe. This wounded and frail grampa has still something to say to the world... ;)
Read more here...

Lupercale

I've always been one of the angry romans yielling at the absence of a decent subway, and putting the blame on the bureaucrap and stuff like that.




But then, when it happens that if you start digging, you may find this, well, ehhrrr, next time I'll count to ten, and I'll just keep walking.

¿Por qué no te callas?

Who's the unrespectful one?

Nils Liedholm (1922-2007)

I will never forget this very yellow and red anorak being pulled everywhere by the fans, my first scudetto, it was May 8, 1983.

Adding banners, changing colors...

Champions, again!

Nice close, Jon...

Rome is blushing...

... and, to be honest, the effect is not that bad...
I definitely like this neo-futurist action, moreover since marbles can't be put in danger by aniline...
Not sure if there's another FTM out there in 2007, but anyway, it was a nice try...

Dress in red!

Today, Friday, September 28, there's one reason more to wear red stuff. Just read here.

White Light

Starsailor – White Light

There's a white light that carries me home
Helps me focus when I am alone
Keeps on teaching me how to be loved
And to love
And to love

Onwards to forever
Our minds belong together

She's the good light that carries me on
Helps me focus on where I've gone wrong
Now you've reached me
Its time to forgive and forget
And forget

Onwards to forever
Our minds belong together
Onwards to forever
Our minds belong together
...
Onwards to forever
Our minds belong together
Onwards to forever
Our minds belong together
...
Won't you help my soul to grow?
To heal, its all that I know

Diaframma

Va figlio, va...
Hai scalato montagne
di roccia dura fino al mare
e moltitudini di guai,
l'hai fatto per noia
e a te bastava vivere,
va figlio, va...
La mia mano lo sai
era pronta per sorreggerti ovunque
e per seguirti
se solo tu l'avessi voluto
ma tutto questo adesso
conta poco piu' di niente,
va figlio, va...

Va figlia, va,
inconfutabile prova dell'esistenza di dio
per dormire hai scelto
stazioni e squats
e calore di persone lontane
che mai ho conosciuto
e mai conoscero'.
La tua stanza nell'ombra
vive i ricordi piu' dolci
di cartoline colorate
che penso tanto non leggerai,
ma tutto questo adesso
conta poco piu' di niente
va figlia, va...

Questa sera in veranda
insieme con vostra madre
sto a pensare che in fondo
non mi e' riuscito mai
nel mio orgoglio a spianare
una strada che portasse dritto
portasse a voi.
Nel mio orgoglio feroce
una strada di luce
che sapesse dove il cuore conduce
per confonderlo con il mio,
ma stasera basta solo una cosa
che sappiate che piu' forte vi amo
e vi amero'.
Ma stasera basta solo una cosa
che sappiate che piu' forte vi amo
e vi amero'.

Coral beach peacemonger...

Winning a Nobel Prize?
Just not enough, if employees of a 5-star hotel are able to
mistake you for a street vendor...


;

The ghosts are coming...

It's been a while since i last posted on this. And this one's just to keep in mind it's a long way to late september :-S...

Checciai da fa' cco' ccinzia?!

dedicated to all of us 'seccos'...

...back to the start...

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are,
I had to find you, tell you I need ya,
And tell you I set you apart,
Tell me your secrets, and ask me your questions,
Oh lets go back to the start,
Running in circles, coming in tails,
Heads on a science apart,

Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part,
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard,
Oh take me back to the start

I was just guessing at numbers and figures,
Pulling the puzzles apart,
Questions of science, science and progress,
Do not speak as loud as my heart,
And tell me you love me, come back and haunt me,
Oh and I rush to the start,
Running in circles, chasing tails,
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy,
Oh it's such a shame for us to part,
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be so hard,
I'm going back to the start

CIT-GO!!

I guess you have a point when you say this is not the sexiest sign for a city, and Boston would deserve much more than that. But signs come pretty unexpected, and who could have imagined that a stylized tetrahedron coming from a venezuelan oil company would have become the compass of the most elitist US city...
Is that all? Nope, since after the apocalyptic speech Venezuela's President recently made at UN, there's someone that wants it to go, and to be replaced by the american flag.

But in this case, what will we be going to say? Let's meet under the US flag near Fenway? not that specific... ;) Just keep the citgo sign, it's awfully needed for those few hundred thousand aliens in Boston...

Globalization

this is just hilarious...
tks Shyamal!

Sacks and Packs...

Well, i don't like Hutch Owen, but these are funny, and not that different if published in other countries...

Getting hot...

Well, there's something going on on this: the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has just signed into law a global-warming initiative that imposes US first cap on greenhouse-gas emissions; Vladimir Putin named the new Shell energy project in Sakhalin peninsula "a barbaric activity". If also these two "oldish green party activists" are moving, don't think we should be happy, maybe it's better to be concerned...

Diablos...

...to listen to the 'lecture' click on the logo, the session is open for discussion.

: -/ A dash and a slash...

...and the land is ours, Morrissey might say in these days of pc addiction. Oh, but don't mention love No - no, don't mention love!

David and Goliath...

...but his name's is Stephon (or Starbury, if you will), he plays for NY knicks. He's selling his own shoes, @ 15 dollars. That's no joke, he's presented his own shoe line, na majors, at a ridiculous price (LeBron's ones are @ not less than 300$, Jordan Carmelo @ around 120$), saying he will wear them the whole season (....aaahhh, that's the reason why they're so cheap... ;) ), and he's supposedly not being paid for that.


good catch, na?

Three Imaginary Boys

ok, sorry for the privacy stuff...

Short memory..

In italy the Centre-left coalition won the elections in April, and the new PM, Romano Prodi, has appointed the former leader of the once-called Italian Communist Party, Massimo D'Alema, Secretary of State. Less than 4 months have passed since he sat on that chair, and he's now facing with a word that would remind him of what happened when he was PM in italy, in 1999: the war.
In 1999, he received lots of criticisms for his acting on Kosovo, mainly because, by making Italy enter in war against former Yugoslavia, he would have not respected the italian constitution letter, namely in the article that cites "Italy repudiates war as an instrument offending the liberty of the peoples and as a means for settling international disputes", since he was going to enter a war without UN consensus.
Now, putting apart the stuff regarding the ethical considerations, there's something unclear to me on the amount of criticisms he suffered (and that he's most likely going to suffer again, with Italian troops in Lebanon): the vast majority of these criticisms came (and i'll bet they will come) from people who, not more than 30 years ago, were in groups theorizing violence/war as a necessary mean to solve class conflicts:

Nessuno o tutti, o tutto o niente, e solo insieme che dobbiamo lottare, i fucili o le catene: questa è la scelta che ci resta da fare. Compagni, avanti per il Partito, contro lo Stato lotta armata sarà (anthem of Potere Operaio)

E’ necessario prepararsi e preparare il movimento a uno scontro generalizzato, con un programma politico che ha come avversario lo stato e che ha come strumento l’esercizio della violenza rivoluzionaria, di massa e di avanguardia (document of the Lotta Continua group).

Paolo Cento, Marco Rizzo, Marco Boato, Francesco Pardi, don't you guys feel like ex-hardsmokers blaming a smoker for his conduct?

{T,C}ow Bells

Imagine the most famous mountain place, and imagine several tourists (let's say, two millions a year) infesting the peaceful lands where some thousands of cows are used to graze. I've always thought that if there's a 'victim' in the relation, those should be the cows. No way!! A hotel manager has requested a shepherd to remove the cow bells 'cause they make tourists run away...
I'm now waiting for divers asking fishers to remove sea curls or clams, or hunters removing trees (otherwise it's difficult to hit birds..). But is that a farsighted way?

Elastic Loaf...

The current Iranian PM has recently banned foreign names commonly used in farsi language. From now on, once we'll have to organize to go eat some "elastic loevs", we'd better have a "Short talk" on the messenger, and if it will be difficult to reach the center by car, we'd better use the "rotary wings". It reminds me of the italians in the late 30's playing "ponte" instead of bridge...
Here the press report...

Jamaica Plain

15, Perkins sq, Apt #3, Jamaica Plain MA 02130. And this one's the humble place where I live. A potpourri of different people. I mean, not that bad...

Rain in July...

Someone's told me I'm a little bit lazy on this. I oughta have the time to write more on Boston and whatsoever, in the meantime, please see this video from a south-american (!?!) france fan in the finals at the city hall.
how sweet is it...

Campioni del mondo!!

Questa e' in italiano!
Che spettacolo, c'e' poco da dire...
Un abbraccio a tutti, qui come si e' festeggiato anche a North End...

posh

The first hotel bedroom I came into (just for this night...), I opened and the first term coming to my mind was !!posh!!. And that one in the bath is not a fur, but a bath robe...

condomen...

this one's for you, fu*&ing guys...

Euro-fifa

Now in the semi-finals...
After Brazil-France, the first thing coming to my mind was that the dear oldish europe is still up and running. And the cup is just a matter among us. Only four days left to boston (and only three for Germany-Italy)...

trois couleurs

The first match was ok. 2-0 to Ghana (maybe the best african team seen up to now). Now it's time for US. For what I've seen, no chances for them, but who knows...
ps: remember, the italian tricolore is swapped, i.e. with the green on the left...

fifa...

let's roll it again...

more than a game...

SUV

I'm astonished by the high number of king-size vehicles populating the centre of roma. I know that there should be something with psychology on buying the biggest (is it sexual?), or the fastest (nah, it is not...) thing...
...but the average centre-city street is as narrow as 2.5 metre, how can you put and move a Hummer inside it?

Recess...

... I just remember, 15 minutes spent trying to eat my sandwich as fast as I could, to have time for real life playing calvinball or anything else, till the bell ringing again. Please let the kids play ...

Anchiano (and surroundings)...

...it's a quiet village in the nearbies of Firenze, where the first pioneer bioengineeer was born. I definitely do think that the majority of Anchiano's (or Vinci's) catholics are somewhat indifferent with what has been distorted in Brown's Da Vinci Code. I'm catholic and I should be among the ones offended by it, and i'm not: after all, when seeing a movie/reading a book, do i have to waste time reckoning whether is real?

foo(t)ball..

I do not like wrestling, though there's a clear point in it: it's only show, no competition. Referees are just part of it, and also kids can distinguish what's real from what's fake.
In italy, the by-far most popular game has recently overtaken wrestling, in that not less than 20 matches in the second-last tournament were no more than an actors' studio...
...and I will be paying my last 5€ to these actors today...
by te way, the most rumoured team is in black and white stripes ;-)

White Beards and hair

Italy's now got a new president, whose name is Napolitano, a green-line guy born in the 20's. I'm personally quite accustomed to white hair and beards ;-)...
but, dear oldish italy, do we really dare to grow older with you?

Follow up...

I've been a little bit lazy on this, and three weeks have passed since my latest. There's something new now, i.e. I've got a sticker on my passport!
Time is running, now not more than 60 days, and I'll leave Rome...
something aside, Anna Finocchiaro is still on the way, let's see what happens.