Robert's Coffee 2012

Trippin'

2012-02-06T05:13:00.007+01:00

Hey there,

about time for an update to my all-too-forgotten blog. This updates come from the US - Davis, CA, to be precise - where I am about to start a 4 days seminar on entrepreneurship and innovation in the food sector. I am quaite a bit shaken and jetlagged as I write this, which is just as much the consequence of the trip (over 20 hours) as it is of a very stressing period. I actually needed a change of air and this trip to America has been very exciting so far. I arrived today from San Francisco, by train,which gave the opportunity to admire the beautiful landscape of the Bay area. In Davis I found sun shining and a summer-like weather waiting for me. I got off at the train station and decided to walk to my hotel (couple of kilometers away, give or take). Though sweating like a pig (a nearly 30 degrees temperature range compared to Denmark), I enjoyed the walk immensely as Davis is a veritable gem of nature, bikes and students' partying. Moreover, it gave a me a strong feeling of being a seaside town, though actually this is not the case.
Here is something noteworthy: this my first time in the US, yet everything is so familiar and so close to my expectations. Undoubtedly it's the huge power of American culture, which is so pervasive among us kids grown up in the 80s and 90s. I don't remember who wrote that in XIX century, with Napoleon ruling and/or influencing most of Europe, any man felt like he had two nationalities: his own, and the French one. The same applies to the USA today, I feel this very strongly on myself, as I am for the first time physically in this country.
Looking forward to experience more of it in the coming days :)

Hope y'all had a great start in 2012!

Cheers,

D.

How people in academia see each other

2011-10-31T17:14:00.006+01:00

Big up on Matushiq for creating the picture below. Brilliant and true.

D.

Farewell Sergio Bonelli

2011-09-26T16:15:00.006+02:00

A sad headline in the Italian news today: Sergio Bonelli is dead.

I reckon for most non Italians (and even for most Italians) this name doesn't say much. He was a comic book author and eponymous owner of the most important Italian comic book house, publishing series such as Tex, Dylan Dog, Mister No, Zagor and countless others. He created, directly or indirectly, many of my childhood heroes, plain and simple. As a kid I didn't care much about him...the credits was not what caught my attention, when a new - much longed for - comic book was in my hands. Yet I was so immersed in that world that he had created through his comics, and how many times that world got into me.

As I grew older, I started enjoying his editorials and learning a bit more about his figure. He was very cultivated man, who took comics book to narrative and literary peaks that were, at times, truly extraordinary. The quality of the stories and the extreme longevity of Bonelli's characters (Tex Willer is over 60 years old!) witness that.

Questioned about one of Bonelli's most known characters, Umberto Eco once said:

I can read the Bible, Homer, or Dylan Dog for several days without being bored.

Perhaps the best epitaph for Sergio Bonelli.

D.

Conclusive remarks

2011-09-10T00:56:00.003+02:00

The Pangborn conference just finished, leaving me inspired, excited, enriched (and exhausted, with a bit of luck I'm gonna sleep through my over cross-Atlantic trip).

Anyway...great experience, it was absolutely fabulous to see the diverse people and approaches that come together in the sensory and consumer world and I learned a great deal from the industry part as well.

But of course people were the best part. It felt really good to meet and finally put a face with the names of so many people whose work I read all year long (but also the many who I had never heard before).

I got to meet some the field hotshots as well, all of whom turned out to be extremely nice people :)

A few trip highlights:

1) Toronto: wonderful city, I absolutely loved the ethnic diversity, the variety of neighborhoods and Toronto's positive vibe...I don't think I ever felt so good in large metropolitan area as I did here.

2) Restaurant Spuntini on Avenue Road (one of the best sea bass in my life, and mark my words: this comes from a Sicilian!) and Beer Bistro (amazing selection of beer and food. The waiters' knowledge and level of competence matched the level you would expect from a wine sommelier, which is very hard to come by with beer)

3) The owners of Bar Italia in Little Italy: a living history book about the local Italian community, thanks for sharing so many stories with me.

D.

Toronto, here I come

2011-09-03T09:51:00.001+02:00

At last it came, I'm about to get off for a week-long conference trip to Toronto, Canada. It's gonna be my first major conference attendance, and with a talk and two posters to present I'm gonna have to be a very fast starter...I just can't wait to be there!

By the way, having to talking about beer in Canada the following video couldn't help but coming to mind...

Summer readings

2011-07-20T19:48:00.007+02:00

Food, sociology, anthropology, consumer culture, post-socialist countries: good ingredients make almost always good food, and this certainly is the case of the book I just finished: "Food and Everyday Life is the Post-socialist World", edited by Melissa Caldwell (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009).

The title says it all: each chapter of the book is dedicated to explore how communities in several post-socialist countries experience changes in their food markets due to the globalization and Europeanization - the focus is on foodstuff, eating occasions and settings, new and old food processes and regulations etc - and how these changes affect their habits and culture (among other things, triggering an increasing consumerism).

I enjoyed this book enormously, as I think it made several splendid examples of how social and political phenomena can be looked at through the lenses of food consumption.

My personal favorites were the two "Lithuanian" chapters (on Soviet vs European sausages and informal dairy markets respectively), but also the chapter on gender differences wrt vodka drinking in Russia was top-notch.

D.

The reason is simple

2011-05-25T15:53:00.005+02:00

The following is a commentary to the article: International researchers leave Denmark after PhD, University Post 19/05/2011

The huge mistake of the Danish government in the last year has been to invest too much on PhD positions, neglecting completely intermediate positions (such as Post Doc).

This imbalance has been really unfortunate, mainly because the job market did not have such a demand for people with a PhD (of course the market needs high educated people, but if a person at the end of the PhD gets the same kind of job as a person with a Master degree, then the state has just wasted money on his/her PhD education).

So, the situation is bad for those who genuinely aim at a career in the industry, and it is also bad for those who would like to stay in academia (continuous struggle to get post doc positions, very remote or no perspective of permanent employment).

The solution would improve if the government finally stopped to blindly fund so many PhDs and concentrated on intermediate positions instead.

Concerning the claim that we should spend more in the humanities and social sciences...that's plain bullshit...those areas are already strongly overfunded for the societal needs, especially because in general their ability to interact with and attract funding from the private sector is very limited at best.

Make no mistake: all areas are important and deserve (basic) funding, but in general the main focus should be to what areas (or department, or research groups) actually reach out to and make a difference for companies or the society as whole: not for ideological reasons and/or not just to those with the best lobbying group.

D.

New article published

2011-03-01T00:24:00.006+01:00

I just published an article on the latest issue of the Scandinavian Brewers' Review.

Mini-summary: I started off by collecting info on a huge number of Danish beers, and rating them on a number of variables. I then explored this huge database with the help of multivariate statistics, showing intresting findings with regards to brewing trends in DK and the divide between micro and macro breweries.

CLICK ON THE POST TITLE TO OPEN/DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE AS PDF FILE.

D.

Perfect Xmas present

2010-12-09T20:23:00.005+01:00

My gf just got me THE best xmas present ever: the whole 4 PhD comics book collections, beautifully printed out. I am very seldom excited about owning material things, but this really made my Christmas.

Thanks baby, you're the best :*

For the records...

2010-12-02T20:58:00.004+01:00

Extract of US embassy cables, discussing Berlusconi's actual political situation and alleged paranoia, involvement sexual in sexual scandals and obscure ties with the Russians.

Gianni Letta, Giampiero Cantoni AND Umberto Bossi share their worries with US Ambassadors Ronald P. Spogli and David Thorne.

SOURCE: The Guardian

SUMMARY: US diplomats have reported to Washington suspicions of a corrupt relationship between Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Key passage highlighted in yellow [bold here].

Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 15:17
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 001187
NOFORN
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 10/23/2026
TAGS PGOV, PREL, IT
SUBJECT: ITALY: SCANDALS TAKING TOLL ON BERLUSCONI'S
PERSONAL AND POLITICAL HEALTH
REF: ROME 1143
ROME 00001187 001.2 OF 003
Classified By: Ambassador David H. Thorne for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (C/NF) SUMMARY. Though PM Berlusconi's parliamentary majority is strong, and nobody is yet willing to predict his political demise, a growing list of scandals, adverse court decisions and health issues have weakened him and led some erstwhile Berlusconi allies to begin hedging their bets on his political longevity. In a souring political environment, talk of conspiracy theories often trumps real political debate and distracts the Berlusconi government from pursuing, or even developing, a coherent political agenda. END SUMMARY.

PRIVATE MATTERS WEIGHING ON BERLUSCONI

2. (SBU) After a long hot spring and summer of personal and professional scandals, PM Berlusconi, returning from the August recess appeared briefly rejuvenated by a successful G8 summit and continued popularity with his base. However, the first of several blows fell on October 7 when a civil court ruled that the Berlusconi family's flagship business, Finnivest, must pay a rival company Euro 750 million for damages occurred as a result of a Finnivest lawyer bribing a judge in a decision involving both companies. Two days later, the Italian Constitutional Court concluded that one of the Berlusconi government's first pieces of legislation, a 2008 law postponing criminal investigations against Berlusconi and other senior officials, was unconstitutional (REFTEL). As a result, Italian magistrates have, once again, taken up several long-standing criminal cases against Berlusconi, with one case due to resume as early as November.

3. (C/NF) Two officials personally and professionally close to Berlusconi, in separate conversations with the Embassy, recently described the Prime Minister in strikingly similar terms. Council of Ministers U/S Gianni Letta told the Ambassador October 23 that Berlusconi is "physically and politically weak," describing the normally hyperactive Berlusconi as "not energetic." Longtime Berlusconi friend, Senate Defense Committee President Giampiero Cantoni, told an Embassy political officer October 22 that, "we are all worried about his health," noting that Berlusconi has fainted three times in public in recent years and that his medical tests have come back "a complete mess." Cantoni said Berlusconi's frequent late nights and penchant for partying hard mean he does not get sufficient rest. The Italian press reported October 27 that Berlusconi has a mild case of scarlet fever, which he reportedly contracted from his grandchild. (Note: Berlusconi dozed off briefly during the Ambassador's initial courtesy call in September, and looked distracted and tired at an October 19 event attended by the Ambassador. End note.)

4. (C/NF) Cantonitermed Berlusconi overwhelmed with private concerns. He noted that Berlusconi has felt alienated from his family since his wife, Veronica Lario, set off a public uproar by publishing an open letter last spring asking for a divorce and accusing the 74-year old PM of consorting with minors. Lario is reportedly asking for fifty percent of Berlusconi's personal assets plus Euro 100 million in yearly support. At the same time, according to Cantoni, Berlusconi is afraid he will need to liquidate important business assets to make the Euro 750 million payment ordered by a civil court. Cantoni added that a Palermo-based mafia investigation involving another longtimeBerlusconi ally and confidant already convicted of ties to organized crime could turn into a damaging public spectacle.

LEADING TO CONSPIRACY THEORIES

5. (C/NF) A number of Embassy contacts have described a political environment dominated by conspiracy theories. In the wake of the two court rulings, Berlusconi accused President of the Republic Napolitano of working against him and lashed out emotionally against the judicial system, in general. Letta told the Ambassador that Berlusconi's outburst had led to "frosty" relations with Napolitano and said the episode has made him appear weak. Several PdL officials have hinted darkly to us that "institutional forces" are trying to unseat Berlusconi. (Note: In Italian political parlance, "institutional forces" can serve to mean one of many groups operating and wielding influence behind the scenes: business groups, intelligence services, freemasons, the Vatican, the magistracy, the United States, etc. While Italians are notably conspiracy-minded, their paranoia -- at least as far as Italian domestic politics go -- has historically been well-founded. End note.)

ROME 00001187 002.2 OF 003

6. (C/NF) Cantoni confided that Berlusconi believes the Italian intelligence services might have deliberately entrapped him in his alleged affair involving a minor. During Cantoni's conversation with the Embassy political officer, Berlusconi called the senator to confide that an arrest was imminent of four Italian Carabinieri believed to be blackmailing the Lazio regional governor with a sex-tape. (Note: The story of the Lazio governor and a transsexual prostitute exploded in the press a few days later. End note.) Cantoni told the Embassy officer that this case has convinced Berlusconi that he cannot trust his own intelligence services. Separately, on October 21, Northern League leader Umberto Bossi, commenting on Berlusconi's troubles, told the Ambassador that organized crime figures had probably set the trap for Berlusconi on some of the sex scandals, but that nobody denies that Berlusconi willingly went for the bait.

7. (C/NF) In a replay of the foreign press-induced scandals of last spring and summer, a London Times article accusing Italian troops in Afghanistan of paying off Taliban insurgents sparked speculation in and out of the GoI that the USG might have leaked the information to discredit the Berlusconi government. Moreover, it is not uncommon these days for PdL politicians to speculate-- via the press or even directly to Embassy officers-- that the new U.S. administration would like to see the Berlusconi government fall; some even believe the USG is actively undermining Berlusconi. The Ambassador recently probed Letta and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini to determine whether they shared this belief; both averred that they thought Berlusconi's relationship with the US administration was strong.

AND PALACE INTRIGUE

8. (C/NF) One of Berlusconi's would-be heirs, Chamber of Deputies President Gianfranco Fini, picked one of his periodic fights with Berlusconi in September, ostensibly over euthanasia and living wills, but the real issues were Berlusconi's non-democratic leadership style inside the party and the growing weight of the Northern League (LN). More recently, the powerful Minister of Economy, Giulio Tremonti, has openly challenged Berlusconi on fiscal policy, leading to talk simultaneously of his possible resignation as well as the possibility he was seeking to eventually succeed Berlusconi. In response to a direct question from the Ambassador, Gianni Letta said there was a small, but unlikely, possibility the government could fall. Cantonitold us Tremonti, Fini and former Minister of Interior Giuseppe Pisanu are laying the groundwork for a post-Berlusconi succession struggle but felt the government remained stable for the time being.

AS WELL AS ERRATIC DECISIONS

9. (C/NF) Media mogul Berlusconi might be gaffe-prone when speaking off the cuff, but he has historically shown himself astute at strategic messaging. Those skills were noticeably absent in a recent incident which provoked both criticism and head-scratching from Berlusconi friend and foe alike. Ahead of a three-day trip to Russia to celebrate Vladimir Putin's birthday in mid-October, Berlusconi put out a press line that the visit was a "strictly private affair." This announcement was met with disbelief and some mockery. Adding to the mystery, however, the day before his departure, Berlusconi canceled his participation in the state visit of Jordan's King Abdullah of Jordan, staying in Milan with the explanation that he was feeling under the weather. Berlusconi, who prides himself on his personal relationships with key Middle East interlocutors thus, unavoidably, left the impression that, in choosing private fun over statecraft, he was husbanding his flagging energies for a blow-out party at Putin's private dacha. With the further news that Berlusconi was accompanied on the trip solely by Valentino Valentini, an unofficial intermediary/bagman who serves as Berlusconi's interpreter, Italy's political class openly questioned whether Berlusconi was going to Russia principally because the scrutiny of his private time by Italian and foreign photographers had made parties in Italy too risky for the time being.

COMMENT

10. (C/NF) Sex scandals, criminal investigations, family problems and financial concerns appear to be weighing heavily on Berlusconi's personal and political health, as well as on

ROME 00001187 003.2 OF 003

his decision-making ability. It is too early to begin speculating about Berlusconi's political demise, and Berlusconi has a well-known knack for rebounding. However, though most are trying hard not to be too obvious about it, some of Berlusconi's own lieutenants have apparently decided it is not too early to begin laying the groundwork for "il dopo," as Italians call the potential post-Berlusconi era. In this souring political environment, conspiracy theories have all but supplanted serious political debate. Septel will address the implications of Berlusconi's fortunes on how we do business with the government. END COMMENT THORNE

The 9/11 of world diplomacy (?)

2010-11-28T21:17:00.005+01:00

US embassy cables leaks is sparking sheer embaressment over the US government, as Wikileaks releases over 250.000 dispatches from American diplomats containing all sorts of comments on pretty much anybody.

I'm following franctically the 5 websites that are publishing the documents (The New York Times, Der Spiegel, El Pais, Le Monde, the Guardian).

There's no way to say yet what the impact of this "affaire" will be, but there can be absolute certainty that it will make the headlines for the coming weeks and perhaps months, given the nature of the revelations.

Sneak preview? How about this: Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN leadership.

And on a more provincial note, Berlusconi is defined as "feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern European leader", as well as a "physically and politically weak" leader whose "frequent late nights and penchant for partying hard mean he does not get sufficient rest" (according to Elizabeth Dibble, US charge d'affaires in Rome).

D.

P.S: to think that I wanted to work tonight...the god of procrastination can be damn creative ;)

Why Italians vote for Berlusconi

2010-11-03T16:23:00.005+01:00

Silvio Berlusconi involved in - surprise, surprise - yet another scandal.

Every Italian abroad is bound to get the following question at least once: "why do Italians for Berlusconi?".

It is not an easy question to answer, but perhaps where rational thinking will fail, legend might shed light. And in fact, I know an old story that seem to solve this Berlusconi conundrum once and for all.

It goes like this:

When God created Earth, He decided to assign 2 virtues to every nation, so that they could prosper:

And thus He made: the Swiss ordered and respectful of law; the English persistent and ingenious; the Japanese industrious and hard-working; the French cultivated and well-mannered; the Spaniards joyful and welcoming.....

When He got to the Italians, he turned towards the angel that was taking notes and said: "The Italians shall be honest, they shall be intelligent, and they shall vote for Berlusconi".

Then the Angel said: "But Lord, you gave only 2 virtues to the other nations, why should the Italians have 3? Won't that seem unfair?"

And God replied: "Hmmm, you are kind of right. Let's do it this way: Italians will keep their 3 virtues, but will only be able to use 2 of them at the same time".

And so it came to be that:

1. Italians who vote for Berlusconi AND are intelligent, can never be honest.
2. Italians who vote for Berlusconi AND are honest, can never be intelligent.
3. Italians who are intelligent AND honest, can never vote for Berlusconi."

Pretty neat, I'd say.

Cheers,

D.

Studenterhuset grand re-opening

2010-11-02T01:26:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow's the night for all foreign students in Copenhagen have been longing for: Studenterhuset re-opens its doors!!!

Studenterhuset (= The student house) is one of Copenhagen's most famous café and a very popular place for all the city' students to hang out. Besides, it is "the" Erasmus place par excellence.

If you are a foreigner in this city, I bet you have tried their international night (every wednesday) at least once. If not, it's a good time to start. They have been closed down due to some reconstruction, but now everything' ready for the grand re-opening and the place's gonna be alive and kickin' again.

Check out the video below to get a grasp of what you can expect to find at Studenterhuset.

The clip was shot a few years ago by my friend Fiasko Prod in the good old times when he ruled the Copenhagen TV industry.

All the best,

D.

Fresh start

2010-10-16T11:49:00.004+02:00

I just came back from an intensive all-week course for new PhD students. Wonderful experience, I'm telling you.

1 week in the Danish nature, learning about what it means to be a scientists.

Having time to reflect (the real luxury once you have a full-time job) was something I haven't been able to do for the past 3 months, so this break was probably very healthy.

Most importantly , this week's been all about getting to know people from fields very far from each other (veterinarians, anthropologists, chemists, economists, biologists etc.), yet part of the same organization. It really helped in making sense of the somewhat unavoidable feeling (in a research environment) that you are surrounded by weird people doing all sorts of crazy stuff :)

But you'd be surprised about how much the commonalities outweight the differences!

If possible, after this week I will be even happier to work at LIFE.

D.

European stereotypes and geography

2010-09-23T10:26:00.004+02:00

We are all familiar with stereotypes to certain degree, general assumptions about certain characteristics of a group of people stemming from race, nationality, religion and so on.

Both from media and from popular culture, we pick up a lot of stereotypes about other nations. In our Europe so rich of identities, this is all the more visible, though we tend to use them mostly to nurture divisions and parochial interests.

Howver, let's face it, stereotypes can also be damn funny. UK-based graphic designer Yanko Tsvetkov proved the point quite well with a funny set of maps depicting, in his words, the "geography of prejudice" in Europe.

The map I posted shows Europe as seen by Americans (imho among the most accurate ones.

You can see the complete set here: Mapping stereotypes - The geography of prejudice

Or else just click on the title ;)

D.

The Bordello State

2010-09-20T14:35:00.006+02:00

Interested in a crude but realistic snapshot of the political situation in Italy? Then click on the title and find out more.

D.

Back in the (blogging) game

2010-09-16T19:41:00.006+02:00

After a hiatus lasted more than a year, I thought it was about time to drop by and write something in my dear old blog!

I have been missing writing my thoughts in here enormously, but I count on getting back on the track and make up for the lost time.

In fact, since my last entry (March 2009) my life has changed completely, and luckily for me it took exaclty the direction I wanted to give to it :)

I am doing a Ph.D now, in the city I always wanted to live, with the woman I love.

How I got to this point is a long and complex story (jobhunt at the time of the world's worst economic recession is not exactly a bed of roses), I guess the right mix of hard work, clear vision, a good share of bravery and the right amount of luck made it possible.

I am back to blogging, thus, with many new experiences to share which, I am sure, will certainly be pivotal in my future posts.

Stay tuned!

D.

P.S.: since I am giving a new kickstart to my blog, I also thought it was time to have a little restyling. I put on a new template and simplified the side bar, wiping off outdated issues and dead links.

I think it was quite an improvement for the blog: after all, less is more, to say it with Ludwig Mies.

Sicilian wonders

2009-03-02T19:49:00.002+01:00

Amazing goal scored by Sicilian striker Giuseppe Mascara in the Sicilian derby (Palermo vs Catania) of 1/03/2009. Watch it, it'll leave you speechless ;)

D.

Diamonds, Lamborghini and sparring partners

2009-02-28T12:35:00.010+01:00

Normally I never pay attention to gossip. Nevertheless, today a news left me quite appalled.

It's about the U.S. singer Rihanna, who's decided to come back to his boyfriend, after he had beaten the shit out of her a while ago, leaving her like this.
Subsequently, after being arrested (and getting massive waves of bad press), he apologized. With the help of a diamond bracelet, Rihanna bought it and decided to come back to him.

Now, my first thought was that idiots are definied as such by virtue of how they act, thus...let her get what she deserves.
But that would be wrong, I think. Maybe there is more about it than being idiot. It seems that this kind of behavior is very common among women, and transversal in relation to ethnicity, age, power, wealth and...IQ.

Just think about it: a woman in the position of Rihanna could in principle do whatever she wants...yet, she has rather chosen to forgive a dickhead that's beaten the shit out of her (also with negative influences on her career, I assume). Despite all her power, she's behaving like a slave. Maybe she feels that this kind of behavior is acceptable as a sort of "male prerogatives" and can thus be tolerated, who knows...but this all story is really nasty because she is a very famous person, and I this behavior certainly does not help decades of fight for women emancipation and againts domestic violence.

Low self-esteem, fragile personality, a morbid tormentor-victim relation, I don't know what else...they could have all played a role. I don't wanna be harsch about this girl, but she's really given a terrible example in here.

And the diamond-bracelet-detail somehow adds a queasy taste to it.

D.

One family, one people, one country

2009-02-19T16:37:00.010+01:00

(Picture from politiken.dk)

Today the Danish Parliament turned down a proposal to allow dual citizenship. Altough the majority of EU countries allow their citizens to have two nationality (i.e. to acquire another nationality while retaining the original one), Danish MPs turned down the request, which followed a petition signed by over 10,000 people. I was one of them.
I understand the worries of the MPs, a general fear that people might take advantage of the Danish welfare could be justified, given the extensive support DK gives its citizens. Yet I think such an answer anacronistic and, ultimately, short-sighted.

First of all, most of the petition's subscribers are Danish citizens living abroad, who can't fully enjoy the membership of their newfound comunity because they'd have to give up their Danish passport, plain and simple. Second, revising the procedures for getting social benefits, linking them to one's residence shouldn't be a mission impossible. Third, because limiting the right of citizenship seems totally at odds with the trends and needs of a global world and, of course, of internal dynamics of the EU.

Nevertheless, there seem to be also reasons to be optimistic. Most of the parties who voted against basically stated the rejection was not due to a matter of principle, but to a lack of clear understanding of the short-term consequences, thus hinting that in the future their mind on the issue could change - a position held, with different shades, by the two parties sitting in the government (Venstre and De Konservative), and by the biggest opposition party (Socialdemokraterne).

Only one party said they would never even consider this possibility whatsoever, because, according to them "Ligesom man kun har én familie, har man også kun ét folk eller ét land" (=just as people can have only one family, they can have one people and one country). A moderate, toned-down opinion...how lovely! Well, amen to that.

D.

Who's afraid of the Polish plumber?

2009-01-27T14:15:00.005+01:00

Not the Danes, apparently. As a result of the current crisis, thosands of eastern European workers have been laid off in Denmark in the last months, according to leading newspaper Politiken. Despite they are reported to earn, in average, less than their Danish collegues, they also seem to be more likely to be fired in times of difficulties, such as now. Economically it does not make much sense. Yet, a number of non-economic factors can explain the trend (industry-specific trends, possible perifericity of the E.E. workers in the organization, lower unionized labour, veiled parochialism). But this doesn't go without consequences, and it could be harmful in future. In fact, what seems good and rational at the micro-level, often produces unwanted results at the marco-level.
During a reserch project on political journalism, I remember stumbling upon an article on The Daily Telegraph, about a sort of Polish "esodus" that has been going on in England over the past months. The trend in UK is very much alike the one in DK, with masses e. europeans workers being laid off. As a consequence, many of them chose to come back to Poland, where the economy keeps growing (crisis has not hit significantly Eastern Europe) and, considering the current low value of the British pound, the salary level is now comparable to the West.
Where is the problem then? Well, it lies in the fact that eastern Europeans workers are in average better trained and skilled, and willing to work for lower wages than the locals. In time of economic growth, they made the fortunes of their employers in many key sectors (constructions for example), and they'll keep doing it when the crisis will be over and the economy will start to grow again. If too many of them leave England (or Denmark, or any other western European country, for that matter), then there will likely be a critical shortage of skilled labour in the next quarters.
The economical impact of this will be severe and twofold: revenue loss from the one hand, and constraints to future growth on the other. In other words, nothing to rejoice about.

Berlin nostalgia

2009-01-18T15:52:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I rewatched Goodbye Lenin, I found it still fascinating, though it is already the second or third time I see it. But watching it after having been in Berlin added so much to it!

Moreover, browsing youtube in search of some clip to embed to this post, I stumbled upon a user's comment that gave me a twist in my understanding of the movie: Alex efforts to recreate the lost DDR for his mother is driven at first to preserve his mum's wellness, but soon afterwards he finds himself involved in his own game, maybe trying to create - by his own words - the DDR he would liked to have lived in. The same path was followed by the communist parties in Soviet Union and the other socialist states, at first their lies served the purpose of people's good, thereby getting out of hand and engendering the orwellian state that most socialist countries were ultimately turned to. I don't know if the scriptwriters saw it that way too, but for sure it would fit the powerful symbolism that charachterizes the movie...not to mention it changed my way to look at it.

Tschüss!

D.

A good news

2009-01-12T20:23:00.008+01:00

The Obama administration, and the year 2009, start with a good omen. The president-elect has declared that under his mandate the U.S. will no longer practise torture, and will adhere to the principles of the Geneva Conventions on war prisoners.

Besides the not-so-insignificant detail that he (Obama), in practise, openly confirmed that torture was used during the Bush era (when it was euphemistically called "enhanced interrogations"), I think Obama chose a good starting point from where to deliver the change his admirers have so much longed for.
Now the hope is that concrete actions will follow (for example, the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, as the President elect often promised during the electoral campaing), and that bloggers and human rights activists may hopefully have less to do in the next 4 years.

D.

...and what have you done?

2008-12-24T12:04:00.006+01:00

Dear all,

I know I haven't posted here for quite a while, but if you are one of the loyal ones that keep skimming over these pages, well, I wish you the best xmas ever and an even greater new year.

As for me, I just intend to relax like the Santa above (besides, I'll probably be as fat as him after 15 days of holiday in Sicily).

Many hugs,

D.

P.S: click on the title of this post and enjoy a wacky xmas song (appropriate for this time of crisis though), performed by one of my fav Danish bands ;)

Ich war ein Berliner...Day 3

2008-12-08T16:33:00.018+01:00

Day 3

The third, and basically last, day of my Berlin trip very much gravitated around the DDR "cult" (I allow myself to name it like that).
The first and most monumental site of the day was nothing less than the world-known East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km strecth of the Berlin Wall which was spared after the German re-unification, and that it is today the world largest open-air gallery in the world, featuring more than a hundred paintings by artists from all over the globe.
The main theme of the drawings is, understandably, freedom, but also historical events (though caricaturized) and imaginative arts are displayed.
Walking along teh gallery was a fascinating esperience, it really conveys the joyful and optimistic atmosphere that must have characterized young Berliners at that historical time. And if you are into photography, you surely won't miss worhty spots.
There is a "but", though, which made the whole thing a little bit bitter: despite it's a world heritage site, the East Side Gallery is in a very bad condition, both because of the weather but, mostly, of that damned attitude by tourists of signing the wall with signature and trivialities. We managed to survive two totalitarism, but I'm afraid there's just no salvation from people's stupidity.

East and West meet at Brandenburger Tor :)

One of the paintings

One of the most famous painting of the gallery, Birgit Kinder's "Test the best", featuring a Trabant breaking through the Wall

The famous (or infamous) kiss between Eric Honecker and Leonid Breznev...

...more prosaic one... :)

...and the original one :(

The beginning of the Gallery

The day went on with the DDR red line, therefore our next stop was the DDR museum, a truly fascinating experience. This museum in the Alexander Platz area, was by far one of the most interesting I have ever been to. Its small size is largely compensated by the amount of items on display, by the comprehensive and detailed explanation and by the interactiveness, something you don't usually associated with museum. Thus, while learning, for instance, that kids in East Germany had collective potty training, one could experience the "comfort" of a Trabi, or zapping TV at a reconstructed soviet-style apartment. Definetely some of the couple of hours best spent ever :).
Have a look at their website to have an idea, and if you are planning a trip to Berlin just don't miss it!

Getting cozy with a Trabi at the DDR museum

East...

...and West, fortunately just formerly ;)

The rest of the day was just devoted to wander around some other Berlin parts, among which Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirke, an octagonal church whose bombed tower is now an anti-war memorial, and the mighy Schloss Charlottengurg, one of the faboulous royal residences of Berlin, which unfortunately I only saw from the inside (it's so big that it's actually worth only if you devote a whole day to it, but time was such a tyrant...).

And that was it basically. My trip to Berlin was wonderful, I think I have a thing for Germany now, and with a bit of luck it's not gonna take long for me to come back there.

Meanwhile...tschüss,

D.

Ich war ein Berliner...Day 2

2008-11-03T13:32:00.002+01:00

Day 2

Our second day in Berlin started a little later than the first - as we indulged in a very long breakfast:) - but was just as full.

In fact, our second day-tour included very many of Berlin's "heavyweight" attractions, such as the famous Checkpoint Charlie.

But let's go with order :). Not knowing exactly where we would be going, we decided to start our roundtrip from Potsdamer Platz. It proved to be a great decision, cause Potsdamer Platz is not only a very evocative place (it's one of Berlin's newest quarter, built on an area that was previously in between the two parts of the city), but it also provided us with the first encounter with the Berlin Wall. Just outside the subway, indeed, few remains of the Wall appeared unexpectedly. The adjacent panel provided us with a great explaination of how the Wall worked and looked like.
I thus discovered that, for example, there were actually 2 walls running parallels to each other (with barbed wire and rottweilers in between, a true "Death Strip"!), and that the perimeter of the Wall was actually a closed circle (which it makes sense, if you think that, besides West Berlin, the city was deep inside the DDR)!
Unexpected things are always the best or the worst. But in the case of Potsdamer Platz, the day couldn't have started in a better way :)

Potsdamer Platz, our first encounter with the famous, or infamous, Berlin Wall.

From DDR to WWII, the following visit to Topography of Terror brought us back to history. This place is nothing really fancy, just a big open-air exhibit about the Nazi horrors, built on an area which was formerly the Gestapo headquarter.

The historical fluctuation did not stop there, as our next stop was going to be Checkpoint Charlie, nothing else than the famous crossing point between West and East Berlin during the Cold War. Checkpoint Charlie is also famous for having witnessed many escape attempts, some ended up tragically (like Peter Frechter), some more succesfull (like Conrad Schumann), but all documented in the adjacent museum Mauer Museum-Haus am Checkpint Charlie.
Visiting this museum made me realised what a powerful catalizer for the human ingeniousness freedom can be: Easterners' attempts to escape included the usage of hot air-ballons, tunnels, concealed compartment in cars and even a on-man submarine (which subsequently lead to an incredible number of patents for its creator, once in the West).

On the way to C.C., following the wall

Checkpoint Charlie...

...and its iconic sign

A DDR pinnacle, just outside Mauermusem

And that closed our morning. Having fully satiated our historic hunger, it was time for less committing sites. Thus, we headed once again to Alexander Platz, taking time to enjoy the boombastic clash between its former severe socialistic look and its current fancy and shiny identity, both perfectly synthetised by Berliner Fernsehturn (Berlin's TV Tower).

AlexanderPlatz Train station, with the Tv Tower (standing 207m!) on the background

My wonderful under Weltzeiturh (World clock), one of Berlin's most famous spots

As the sunset approached, it was time to taste a old good apfelstrudel. The ubiquitous Starbucks would have been an easier choice, but we went for smtg more traditional ;)

A walk around the Tiergarten Park until the shiny Gold Else (or, more appropriately, Vistory Column) concluded our second day in Berlin. We had done very much, but still to come was a part I was looking forward to: a full-immersion in the East Germany world...

To be continued :)

D.

Ich war ein Berliner...Day 1

2008-10-25T14:06:00.021+02:00

Hej all,

I have just come back from a long wished trip to the German capital...Berlin! I must say it was exactly as I expected it: gloomy, dark, punky, spooky, solemn, post-soviet, rebel, young and old at the same time, cosmopolitan and, most of all, European.

If asked what city would I consider most representative of Europe, my answer would be undoubtedly Berlin. Its aestetics may suck (unless you are a soviet-style, concrete lover), yet I cannot think of any place where you literally breath history for every step you take. From the holy Roman Empire to the 12 years of Nazis horror, to that infamous Wall that kept us (Europeans) divided for 45 years, it all had Berlin as main stage.

To cope with the limited amount of time at my disposal, I really tried to get the most out of my 4 days there, and actually I can be satisfied cause I think a got more than just a bite of this exciting city. I wanna keep track of my itinerary, both as a personal record and cause, who knows, somebody might just get inspired. :)

Day 1

Wisely advised by my inseparable Lonely Planet guide, we woke up early and start our tour from Under den Linden, elegant boulevard which provides an excellent path through many of Berlin's famous spots. From there we head towards the mighty Brandenburger Tor, perhaps the most rapresentative monument of the city. Beholding its monumental presence, made even more so by the symbolic significance that the Gate has (once it was a symbol of division, this landmark is now a symbol of reunified Germany) was a very touching experience, to which we will later pay another visit, this time in the night and more focused on photography, as shown below :).

Branderburger Tor by night

From there, we head towards the government quarter, hosting the Reichstag (home of the German Parliament) and the Bundeskanzleramt (headquarter of the federal chancellery). It is possible to visit the Reichstag's inside and roof, where the panorama is really worth...and by the way, there was where I realized how waking up early really paid off: at 9.00 the queue was already pretty long, but nothing compared to the kilometric human river that we found after exiting the building (around 10.30).
Its appeal is strenghtened by the fact that they don't charge any price for visiting it (like many other things in Berlin, as we pleasantly found out later on).

Before the Reichstag

My gf and I on top of the German Parliament (unfortunately its dome-shaped roof was being restored...well, you've gotta leave something for the next time!)

The sparkling new Haupbanhof (central station), and Haus der kulturen der Welt
(a huge centre for contemporary art) completed our tour of the government quarter, whose mixture of monumentalism, nature and sobriety emobodied quite well the German ethos, or at least I felt so.

We then walk back and head south of Brandenburger Tor, to reach the Holocaust Memorial, and the adjacent museum (also visitable for free). Given the matter, "enjoying" wouldn't be the most appropriate word, but it was a due and certainly enriching experience.

Wandering around the Memorial

We thus lightened the atmosphere with a long walk along Unter der Linden boulevard, which lead us until the might of Berliner Dom (the cathedral - really smtg to stand in awe of), the ruins of Palast der Republik (the former seat of the East Germany's parliament, whose demolition begun in 2006), whose charme certainly doesn't lie in its beauty, but its symbolism left me fascinated. And eventually through the eclectic Alexander Platz, formerly the bulging center of East Berlin, to which we would return for a more comprehensive visit.

The monumental Cathedral

Palast der Republik, the former seat of the GDR Parliament, today.

Brandenburger Tor by night, and a visit to the former site of Hitler's bunker (which is today...a parking lot, with only a panel to explain what once lied there) concluded our first day. I was already fascinated by Berlin, and much was still to come...

To be continued ;)

D.

Eye of the tiger?

2008-10-18T00:02:00.004+02:00

Viral marketing keeps striking! I just couldn't avoid posting this superb Starbucks' commercial, featuring "Glen" and Survivor, the latter performing a great parody of their hit Eye of the Tiger .

Enjoy!

D.

Italy's heart drain

2008-10-15T15:20:00.013+02:00

These days Gomorra is being shown around cinemas here in Denmark. This movie, based on the best-seller book by Roberto Saviano, deals with the activity of Camorra (a powerful mafia-like organization active in the area of Naples), with daily violence in the streets of Naples, and depicts Italy's modern-day Camorra crime families.

Ever since he published his book in 2006, Saviano has been living under police protection, since investigations report that his life is in serious danger.

Yesterday he gave an intervirew to Italian newspaper la Repubblica, where he said he is planning to flee Italy, in order to have a "normal" life, rather than living as a prisoner, hiding from his own countrymen.

Here's the link to the article.

Along with many others, such and martyrs judges Falcone and Borsellino, Saviano's path is the same as that of all Italian heroes: threatened and emarginated, forced to live in reclusion; only if strictly needed (normally after being murdered) glorified after-death.

Nemo profeta in patria, just as the Gospels say.

Today an Austrian friend of mine commented: "why are you wondering? You have Berlusconi as Prime Minister". Hard to blame him, in fact.

D.

A couple of issues on...Facebook

2008-10-08T16:00:00.004+02:00

I have to admit it: I don't like social networks, never did, never will. When I'm in a bad mood, I think they are an effective shortcut for advertisers to get info, getting around the issue of privacy. When I'm in a better mood, I think they are just a way to keep with people who are friends enough to have your mail, but not enough to have your telephone number.
But, on top of everything, I don't want to be found by people just by typing my name, nor do I feel the need to blast moments of my life around the web for everybody to see.

Yet, I do reckon that I am more and more like a white fly. Therefore, it was such a good feeling to stumble upon BJ Fogg's work on the persuasive power of computers and Network.

According to this American researcher, specialized in the power of persuasion, the site has a special ability to persuade and convince users to change the manner and behavior. Indeed, he has just published a book, on how Facebook gets people to change behavior.

On the surface Facebook is a time-swallowing platform that brings you closer to remote friends. A deeper view on the website, though, reveals an almost irresistible manipulator, which changes people's actions and attitudes.

And that is exactly what is happening through Facebook. There are no limits to what friends can persuade friends to, says BJ Fogg: from joining the army to giving money to charity foundations, to changing religion. Some people are more susceptible to persuasion and manipulation than others - just as in real life.

The site's hip status is one of the main reasons why people allow themselves to speak to all kinds of people, and are being overwhelmed by the very amount of things and people we can go through FB. Our laziness is another reason for our susceptibility, and everything in Facebook's universe is (purposefully designed to be) just one mouse click away.

On top of everything lies the fact that Facebook is designed to keep users incessantly engaged, "bombarding" them with new offerings through both email and on the Facebook profile, when even the smallest changes occur.

Clearly, many of the things Facebook let people do, are positive. You can persuade friends to support charitable purposes, or just signal them events and parties, in this way flourishing new friendships and your social life. In sum, you can get a much deeper connection to peripheral acquaintances than in a world without Facebook.

But BJ Fogg invites us to be awake when we participate in the activities.

Every click on Facebook results in the publication of very private information. And the concern is not so much about the very fact that everyobdy - also in five years - can see pictures in the most disparate poses. Because Facebook is so overrated, it may also manipulate you to write personal things or to answer questions that you would otherwise never do, with no way to tell what the results for your privacy might be. It can have huge consequences for one’s life, and for the way people see a person, says Fogg.

To this point, you should be able to spot the message between the lines: stop sending me invitations, I'm not joining!!! :)

So long,

D.

Zeitgeist: Addendum

2008-10-04T11:52:00.003+02:00

After a spasmodic waiting, Zeitgeist: Addendum - i.e. the second part of Zeitgeist, The Movie - has finally been released last night.

Free viewing HERE.

D.

Are you an Obama or a McCain?

2008-09-22T14:13:00.003+02:00

Check your most matching candidate with this test.

Apparently I wavered a bit, but I'm still an Obama (thanks heaven) ;)

D.

Zeitgeist!

2008-09-14T12:28:00.003+02:00

What if Jesus actually never existed? Will we ever know the truth on 9/11? And what was the real motivation that drove the U.S. to war over the 20th (and 21st) century?

An interesting standpoint on the three above mentioned issues is taken by Peter Joseph with his documentary Zeitgeist, The Movie (2007), which you can watch for free at its official website.

This movie is a punch in the stomach of conventional thinking, for its main driver is the process of myth-building and storytelling, undertook by powerful elites in order to reach and exert control over the masses.

Zeitgeist consists of three parts, conceptually and narratively interrelated.

Part I deals with the figure of Jesus Christ, questioning wheter he really existed or was merely a plagiarism of the Egyptian god Horus (as well as a cospicuous number of other pre-Christian divinities), with whom he shares a staggering number of attributes.

Part II tries to shed light upon the 9/11 discrepancies, going as far as to claim that it was all staged. The issues of who gained from the disaster and in what ways are extensively addressed.

Part III, the last chapter, engages in a complicated web of relationships between Central banks (in particular the American Federal Reserve), the phenomenon of seigniorage and the U.S. engagement into all the major military conflicts from the early years of 20th century onwards.

I watched this movie yesterday, with a guilty late, and I can tell you it's absolutely mind challenging, to say the least.

Actually, I personally don't agree several points the movies makes: conspiracy theories have never been my cup of tea, for they surely are intriguing, but they oftentimes provide too much of an easy answer (as opposed to comprehensive institutional analysis).
Put it bluntly, I liked much more Zeitgeist's premises than its conclusions. However, it's a great documentary, well directed and with the great merit of investigating the (apparently) obvious...whereas the obvious should never be taken for granted.

So, get to watch it in case you still didn't, it is really highly recommended. And hurry up! A sequel is coming up shortly: in the Zeitgeist's tradition, "Zeitgeist Addendum" will be released for free online on October, 3, 2008.

Stay tuned!

D.

Mac and PC strike back!

2008-08-28T22:46:00.004+02:00

Remember the Mac vs Pc ads serie? Well, if you liked that one, I'm sure you're gonna appreciate this one too, it's the 2008 collection...enjoy!

Keep it real ;)

D.

Odense Film Festival 2008

2008-08-24T20:09:00.005+02:00

The Odense Film Festival, one of my top fav cultural events on Fyn has come to an end today (sob!).

Just 5 days of short movies and documentaries (the Festival's theme) from all Europe, and - in the best Danish tradition - completely for free.
Busy as I have been, I did not really enjoy the full program, altough I tried to get even in the weekend with a full-immersion that, for the quality of the movies and the atmosphere, definitely paid off!

My little movie marathon included around 20 movies (out of over 100 movies), and my honorable mention goes to...

Wanted (South Korea 2007): Tim Burton-ish animation movie, where a scary old widow appears in a sleepy town, disclosing terrible forces.

War Hero (United Kingdom 2007): the Iraq conflict as background (like many of the movies competing), this short movie is about the use of drugs and torture on war prisoners. Tough and hard to swallow, probably just a little less than reality.

Ung man falder/Young man falling (Denmark 2007): the troublesome existence of a 17 yo guy living on the borderline between a tough reality and fantasy world which is literally threatening to fall dawn. A little pearl of this movie is a dreamy conversation between stuffed birds about the significance of love. You can see the trailer here.

So long,

D.

Georgia calling

2008-08-11T20:00:00.005+02:00

Image: Front cover of Time, 30 August 1968

A Lithuanian acquaintance of mine just forwarded me the following appeal, requesting to spread it out, over the current clashes between Russia and Georgia.

I won't add bright geo-politically considerations or comments on the issue, although I don't fully agree with the way Russia is portrayed there. Rather, as I'm deeply touched by what's going on, I'll publish the appeal on this blog and leave it to your own judgement; hope you'll spread it out further...

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Russia Start War against Georgia

Russia bombing different cities in Georgia - Gori, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi, Marneuli – Tskhinvali not exist anymore. Russia bombing civil buildings bomb towns and villages all over Georgia . Airports, railway stations, seaports, Senaki State Theatre was bombed too.

Its important for this moment to know that Russia still the same what was in Past Soviet Union, Russia in previous centuries – “Gendarme of Europe”, “Empery of Harm” - he is still ready to kill people in other countries and cities like in Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and many others - Cross the Europe by his tanks - it still inhuman state with imperial ambitions, without civil society and democracy, ignoring western values.

Its time to evaluate all crimes against the civilization done by Russia as Soviet Union in past and now, otherwise next stop for Russia will be other neighbors, Europe and World.

We would like to inform world Civil Society that Empery of Harm still alive and the progressive world need to stop Russian aggression.

Georgian Regional Theatre Network /GRTN/

Tengiz Khukhia, Chairmen of GRTN, General Producer of Poti State Theatre

Zaza Khalvashi, Deputy Chairmen of GRTN, General Producer of Batumi State Theatre

Levan Khetaguri, Secretary General of GRTN, Professor of Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University, Secretary General of Georgian ITI

Professor Giorgi Margvelashvili, Rector of Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University

Artistic Director of Film Actors Theatre

Avtandil Varsimashvili, President of Georgian ITI, Artistic Director of Liberty Theatre

With my most concerned wishes for a fast truce,

D.

August notes

2008-08-06T20:06:00.007+02:00

Dear all,

it's been over a month since my last update on this blog, sorry for the abrupt disappearing...I got totally involved in my vacation in Sicily where, between ups and downs, I finally charged my body's battery after a long year, and got prepared for a new exciting one ;).

The "ups" definitely reached the peak with my love visiting me, as we spend together 10 days of crazy passion around Sicily :D.

The "downs" mostly concerned with my discovery that wisdom teeth 1) exist, 2) I have them, 3) dealing with them is a huge pain in the ass!

Said that, I'll come back to normal blogging in the coming days, so check back soon!

Enjoys your summer holidays, while I'll get try to get the most out of the last drips of mine ;)

So long,

D.

Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum

2008-06-27T17:17:00.004+02:00

Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum
is a quote from Seneca the Younger, which literarily means "to err is human; to persist is of the Devil". It could be well referred to Italy's current political and social situation. The Financial Times has mastely depicted it in a recent article, significantly entitled "Oh no, not again", which I posted below.

Oh no, not again (Financial Times: 25/06/2008)

Silvio Berlusconi has been in power in Italy for almost 50 days. Watching his new government in action is a bit like sitting down to view a bad old movie again. When the Forza Italia leader last ruled Italy from 2001 to 2006, he spent too much time legislating to protect himself from prosecution and too little reforming Italy’s sluggish economy. It is too early to make firm judgments, of course. But Mr Berlusconi’s latest essay in government already has the makings of another horror show.

Once again, the 71-year old prime minister is spending much of his political energy legislating to protect himself from Italy’s public prosecutors. He wants to pass a law that would suspend for one year most court cases where the alleged crime carries a sentence of more than 10 years. If this law is passed, it would scupper a trial due to start next month in which Mr Berlusconi is charged with paying $600,000 to his British lawyer, David Mills. Needless to say, the opposition has dubbed the legislation the “save the premier law”.

Mr Berlusconi does not stop here. He is also trying to introduce a law that would give immunity from prosecution to the top office holders in the Italian state, including himself. Such legislation would be unthinkable in most western states and was deemed unconstitutional by Italy’s supreme court when Mr Berlusconi last tried to introduce it in 2004. Now he is back in office, Mr Berlusconi is having another go.

All this would be of modest interest if Mr Berlusconi were expending the same amount of energy reforming Italy’s sluggish economy. But here, too, fears are mounting. Last time he was in power, one of Mr Berlusconi’s worst errors was to let Italy’s deficit and debt levels spiral out of control. One wonders if we are about to see the same again.

The Berlusconi government last week introduced a budget that will see the public deficit rising from 1.9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2007 to 2.5 per cent in 2008. The rise may be justified by low economic growth; but there is no sign yet that this government is maintaining a tight grip on public spending.

For Italy’s sake, things must improve from here. The country has one of the slowest growth rates in the eurozone. It needs serious, responsible government to turn the economy round. Mr Berlusconi said on Wednesday that Italy’s public prosecutors had subjected him to an endless “Calvary”. But the only Calvary being suffered in this story is the one endured by Italy, which needs a dramatic reversal in its political and economic fortunes.
(Copyright Financial Times 2008)

Original link here.

D.

Eurogaffes

2008-06-19T21:42:00.004+02:00

One of the hard-to-die European stereotypes says Swisses are precise and meticulous people...but are they really?

Apparently not all of them, considering what happened during the soccer match between Germany and Austria: while the German national anthem was being played before the beginning of the match, the Swiss tv channel that was broadcasting the event ran subtitles to it with a pretty garish mistake...they aired a version of the subtitles which included the first two stanzas of the song, that obsolete and famous "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt" (= Germany, Germany above everything, above everything in the world), very popular during the Nazi's regime, and which has been ignored since the fall of the Third Reich (the first 2 stanzas are not officially part of the anthem any longer indeed!).

The journalists responsible for the "affair" claimed they had found the song's lyrics on the internet (might be interesting to know which website they looked up to :P), just like any lazy high school student would do...

However, although the tv channel (understandably) had to issue an embarrassing apology after the mistake, the two journalists are not to be sanctioned anyhow...the only "punishment" they'll be subjected to will be (in a nice "Germanic" style, I'd say) a free lecture on history of National Socialism. And probably a strong advice of verifing the sources next time ;).

D.

Firefox 3 released

2008-06-17T00:06:00.005+02:00

The day has come: Mozilla will release today (17/06/08) the long waited Firefox 3, the newest version of the popular browser heir of the glorious Netscape.

For the occasion, Mozilla has launched a global campaign to set a new world record: the highest number of downloads in one day, that's why this 17th of june has been referred to as the "Download day".

As an old and affectionate Firefox user (in couple with Safari though), I am looking forward to try this new version that promise to be faster, safer and smarter than ever. And at Mozilla they normally keep their word!

D.

P.s: if you are browsing this blog with Internet Explorer, I strongly recommend you take the occasion and try Firefox...after all, it doesn't cost you a thing!

Typewriters and milk baths

2008-06-13T21:12:00.005+02:00

(Spring in Denmark, Photo by Jens Dresdling, from www.politiken.dk)

Hey all,

after a long period of forced vacation, due to exams/work/life though schedule and illness nonetheless, I am finally back.

Many things would deserve writing about: from Italy’s disastrous debut in the Euro 2008 football championship (two matches and we’re already on the edge of elimination and waiting for the umpteenth match-of-a-lifetime, once again against France), to Ireland rejecting the Treaty of Lisbon.

But as I am not in the mood to cry over any spilled milk, I will instead spend a couple of words on two movies I have seen this week, constrained by antibiotics to sit on my ass most of the days. Fortunately, as always, every cloud has a silver lining, and thus I happened to watch two of the best movie I have watched in a long time, and which I wholeheartedly advice you to add to your filmography.

The first one, The Lives of Others, is a pluri-awarded (all deserved) film about the not very popular topic of spying and political control by Stasi in the former DDR. A cold-hearted, regime-devoted officer will be given the case of findignevidences against a stand-up writer, who apparently has nothing to hide. The surveillance goes on 24h/7, as in fact happened in one of the most painful pages of recent history but, at least in the movie humanity will prevail over an otherwise perfect implementation of Orwell's Big Brother. Absolutely not to miss!

Official website: The Lives of Others

The second one, The Golden Door, is a Franco – Italian co-production, that tells the story of a poor Sicilian family, the Mancuso, who leaves everything and bets what's left to chase the chance of a better life in America, the new world where people are imagined to have milk baths and eat giant vegetables. The meeting will not be quite as dreamy though. The movie is entirely played in Sicilian dialect (which made it very enjoyable to my ears), and is characterised by a powerful symobolism, such as you rarely see in modern movies (reminded me of Bergman's style).

Official website: The Golden Door

All the best,

D.

It can't get any darker than midnight...

2008-05-31T22:19:00.002+02:00

...says a sicilian proverb. Current events these days made it come back to my mind, together with the scene above, "keep moving forward".

D.

1 year online!

2008-05-28T11:53:00.003+02:00

Time flies, and so does for blogging! It's been exactly one year since I started filling up this blog...I started blogging a little bit by coincidence, maybe but I immediately felt for this way of sharing things and communicating.

I'd like to thank all who have visited, browsed through, commented, linked, added to favourites, contributed, raised the stats...in sum, all who read and, I hope, will keep on reading Robert's Coffee!

I thought it might be nice to re-propose my first post (28/05/2007):

Hi there!

it’s been a while since I’ve started thinking of starting up my own blog, my 4th year in a row around Europe is coming and so many thoughts and experience accumulated deserve a little documentation…

What do I expect from this blog? Well, I guess one the main purposes will be to share the experience of how traveling up and down Europe has molded my life and determined in one way or another, who I am today.
And well, I’ll probably take advantage of the situation and bore you with some of my passions, politics, movies, Macs and football :D.

Should you be wondering, the blog’s title refers to one of my favourite cafés in Copenhagen (you may find it on the links’list), where I used to go quite often…it was a fantastic place for talks, wheter seriously or chilling out…I wish my blog will eventually get a touch of its atmosphere.

I let with one of my favourites quote by a Swedish writer, which depicts just fairly my current feelings: "traveling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind. not just opening doors; also closing them behind you, never to return. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes." (Jan Myrdal)

Alla prossima ;)!

Hugs, D.

Mapping the web

2008-05-24T14:06:00.004+02:00

The founder of this website, VerveEarth, sent me a mail today informing of their existence.
As I could not possibly explain better than him what this is all about, here's the first-hand explanation:

"We are searching the internet for the world's blogs by geography, and we found yours for Denmark. I would like to invite you to our site which plots the content of the internet on an interactive map of the world. VerveEarth is an entirely new way to surf the net. It shows spatial and geographic connections that a blog search engine could never reveal."

I'm sure there exist other platforms built for the same purpose, but I never stumbled across one with the same degree of interactivity user-friendliness. In any case, it's an umpteenth source of procrastination which, while exam come closer and closer, is extremely welcome! :)

Have a look, and take care!

D.

Thanksgiving...

2008-05-14T19:20:00.004+02:00

...for one of the warmest spring Denmark ever experienced, sunny to the extent that I felt cold during my week in Sicily.

Picture above: me enjoying a long weekend, in Amager Strandpark (Amager Beach Park), right in the hearth of Copenhagen :D

D.

Icastic

2008-05-09T21:04:00.004+02:00

I took the picture above last week when, wandering around Pisa, I stumbled across this recurrent ad which kept my attemption: it might just be the case of when an picture says more than a thousand words (in this case about the liveliness about the Italian labour market).
Text says: "My name is xxxxx, I look for any kind of job."

D.

Sicilian recipes

2008-05-04T10:41:00.032+02:00

Minchia! In terms of food, it's been a memorable week. Good thing of living abroad is that, when coming back, everybody is striving for you to get the best meals :)
Scroll down the post and you'll see a little photostory of what I have been eating in the last 5 days:

Carpaccio di pesce spada (= Smoked Swordfish Carpaccio, served with rucola, extra virgin olive oil and lemon)

Busiate al pesto trapanese (=busiate homemade pasta with trapanese pesto, based on garlick, almonds, basilicum, served with fried aubergines and/or potatoes, and parmisan cheese)

Spaghetti con le cozze (Spaghetti with mussels)

Spaghetti con le cozze, cozze scoppiate and calamari affucati (Spaghetti with mussels, "burst" mussels, "drawn" squids - all the three have a base if garlick, extra virgin olive oil, fresh tomatoes, parsley and white wine)

Sarde "a beccafico" (Roasted rolls of fresh sardines, filled with raisins, pine nuts, garlick, fried breadcrumb)

Cozze "scoppiate" ("Bursted" mussels, cooked in a pan with garlick, shredded parsley, pepper and white wine)

Gamberoni fritti (Fried giant shrimps, with a background of pasta "ziti" with fresh broad beans)

Frittelle di neonata (I doubt there is an english translation at all, it's pancakes of newborn fish - mackerel in this case - made in a dow with garlick and parsley)

Olive "schiacciate", condite (Smashed olives in brine, with salt, chili, origano and garlick)

Cassatelle (Fried pastry dough filled with ricotta cheese, chocolate drops, sometimes cinemon, abd veiled with sugar)

Cannoli

And I already dream about what's waiting for me this summer, hmmmm...

D.

Gadgeting a bit

2008-04-30T12:49:00.005+02:00

A long-time-wished surprise waited for me in Trapani: I finally got the Interrail free gadget for 2007, i.e. a nicely shaped usb key (see pic below).
Beside that I needed it kinda urgently, given the precarious conditions of my old Fujitsu-Siemens, it's a cool reminder of this experience.

Inside the key, I found a short trailer which I uploaded on my youtube account and posted up here. Have a look ;)

So long,

D.

Back soon :)

2008-04-28T12:09:00.003+02:00

Sorry for the long break, a very tough schedule in the last days have kept me from blogging. Fortunately (in all senses) I'm going back home for a week, where I'll hopefully find a bit more time for writing on these pages.

In the meanwhile, I added a little feature that you might like. Scroll down to the page botton and see for yourself ;)

So long,

D.

The Great Prayer Day

2008-04-19T21:17:00.004+02:00

Yesterday I learned, at my expenses, about a traditional Danish Holiday called Store Bededag (= Great Prayer Day, in English).
I said "at my expenses" because I was feeling super-productive and, full of good will, went to the university early in the morning, only to find it semi-desert (let's say only tumbleweeds were missing...).

Thus, to future memory, let's have a look at this peculiar celebration: it was established by the Bishop of Zealand Hans Bagger in 1686 - shortly after the Protestant faith was offcially recognized - as the climax of a three day period of pray.
It always falls on the fourth friday after Easter, but it quickly began to be celebrated the evening before, where people use to eat warm wheat buns (a tradition originated from the fact that bakers weren't allowed to work the day after), and, in Copenhagen, have a walk around the ramparts.
All this marked by the ringing of the church bells, used to remind people to stay sober in order to attend the big mass on Friday (probably very needed, thinking of Danes).
Wanna read more? Get more insights here.

D.

A country for old men

2008-04-16T12:00:00.010+02:00

Absolutely no suprise for the results of Italy's last elections.

Berlusconi, largely meeting the prognostics, conquered a vast majority which, most likely, will allow his coalition to rule for the next five years.
Quite frankly, I'm not so in despair as I thought I would be, rather resigned in fact.

Let's try the impossible: spot some sunny sides...

Sunny side 1) This will be the last government headed by Berlusconi. Not because Italy will experience a raging stream of morality and good citizenship, not because a new Zapatero will rise to put an end to the mediocrity of Italian centre-left and make a breakthrough in the electorate. Simply because this guy is gonna be 77 after his mandate, therefore nature laws should imply the end of his political career. Ooops, I just unveiled the secret strategy the left has adopted to beat Berlusconi for the last 15 years...

Sunny side 2) It's almost a miracle, given our ultra-proportional electoral law, but Italy managed to eventually come to a drastic simplification of the political scenario: 2 main parties mutually alternative, 2 smaller allies and 1 minor centrist party that will count as much as a two of spades. Perfect condition for governability, like never in Italian history. Ok, as Berlusconi is in power this ain't necessarily a good news...but still, consider we have about 20 parties sitting at the Italian Parliament at the moment, and it was one of the least crowded configuration ever! The parties that didn't make it to the parliament are mostly small centrist parties, extreme leftists, extreme rightists, consumer lists, local movements, monarchists, crazy journalists, and some people with nothing better to do that day the lists were handed in. Farewell, we won't miss you!

Sunny side 3) The new government announced already their agenda: their list of priorities starts with clearing away the mountains of trash that have piled up in Naples since last year, after dumps filled up and efforts to open new ones were blocked by local protests. And then comes the Alitalia situation, other age-old, very prickly issue to deal with as soon as possible to save what's left. Quite frankly, they might be evil, but I hardly can imagine how could anyone do worst than the former government.

Sunny side 4) Hey,thinkin' hard (and cynically)...I live in Denmark, I can take it easy! And feel like Berlusconi in the picture above ;)

D.

Sounds of summer

2008-04-07T17:16:00.005+02:00

Hey all,

I found a cool video clip featuring one my favourite local band, entertainers of uncountable nights in Trapani and surroundings: Clan Zero.

What you can see above's probably their best hit: Ti Brucio Viva (=I'll burn you alive), ironic song whose theme is the jealousy of Sicilians lovers ;)

Enjoy,

D.

Morality issues

2008-04-03T01:53:00.002+02:00

What is morality? In quite lame words, it could be defined as the ability of distinguish the good from the evil, and behave consequently.
All philosophical systems and religions have drawn upon morality to set up comprehensive set of rules that should built fair and just society.

Even in the (kinda) secularized and (kinda) de-ideological western world, morality still matters when it comes to political regimes and laws: we assume, to a large extent, the equations good=legal and evil=illegal.

Having the notion of morality "disembedded" from religious and ideological value systems, is undoubtedly one of the greates achievements of free societies.
However, reality is obviously far more complicated, inasmuch as "private" system of values still co-exist with the rule of law.

All right...time to cut with the philosophical bullshit: in fact the reason why I've briefly gone through this is that, here in Denmark, we just had a very fitting example of what happens when law and morality overtly diverge.
Jeppe Kofod, a Danish MP and rising star of the Social Democrats, recently stepped down from his office and is now considering whether to continue or not with his political career. The reason for his acting is that he revealed to the public to have had sex with a 15yo girl, a young member of Kofod's very same party, after a meeting. The guy amply apologized and said he was the only one to blame for what had happened and bla bla bla.

Now, the moral ambiguity of his gesture is undisputed (to most), though the fact itself isn't in violation of the Danish law, according to which the legal age for sex is, indeed, 15. Nevertheless, his public revelations immediately unleashed a hell of a lot of polemics with the final result of Kofod's resignation.

Fichte believed that morality exerts a stronger influence than law, inasmuch as the latter is mainly drawing limits to one's actions, while the first (morality) plays an active role "in telling people what to do".

The poor Jeppe Kofod just wanted to clear his coscience and ended up being the new monster of the average Joe (or average Søren, since in we are in Denmark).
He should have taken into account the high degree of morality that permeates the Danish society and political system...too bad for him: had he born in Italy, he would have experienced the upside-down situation: politicians can break the law without rising too many boring morality issues (see for believing, here's the wiki list of Italian convicted MPs and what they were charged for)...and nobody ever resigns ;)

Did you spot the five little differences?

So long,

D.

Holy Friday tradition

2008-03-21T10:57:00.004+01:00

It's the first Easter ever that I don't spend in Trapani. Now, I'm usually not that homesick, yet I do feel so today inasmuch as holy friday is by far the most important day of the year for my city: the day of the Misteri procession, the longest religious event in Italy, among the most ancient and famous.
It's a tradition begun under the Spanish domination in the 17th century and, with a number of obvious adjustments, have been running for 4 centuries and it's still more alive than ever.
In short, the Misteri (mistero=mistery) are 20 groups of sculptures portraiting the passion and death of Christ, in a long procession that lasts nearly 24 hours (friday 14.00 - saturday 12.00), and goes through the main street of the city.
Accompanied by music, every Mistero has, say, a little procession itself, with its own musical group and processionists.
Every group is taken care of by a particular work class (except for the 13th, Jesus climbing the Mt. Calvarium, which is said to "belong" to the whole community), and that reinforces the participation of the city as a whole.
The Misteri procession is one of the thing I am most endeared to when it comes to my city...for us trapanesi it's a must we'd never give up, even though it may sounds backward or weird nowadays. Actually I myself partecipated in the procession as one of these guys :).
There are so many things that I would like to go through but, as time flies, I'll have to drop you off now, I'm preparing the wikipedia english page of the Misteri, check back soon ;).
If you are curious to see how the procession looks like, have a look at this.

And by the way, I'd like to take the occasion to wish you all a fantastic Easter :)

D.

Your Erasmus on wiki

2008-03-18T16:51:00.006+01:00

Since quite a number of this blog's readers are or have been exchange students abroad, I thought it might come handy to have a review on a new project which's getting a foothold: I'm talking about MyErasmus, a wiki project that aims at providing people with a handy platform for sharing their experiences, while simultaneously building up a comprehensive guide for perspective exchange students.
It's a relatively new project, so don't expect to find too many information (especially in other lnguages than English), but on the other hand that leaves much more room to your contribution if you feel like it :)!

Have a look and make your own mind!

D.

Priceless

2008-03-16T16:33:00.003+01:00

I am currently working on assingment on viral marketing, and I have to design myself a campaign whose message would spread out as fast as possible, and be as sticky as a gecko's foot. To find inspiration I'm exposing myself to tons of cool ads such as these ones, in the attempt to seize the ingredients of their succesfullness.
As I'm really picky when it comes to ads, I find a number of them pretty lame, but I must admit many of them are pretty cool and the hype they got is widely justified.
Some of them, in fact, are just...priceless.

Enjoy a bite, and come to check out my youtube account, got some pretty new stuff :).

So long,

D.

No country for old men

2008-03-13T02:00:00.003+01:00

I just finished watching this awesome movie, and I already regret I didn't see anything more by the Cohen brothers but The Big Lebowsky.
This movie has it all: western-style location, formidable actors, clearly defined characters, tons of self-destructive and foolish violence.
The violence is almost a character itself, portraited as being neither stoppable nor understandable by old-style good guys like Sherif Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) - that's the bitter conclusion at the end of the movie.
Frankly, I'd like to read through the scripts, especially as far as the last monologue by the Sherif is concerned: I'm not too fond of Texas accent, but I guess I didn't get to far away from the actual interpretation :P.
What to say more: it's probably not a movie for old men, and it's definitely not a movie for pussies.

D.

P.s: link to a post at Guidoxx's blog, where there's a video that deals with me somehow: those who know me well will understand why ;)

Phun: the world is a software

2008-03-04T00:26:00.002+01:00

I recently found out about this amazing little software called Phun, a freeware developed by the Swedish student Emil Ernefeldt.

This definitely remarkable program is nothing less than a powerful, yet entertaining, and somewhat addictive piece of software for designing and exploring 2D worlds were the physics laws apply with an awesome degree of realism. A fantastic playground for creative minds, whose cartoon-like look makes it even more enjoyable.

Check it out! and well...have Phun!

Download Phun

D.

Omae wamo shindeiru!

2008-03-01T21:43:00.004+01:00

Which in Japanese stands for "You are already dead!", i.e. the most frequent sentence in the script of Fist of the North Star/Hokuto No Ken, one of my all time favourite cartoon!
Thanks to this guy, I have been re-watching all the 152 episodes of the serie, I just finshed the last one... how many memories it brought back!

Don't have a clue what I'm talking about? Then just click on the video and enjoy the violence!

D.

As elections come closer...

2008-02-28T20:24:00.001+01:00

...jokes grow in number (sense of humor's the secret weapon that helps Italians cope!).

What stands below is an ad published anonimously yesterday on the International Herald Tribune , whose complete text I found here...

Wanna apply?

D.

Frightening!

2008-02-26T14:11:00.003+01:00

Let's say I didn't quite have the best awakening ever this morning, since the first thing I did was stumbling across this crazy video of Hamas' program "Pioneers of Tomorrow". The video, featuring a cute Palestinian girl and a funny rabbit-like puppet, apparently trying to brainwash kids into become martyrs for the cause, plus threatening Denmark and the now famous cartoonist of Jylland-Posten who draw the prophet Mohammed.

The things they say are simply terrific, and even more so is the contrast with what should supposedly be a children show and what's coming out of their mouth. Something like Linda Blair spelling "the sow is mine" in The Exorcist.
Quite frankly, I shitted in my pants.

However, I couldn't avoid noticing that the video has been translated and spread out by an organization called Memri; a little bell rang: Beppe Grillo during an old show of his, told about these guys, saying they have a de facto monopoly in translating to western languages everything coming from the Arabic and Persian world. Well, this institute, through which we get to know everything about Israeli, Palestinians, Iran, Iraq, and son...was founded by a former Colonel of Mossad (Israeli's famous intelligence agency), Yigal Carmon. I found out they have been accused of translation inaccuracy and subtle anti-islam propaganda.

I don't know whether these allegations are true or not, nor have I the means to verify it.

Right now, after watching this video, I really hope it's true.

D.

Mocked by the Swedes

2008-02-24T23:14:00.003+01:00

Mocked by the Swedes. Never thought it could've been happened.
But given the topic, freedom of the media, I guess there's not much that can be helped.

Have a look at this short clip, a commercial by the Swedish tv SVT "featuring" our unrivaled former (and future) PM Silvio Berlusconi.

Don't understand a shit of Swedish? Fear not my friend, for I subtitled it in english (powered by Miyu and ffmpegX).

So long,

D.

Cuba Libre?

2008-02-19T23:04:00.003+01:00

This tuesday 19.02.08's gonna be a day to remember: Cuba's lider maximo Fidel Castro has stepped down from office. The iconic revolutionary leader has been struggling against his critical health conditions for some time, til eventually deciding to resign.

Is it going to be the beginning of a transition towards liberal democracy for Cuba? Hard to say, for now the powers have been handed over to Fidel's brother, Raul. The Castro's family remains, and so does the embargo for Cuba.

Is it then the end of an era, like many press blasts would suggest? Certainly not, for the cultural and political era Fidel belonged to ended decades, killed by a different and winning model, but buried once and for all by the short-sightedness of political leaders like Castro himself.

The video I posted is an quite exhaustive (yet short, no need to worry) review of Castro's/Cuba's last half century history, whose credits for go to Al Jazeera English.

D.

Flying too high?

2008-02-15T17:16:00.006+01:00

Hey all,

these days I have been very sick; yet it isn't totally bad because I had plenty of time to watch movies and read a lot, which I seldom find time for.
And reading news no less, among which one made literally jump from my bed: Trapani got under the footlights!

Some days ago an F-16 fighter of the Italian army crashed near the island of Levanzo...I thought "damn it, is somebody attacking my city?". However, that wasn't fortunately the case, it was just an accident during a training session, where nobody got hurt: even the pilot who succesfully ejected from the aircraft before this plunged into the Mediterranean.
So, in the end it was reassuringly all about our traditional terrific records with military equipments (I read on wikipedia this is the third F-16 we screw up, and this stuff cost 50 millions € each!).

In sum, nothing really new under the sky...except that I am feeling much better and tonight there is going to be the legendary cocktail party I have been hearing of for months ;).

So long,

D.

Insanely Mac

2008-02-07T01:16:00.002+01:00

I probably should spend a couple of words on the Italian political erthquake of this days, and the forthcoming Berlusconi's third government (yes, it's true, other scenarios are just pure speculation), but right now I don't feel like it. I'll have to deal with it soon whatsoever...

Instead, I'll cast glance towards something way more mellow: an unpublished presentation of the first Macintosh (1984), the video was taped by Scott Knaster for about 20 years before he decided to release it.

Just to have a general understanding, this is the computer that launched for the first time the graphic interface as we know it today, the mouse, the concept of "windows", "thrashbin", "desktop" and many others...

A real piece of history I'd say, enjoy watching!

D.

God according to Google

2008-01-29T14:04:00.002+01:00

I bet most of us use or at least know Google Earth, powerful software that virtualizes earth through satellite images, providing an aerial and nearly divine vision of our planet.

Now, besides being a very cool tool and a great source of procrastination, new purposes for its use have been constantly popping up since its release (2004).
I recently read that in Pisa, for instance, the local police has made an extensive use of GE to uncover tax evasion scandals: the last one, 6 people who declared to own nearly nothing per year, just had their huge yachts found in the local peer, and as you can understand that looked A BIT suspicious :D.

Acknowledging both the vast potential of GE as a graphic program, and its somewhat goddish features, a group of artists from Sidney has streched the limit one step further.

The artists of The Glue Society have thus created a set of four plastic images portraiting some of the main Biblical events, as if they had been captured by Google Earth!

And with quite amazing results I must say! Check for yourself!

First we have The Crucifixion,

then Adam and Eve (in the Garden of Even, of course!),

Noah's Ark,

and, (last but not least) Moses parting the Red Sea.

Quite interesting, isn't it? When I stumbled across it while surfing the web, even though I didn't find my faith, that certainly made my afternoon :D.

Stay tuned,

D.

Speaking out. And getting the bulk of it.

2008-01-24T03:16:00.001+01:00

The brave Burmese poet Saw Wai was arrested yesterday, with the accusation of having hidden insults to Burma's dictator Than Shwe in one of his works.

His last poem, whose title is "14th February", published on tn "The Love Journal", didn't deal with political issues or refer to current regime in Burma; it did contain though 7 strange lines: the first words of each line, if read in succession, formed the sentence "Than Shwe is foolish with power".

It was the only way he could make an impact and get his protest published, and he chose to exploit.

Now he's in jail.

Further reading: Article

D.

The extraordinary adventures of Totó Kiss-Kiss

2008-01-21T22:55:00.002+01:00

Sicily, where the sun always shines.

The giggly individual in the picture is Totó Cuffaro, current President of Sicily, also (better?) known as Totó "Vasa vasa" (= kiss kiss) for his habit of kissing all and sundry.
Just to make myself clear, I despise this man immensely, together with those who have elected him, those at all levels who give him support, even those who find this all tolerable.
The last chapter of his long-lasting criminal saga is so astonishing that makes you feel like tearing your hair out. Or at least I feel so.

Listen to this: after having been under trial for mafia dealings for years, last friday Cuffaro was found guilty by a court in Palermo, and convicted to five years in prison. Put very briefly, he has substantially aided several mafiosi, among which the godfather Giuseppe Guttadauro and the powerful entrepreneur Michele Aiello (convicted for being hand and glove with several mafiosi included the former boss-of-all bosses Bernardo Provenzano). It has been proved that Cuffaro told Guttadauro there were hidden microphones in his house. The tip-off led to the collapse of an investigation which had already convicted a number of mafiosi.
The alleged return is that the mafia helped Cuffaro in each stage of his political career, including reaching the Sicilian highest institutional posititons.

Now comes the part where history turns into some kind of curtain raiser: Cuffaro (I'm sorry I just don't manage to refer to him as Pesident whatsoever) had publicly declared that, if convicted for supporting the mafia, he would have resigned from his office right way. As I said, he has been convicted to five years in prison, with the prosecutors' initial request being 8 years, eventually reduced to three because the judge considered hard to clearly identify the tangble advantages that the mafia organization as a whole got from Cuffaro's actions, while it is clear what single mafiosi got out of it. I know it is tricky, somewhat absurd (at least for "normal" people) but well, he alleged that this interpretation would prove his claimings of not being connected to the mafia. Apparently he thinks judges gave him five years just cause they were in a bad mood or something.
Well, guess what? He didn't resign (in Italy nobody does it for any reason whatsoever), continuing gladly to govern Sicilians.
Theoretically, he was also convicted to life-long ban from public offices, but all sentences in our awesome country are executive only after all appeals are exhausted (Cuffaro has of course appealed the verdict immediatly), in a process that normally takes years, with the outcome that powerful people who can afford paying troops of lawyers for decades, can be more than confident to get off scot-free.

Not surprisingly, Cuffaro received immediate congratulations and full support by this guy and this guy.

Just how gross can this all be...?

D.

Upside down "witch-hunt"

2008-01-17T03:13:00.001+01:00

The polemic verve is something which permeats Rome deeply; I sometimes feel it too, as an heritage from my years in there. Though one could say pretty much the same about the whole Italy but, as it is logical to suppose, this tendency reaches its climax in the capital.

The new casus belli has been the inauguration of the academic year at La Sapienza University, the largest Italian university (and European, if I'm not mistaken).

Well then, Pope Benedict XVI was invited by the Rector to deliver a speech for the new academic year's start, but has faced a fierce opposition by a number of professors and students standing against this opportunity, the reason being the Church's traditional hostility towards science. Much emphasis has been put on a speech Ratzinger gave at the same university nearly 20 years ago, when he was cardinal. In that speech, the would-be Pope dealt with the Galileo case, quoting the opinion of Paul Feyrabend who had said: “The church at the time was much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself, and also took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo’s doctrine. Its verdict against Galileo was rational and just.”

Notwithstanding Pope John Paul II's apology for the Galileo trial, oppositors have claimed the Pope's presence would be incongruous, fiercely demonstrating ever since the news of the Pope coming got spread out. Some students even launched an "anti-clerical week" with demonstrations all over the university.
To cut it short, the Pope stepped back and say he would maybe give his speech another, more relaxed, occasion. Much to my disbelief, I must say: it is the first time I can recall a Pope changes in mind taking other people's opinions into consideration! I mean, it's an amazing event (no irony).
Unfortunately, it came in the one of the very rare times when he seemed to be on the right side...
I mean, it should be so self-evident, silencing people is always the wrong answer, and that's a way sadder that it happens in place which is supposingly the temple of knowledge and discussion. To tell the truth, if I was, say, a natural scientist I would be as mad as hell against the Pope; nevertheless I find kind of awkward (to say the least) that people who claim to be rationalists could coneive preventive censorship. Perhaps their philosophical foundations are somehow rusty, cause I have the feeling much of them didn't keep in mind what one of the father of rationalism used to say: "I don't agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it". Let the guy talk, damn it! you have all rights to disagree, and to let everybody know you disagree, afterwards.

I would have never thought I would eventually stand by the church side on any issue, but, well, this does seem to be case now :).
However, two final remarks come to my mind:

1) Feyerabend is a troublemaker. Not only did he gave me an hard time when I was studying his hardly intelligible theories at university, but just mentioning his very name creates a national affair!

2) The rector should know there is something called "Academic Council" (to which many of the "no-pope" professors belong) he could and should refer to when taking decision that could be controversial. Whichever side you think it's right, all this mess could have simply be avoided with a little more...thinking. After all, that's what university should be about.

For those of you who want to go further:

Article by The Guardian
Article by The New York Times

So long,

D.

P.S: I forgot to write that, for a very a ironic coincidence, La Sapienza University was founded by pope Boniface VIII, in 1303. :)

I need a light

2008-01-12T02:19:00.002+01:00

Hey all,

just finished exams, another semester of hard work and substantial accomplishments (?) has gone...

To celebrate, before getting seriously drunk here, I've just rewatched one of the cult movie of my childhood: The last boyscout, nothing but good old school action movie: sthraight plot, great dialogues, tons of humor violence and an amazing Bruce Willis.
Those were the days! :D

Enjoy a little frame I found on youtube...

D.

I'm back :)

2008-01-06T01:13:00.001+01:00

(author: phdcomics.com)

Hello everybody, first words of 2008!

I am back to working (in all senses), blogging and studying, and before I start focusing on the latter let me say I wish you all the best for this year, may your plans become true, whatever they are.

Too optimistic? All right, then just be untroubled :D

-1 day to exams, definitely time to open the books, let see what this damn subject is about...

Take care,

D.

Internet-free Xmas

2007-12-27T12:51:00.001+01:00

Dear reader,

as you may have noticed there haven't been many updates on this blog lately...the reason is that I am spending a well deserved christmas break at home in Sicily, which is an awesome but for the fact that I am totally connection-less.

Then I wish you the merriest xmas and new year and check back in january, when I'll have my mighty wireless again ;).

Have awesome holidays,

D.

Life is tough and then you graduate

2007-12-16T16:20:00.003+01:00

(from phdcomics.com)

Have you ever considered applying for a PhD? Wheter you wanna do it for greater good of mankind or just to postpone real life a bit further...think twice! It might not be as shining and noble as you pictured, as Jorge Cham amazingly depicts in his cult comic strips: Piled Higher and Deeper, to which I am dramatically addicted.

In short, the comic's about the life, or the lack of, 4 phd students, caught 'tween the struggle to delay as long as possible their thesis dissertation and thereby facing the real world, and a very low satisfactory life as grad students.
Lots of stereotypes and a phenomenal humor make this comic unique, I have to admit I am in the weird situation of having developed emotional attachments to fictional characters!

So, I've got three words for you: check it out!
(Be careful: it's highly addictive and positively related to duties' procrastination ;)

D.

You know you've been in Denmark too long if...

2007-12-12T12:05:00.001+01:00

You think there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

You think its normal to pick up a girl in a pub, walk her to her bike and ride with her back home.

You think its impolite to sit next to someone in a bus if there is a bench where you can sit on your own.

You go to the supermarket and buy three good beers and 10 not too good ones.

You can open a beer bottle with almost anything.

You honestly believe that the distance between Copenhagen and Aalborg is long.

You can tell the difference between a Grøn Tuborg and a Carlsberg beer.

The first thing you do on entering a bank/post office/pharmacy etc. is to look for the queue number machine.

You accept that you will have to queue to take a queue number.

When a stranger on the street smiles at you, you assume that:
a. he is drunk;
b. he is insane;
c. he is British;
d. he is all of the above.

Silence is fun.

It no longer seems excessive to spend 800 kr. on alcohol in a single night.

You know that "religious holiday" means "let's get pissed".

You use "Mmmm" as conversation filler.

The word "yes" is an intake of breath.

You have only two facial expressions, smiling or blank

Traditional dinners may not necessarily mean a cooked meal.

You forget how to open canned beer.

Can't remember when to say "please" and "excuse me".

You frown at "guest workers" who use "please" and "excuse me" for not integrating!

You will leave a pub if you can't find a seat.

Your wardrobe no longer has suits but blue shirts and mustard colored sports jackets and lots of denim.

You don't mind paying the same for a 200-metre bus ride as you do for going 10 kms.

You don't look twice at businessmen in dark suits wearing white sport socks.

You start to believe that if it weren't for Denmark's efforts, the world would probably collapse pretty soon.

You find yourself more interested in the alcohol content than the name of the wine.

It feels natural to wear sport clothes and a backpack everywhere.

You know the meaning of life has something to do with the word "hyggelig".

You are very surprised when you receive compliments about ANYTHING - including your appearance/clothing! In fact when you do, you find it suspicious and start thinking they might have ulterior motives.

You no longer offer to get the cheque on a date - for fear of physical attack from your female companion.

You don't think it strange that no one ever comes by to visit without being invited and you never show up at any one's place unannounced either.

You find yourself lighting candles when you have guests - even if it is brightly sunny outside and 20 degrees.

You offer people strange-tasting brown alcoholic liquids with their coffee in the MORNING!

You find the idea walking across the street when the light is red unforgivable, even though there are no cars in sight and it's 3am in the morning!

You consider a 6 month InterRail or Backpacking trip sufficient to "know" the world and thus proclaim Denmark to be the pinnacle of civilization. For thereafter to settle back into mediocracy, smug in the knowledge that you "braved those wild frontiers" :P (OMG, this one is SOOO true!)

You understand that Danes aren't rude and abrupt like they may appear, just a little more reserved than most but once you gain their trust they will be your friend for life.

You accept the stereotype that Swedes are always drunk, Germans are always nude when they have sand under their feet and English speaking people tend to smile to hide confusion.

The highlight of your evening is the hotdog with remoulade or the calzone from 7/11 at the end of the night-end of the night being the arrival of the first bus in the morning!

You consider standing in the Airport Arrivals hall waving a danish flag normal and "hyggeligt".

You've become the master guru of bicycle repair.

You find normal spending the whole week-end with your mates rather than with your partner.

You start setting up Dannebrog everywhere.

You think someone saying Undskyld is just a weirdo.

You start yelling at pedestrians crossing at red light while there is no car in sight.

You think anyone who is not convinced any single thing in Denmark is great (but maybe the weather, ok), and the Danes the most civilized people on earth should just go home.

You are sincerely unable to understand someone asking for the Strøget if the ø is hesitant, the stød isn't pronounced enough, the g not smelted into an l or the t is heard.

You know anything else than a Danish diploma cannot have any value.

You say Skål at every sip because you can't find anything else to say.

You dance around the christmas tree singing carols.

You consider anyone who has bought property and sold it on at a profit to be a "shark" and thus a fair target for all sorts of negative comments and bad feelings!

You don't check for other pedestrians behind you before you stop in a crowded street.

You don't really want things to go TOO well for anyone, unless they make you proud of being from Denmark.

You can say rød grød med fløde, Blåbærsyltetøj, and Angstskrig.

You are not surprised to have the closing door slam you in the face if following too closely behind somebody. Why should you hold the door for someone else?!?

You know the rules of handball!

You think its okay to walk away from a conversation without excusing yourself.

You, every time you're in an awkward silence, have the urge to say "jo-jooooo..."

You consider spending more than 30 minutes on a bike and/or bus/train to get to school totally normal.

You no longer freak out about getting to the train station in plenty of time because you know that DSB will be late anyway.

You plan your trips allowing plenty of time for the DSB train you're on which will undoubtedly be late.

You can't remember what a party without alcohol is like.

You no longer have the urge to stand up and dance at a club or a party until you have consumed large amounts of alcohol.

You have given up all hope of finding any logic in the pronunciation of the Danish language.

You feel comfortable laughing at jokes about Swedes.

You think it is interesting to discuss the pronunciation of the words håndklæde (towel), hindbær (raspberries), sort (black) and hjort (deer).

You think it's perfectly fine too steal a bike if you're drunk enough.

You believe that the days of the week are named after the nothern mythology.

You think it is normal being paid 90 kr. a hour for working at a supermarket.

You only refer football clubs by their initials.

You hate everyone from the other side of Bæltet.

You consider the Island of Funen (Fyn) to be a speedbump.

You can bakke snagvendt (altså snakke bagvendt).

You have completely forgotten the concept of twist-off bottle caps.

Tipping waiters/barstaff/taxi drivers seems overly gratuitous.

You have forgotten the meaning of the word "gratuitous".

You complain about only having 5 weeks of vacation a year.

You no longer notice the noxious gasses given off by the cheese in your fridge.

You no longer notice all the windmills.

You think it normal for there to be over 10 political parties to choose from.

You for that matter, think it normal for 'Venstre' (meaning "left") to be a right-wing party.

You call your teacher, doctor and/or in-laws by their first names.

You like to think the fact that the Queen is a chain-smoker makes her 'down-to-earth'.

When making a right-hand turn while driving, you habitually check over your shoulder for bicyclists.

You find yourself reading the subtitles even when watching something in english.

You no longer consider joining Scouts to be completely geeky.

You have given up trying to find a radio station with good music.

You buy a hot dog with a credit card.

You find it normal that shops close earlier on weekends.

You find girls with a beer belly attractive.

You have an insurance on your bike.

You trash any leftovers.

You answer calls by saying your name (which confuses people abroad).

You start to MISS an openly corrupt government.

You take your wallet to a private party.

You fill your own car with petrol.

You pack your own groceries.

You consider it a BAD idea unless it was agreed upon by the "group".

You never say "Thank You" to the bus driver for driving you all around the city.

You no longer find this list funny - just painfully true!

WOW, what to say, it's true and so funny. Now the worrying part is I almost fulfill them all :D. I'm very worried.

Peace,

D.

Is France a country?

2007-12-05T20:16:00.002+01:00

You've got to watch this. It's an extract from the US show "Are you Smarter Than A Fifth Grader"?

What to say, whether on blondes or Americans, but stereotypes do carry some thruth. ;)

D.

Watching us

2007-12-05T01:36:00.001+01:00

I stumbled upon a very inspiring article on Café Babel on the topic: is somebody watching us?

The possibilities of intervene on people's privacies nowadays are in principle (and in practise) endless.
Is somebody's spying on us? Whether for marketing purposes (like Google does, to say one) or with evil intentions, chances are fairly high that somebody has already or will eventually poke around your life.
I guess, to a certain degree, it is a feeling you've got to come to terms with in the web 2.0 era. (A feeling which I am not particularly keen on, perhaps that's why I don't get along so well with social networks like Facebook and the likes).

But the "big eye" is not limited to the virtual life, cameras everywhere, control exerted over phone calls and so on, make clear that it ain't just something far from anybody. I remember the big discussions, about 5 years ago, following the approval of the Patrioct Act in the US and the consequent restrictions on privacy rights, but I never remember a comparable discussion on the topic in Europe, where evidences show such a discussion shoud indeed be undertaken.

Maybe that's a borderline example, but I know from direct experience of people working for mobile network operators spending their days listening to customers'talks. A bit of an innocent fun, maybe, but still not so nice knowing you can actually be heard when talking.

Is this all justified? To many extents, yes. Justifiable at least.
But how dangerous can it be? That's a much more juicy question.

For now I advice to read this interesting article and (I'm sure you already have, but shouldn't you have) of 1984, which is a terrific masterpiece of all times literature, to sat the least ;).

Check back soon,

D.

New feature added: where are you located?

2007-12-04T01:52:00.001+01:00

Well,

as you've seen I haven't been writing that much lately. In fact nothing really exciting hit me, I just got trapped in this deadly spiral study-job-sleep-job-sleep-study that my student life have become, especially as exams are approaching.

While waiting for more inspired times to come, I though it might be interesting to know where you, visitors of this blog, are coming from, so I just added a little cosy feature: see the thumbnail map on the bottom of the sidebar? Just click on it and you'll get a visual report of where I'm getting visited from. The bigger the spot, the more visits I'm getting from a single location.

Little warning: the service doesn't count visits in real time, it is updated periodically (once a day or so) so if it's the first time you won't see you counted in there...you'll have to make an effort and come back ;).

Stay tuned,

D.

Christmas getting closer

2007-11-25T11:49:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I went to one of the nicest happenings here in Odense: the lightning of the Christmas tree (Juletræ) that takes place every year about the end of November.

This very special happening takes place in the town hall square, Flakhaven, that for the occasion is crowded like hell...
Children wait for Santa Claus to come (Julemand in Danish) and call his name, actors dressed up like H. C. Andersen's charachters or like the writer himself get around the crowd giving candies away, and the grown-ups (well, those of them without children to look after) enjoy the waiting with a cup of gløgg (a Danish version of mulled wine) and apple fritters with jam (hmmm...........).

When the time comes, so the major yealds three times the name of Santa Claus, who suddendly appears (yes it was him, I'm sure :D) on some kind of crane lifting him to the top of the xmas tree, where he is finally the one lightning it on for the joy of everybody...and especially for mine because there were -4 degrees yesterday and a fucking cold wind :). However, I didn't want to miss it, as they put it, it's not just kids stuff ;)

Hej hej,

D.

Fogh hits the jackpot

2007-11-13T23:37:00.001+01:00

So it is, current Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's centre-right coalition has most probably won this electoral round, according to the latest exit polls, conquering 94 deputies out of 179 at the Folketinget.

Ny Alliance, lead by Syrian-born Naser Khader has eventually played a critical role, by getting about 5 seats. Khader's party is going to balance the influence of Danske Folke Parti especially as far as immigration is concerned.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, life won't change that much, I would have had pro and cons to account for both possible outcomes. In doubt, I'm gonna celebrate anyway :)

Concluding remarks on some little cross-borders differences:

1) Denmark: average age of the contendants 45yo, one of them is a woman, elapsed time until outcome was exclaimed 3 hours, nobody even thought of disputing the results.

2) Italy (election 2006): average age of the contendants 70 yo, both of them have (to different degrees) trouble with justice, after closing of the electoral seats over 12 hours passed before there was a winner, ballot riggings were claimed by both winners and losers, "coup d'etat" was the most common word for days.

Now spot the seven little differences ;).

D.

Tomorrow's the big day...

2007-11-12T13:18:00.001+01:00

...for Denmark to choose their next Prime Minister: will it be again the liberal Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who has been ruling the country for the last six years, or his rival Helle Thorning-Schmidt, leader of the Social Democrats and possibly first woman to become prime minister in this country.
The polls show a lot of uncertainty (just very narrow advantage for the former Premier) and there is very likely going to be a victory on the rush for whoever of the two contenders...

If Anders Fogh will be re-elected he will have to deal with two of his allies having two different political ideas about immigration: Naser Khader (of Syrian origin and leader of Ny Alliance), promoting a softer approach to the topic, and Pia Kjærsgaard (leader of Dansk Folkeparti, a nationalistic party often accused of xenophobia).
Helle Thorning has lately gain consensus, promising fewer tax reductions but improved services (as if they were bad already;)).

Who will prevail? Stay tuned and you will know :)

D.

Erasmus nostalgia

2007-11-10T17:57:00.001+01:00

Just a link to a very interesting article on Café Babel, about post Erasmus depression. If you have been an Erasmus student, you know for sure what it is about.

Fortunately I didn't suffer too badly for it, or at least I had no time to think of it :P, but I quite agree with the author of this article, once you are back it starts you start a strive to artificially reproduce a new "golden age". And this can possibly save your life.

Enjoy reading,

D.

Farewell Enzo

2007-11-06T12:47:00.000+01:00

This morning at 8.00 Enzo Biagi has left this world for good. He was the most prominent Italian television-journalist of all times, not to mention an icon of what it takes to be a true journalist.

He was one of those all-good characters that you get along with since you're born, and think they'd never leave you, but he did, and I know I am going to miss him.

For half a century he has been telling about Italy, working for nearly all the main Italian newspaper and writing over 80 books. His career started very early in the 40s, only to be interrupted by the war where he joined the partisans force in their fight against the nazi-fascists. This experience would mark him indelibly along his career, probably because only who has experience the lack of freedom can value it properly.
In the 60s he started working for RAI, the Italian public broadcaster, where he would sooner or later piss off nearly all political parties, probably because as he said: "I have only one master: my readers (or my audience)".
Nevertheless he managed to give birth to some of the most popular journalistic progrmaees ever aired in Italy, the most prominent of which was "Il Fatto".

After over 800 episodes, "Il Fatto" was suspended in 2002 after Berlusconi had ordered so. Berlusconi had recently been appointed prime minister at that time, and during an official interview in Sofia, he declared that Biagi had made a "criminal use of public television" and therefore he wasn't "qualified" for working on tv anymore. This speech, later known as "the Bulgarian edict", was very effective, as Biagi was fired from RAI and his program shut down.
In the last episode of "Il Fatto", Biagi said to the audience he didn't know wheter or not the show would keep on running, but yet "it is better to be fired for having said some truths, than to stay under some compromises".
This was his idea of being a journalist, his work ethic, this was him.

Biagi was also known for his quotes, here are a couple that I particularly remember:

"The actual truths, the principles that really counts, are no more than 2 or 3. Those that you were taught by your mother, as a child."

"Dear Italy, because wheter fair or not, this is my country with all his huge qualities and terrible faults."

"I believe freedom is one of the things mankind should appreciate the most. Freedom is like poetry: doesn't need any adjectives, it's freedom..."

Farewell Enzo,

D.

Xmas beer!!!

2007-11-03T01:17:00.000+01:00

Yes, finally it is here! The 2007 julebryg, or christmas beer, has been released.
It tastes exaclty like last year, but hey, this is 2007, it's got to be better ;)!
By the way, I have spent an evening drinking it so I might not be so objective in judging by now...
Strange enough, people were keeping on telling me: "merry xmas!". And I: "happy November the 2nd!". Nevertheless, after some xmas beer it all made more sense :)

Skål,

D.

Italy towards a new middle age (?)

2007-10-24T16:20:00.001+02:00

I have the feeling the current Italian centre-left government is this close to accomplish what it seemed a mission impossible: to make us miss Berlusconi.

Chronically unable to implement any of the electoral campaign statement, so far they have only been able to pass very unpopualar law (among which, a large amnesty after which the number of crime has grown by God knows what percentage...).

The new brilliant idea involves the use of internet, listen up: according to a recent law draft, anyone with a blog or a website has to register it with the ROC, a register of the Communications Authority, produce certificates, pay a tax, even if they provide information without any intention to make money!!! Even worst, the Levi-Prodi law (that's the name of the smartasses who gave birth to it) will put on the same footing publishing companies and private blogs/websites, prescribing that every blog should have a professional jounalist as responsible director.

Internet has more and more become the most important media, tool for accessing knowledge and expressing oneself in a very immediate manner: how many young bloggers will give up facing the newcoming difficulties?
It is assumable that the overwhelming majority would close down. Not surprisingly, no Minister dissociated themselves from this imfamous law draft. As Beppe Grillo put it: "on gagging information, very quietly, these are all in agreement".
This is not a joke, it is not happening in China or in some remote south american dictatorships, it is happening in Italy and now...

If you by any chance feel like doing it, please sign this petition against this monstruosity, my blog among thousands of others will be grateful!

D.

The new boundary of Open Source: Beer!

2007-10-10T08:39:00.002+02:00

Let me state two main assumptions: 1) surely Danes love beers a lot, and 2) Danes have always been avantgardists in the field of open source.

What's the outcome of this? Elementary, Watsons...it's free beer! :D

But I'm not talking about beer for free (sorry to disappoint), but rather free in the sense of freedom, a beer whose recipe is publicly available, as well as the brewing process...in practise nothing more than applying tradional opens source concept to an unconventional (well, formerly so at least!) field such as brewing.

Indeed, this beer draws its inspiration from the Open Source activists among the IT students at Copenhagen University, who are trying to help Danes to quench their thirst by releasing what they called the first open source beer recipe.
It is called "Vores Øl" (i.e. Our Beer), and the recipe, and even more the concept, has proved to be a worldwide hit.
As the project grew bigger and spread beyond Copenhagen and Denmark, the name has evolved into a more international, but surely more understandable "Free Beer".

The recipe and the whole brand of Vores Øl/Free Beer is published under a Creative Commons license, which basically means that anyone can use this recipe to brew their beer or to create a modified version of it (and actually people are also free to earn money from it, as long as they publish the recipe under the same license and credit the original work).

Now excuse me, I am going out to get some kilos of malt and join the cause...

Skål for os!

D.

Links: Free Beer Blog, Vores Øl website

Dansk sprog igen :D

2007-10-08T16:43:00.000+02:00

Hej venner,

i dag er jeg meget glad fordi har lige lavet testen for naæste modul af dansk sprog, og selvfølgelig jeg har bestået...hvor dygtig er jeg!:D

Ok, before you call an exorcist...I have just written that I have passed the test for the next module of Danish language and therefore I can get to upper level!!!

In fact it is quite an achievement, for Danish is a quite hard language, unless you are not Swedish or Norwegian...or even for them, as the video below will prove ;)

If you have ever wondered how Danish sounds like, have a look at it then...

(Perhaps a little disclaimer is needed: it isn't really Danish, perhaps every fourth word, the rest is just Danish-sounding...but if you have lived in Denmark as a foreigner then you will know it isn't far from reality!)

Great isn't? :D

(I shouldn't be laughing 2 much though, as still have to get my way through it...)

Vi ses,

D.

Hard work and no fun :(

2007-10-05T22:35:00.000+02:00

Dilbert: rest of the world

Collegue: me

That's exactly the way I feel in this first october weekend: everybody around dressing up and going to fancy parties while I'm here in my room, about to go to bed, sore and tired after a hellish week of hard work.
I just wanted to write this down and maybe get you all a share of my suffering :P

All right, enough bullshit, time to go to bed.
Next week I'll hopefully be less work addicted and more blog addicted, so stay tuned!

I hope this find you all well, have fun partying :)

D.

My flickr photo album

2007-09-29T15:38:00.000+02:00

Might be that I'm getting a little megalomaniac: I have opened a flickr account where I'll be trying to upload some of the best pictures I'll manage to shoot.

I have been getting closer to this world in the last month, and thanks to a lot of fellow Mac users I have a more insight grip on how to shoot a decent picture.
Well, actually I don't know if I'm quite there yet...

However, as any photographer can tell you, great photography begins where you're in the right place at the right time. And if it goes about that, I might have a word or two to say ;)

So check out my flickr photoset! I've just put a hotlink in the sidebar as well ;)

D.

P.S.: I watched Michael Moore's Sicko yesterday, it's just amazing, get to watch it if you haven't yet ;)

Backpacking in Hamburg

2007-09-24T12:45:00.000+02:00

"I might have been born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg" (John Lennon)

I've just come back from an amazing weekend in Hamburg!

What to say, I'm still dizzy to write properly, but there is one thing I can tell for sure: Hamburg rocks!!! :)

The second largest German city, the city of St. Pauli, Hans Albers, the red light district and much (much) more makes Hamburg a superworthy destination, trust me on that!
Actually, as usual, I got there quite unaware of a lot of things: for example did you know that Hamburg has hundreds of canals, more that Venice and Amsterdam together? Well, it does :).

Diary trip: getting there wasn't quite a problem, it's "just" 5 hours from Odense. Already from the train the sparkling lights of the city, shining over canals and lakes, made the pricey ticket worth. (Reminder: the last 30 minutes I was surrounded by a group of young germans talking loud about the mafia murder in Duisburg, must have been quite a big thing to handle in here).
So I got there and met Andreas, and after a quick and needed stop at the hotel (which was very luckily situated in St. Pauli) we headed, of course, towards the Reeperbahn and the life ;).
The Reeperbahn is the centre of Hamburg's nightlife and, so far, it's the most sinful place I have ever been (except, maybe, for McDonald's :P). But this first night it was just to have a first taste of it, especially through the local beer Astra which I would have ended up drinking quite eagerly ;)

Like hardcore travellers, the morning after we woke up early...and fully exploited the amazing breakfast buffet at the hotel. Life seemed to smile more to me after that.
Sighseeing was the daytime goal, and I got some pics below to prove that I didn't spent my entire time just drinking myself to death :D

(A view of one of the uncountable canals of Hamburg, we luckily had the weather by our side, that made them very charming)

(A view of the Hamburg port, also by the huge Elbe's river bed.I found out that this port is the second biggest in the whole Europe, standing just behind the one in Rotterdam. This pics is actually quite funny cause I guess it's like the portrait Germany has for Italians: grey sky and industrial-like looking: as I saw for myself it's by far the exception rather than the rule)

(Taking some deserved rest at a beach by the Elbe river, despite the weather!!!!)

(This is a pic taken from the top of St. Michaelis tower, standing 132m and one of the tallest in the world...very hard to keep on walking after that!)

(Another pic taken from the tower, they grow plants on the roof, probably to cool down the temperature in summertime...I shot it to remind myself that there are always different ways of doing things)

After an awesome dinner heated up at our new hostel (this would be quite a long story...) it was time to get back to Reeperbahn again, full immersion this time!!! Getting along through tons of flourishing pubs and clubs was a truly amazing experience, after which I realized the deep meaning of "Die große Freiheit", after which one of the main street is named!
And, as a good "Hamburger" would do, at about 5 o'clock we headed towards the old fish market, which I found out not to be so much about fish (in fact you could buy virtually everything in there) but is surely the coolest way to end up a night of clubbing in Hamburg. I took a sandwich with marinated hearings which was as good as needed...

(5.30 am, Andreas and I at Hamburg's fishmarket, the warriors'rest and the coolest of the endings!)

And that's all for now :D

Tschuss!!!!!

D.

German baywatch, or pretty close...

2007-09-21T00:03:00.000+02:00

Hey guys,

here's another all time hilarious video I found. This time dedicated to the German friends that are visiting the blog :P.

By the way, it's no coincidence...cause I am just about to spend the weekend in Germany, Hamburg for the sake of the precision ;)

It's the German second biggest city so I'm really excited, really looking forward to be there (which will be in less than 24 hours now).

Next update on monday, of course.

All the best,

D.

Mac satire

2007-09-17T14:09:00.000+02:00

Hey guys,

I just stumbled upon a youtube video I could not avoid posting, it's damn brilliant! But take it to end, it's not what it may seem like ;)

Enjoy,

D.

Italy, V-Day and the missing pawl

2007-09-11T00:55:00.001+02:00

Last saturday, in about 220 Italian cities the V-Day took place.
Beppe Grillo, whose blog you can find on the leftbar links, was the main organizer and eventer of the day.
Something in between the D-Day of the landing in Normandy and a big vaffanculo (which I believe being so international not to need any translation) it was a day where tons of my fellow compatriots gathered to demonstrate against the 25 (25!) convicted MPs sitting in the Italian Parliament. If you add the ones who only had first grade conviction or whose trial is still running the number grows up to 80.

As higly predictable, the event had very little or no media coverage; nevertheless millions of people were demonstrating and some major accomplishments have been achieved: most prominent, 300.000 signatures were obtained for the introducing a bill of law for forbidding election of proved guilty politicians in the parliament and for the reform of the current electoral law, which doesn't actually allow people to choose the candidate they would go for, but only the party, with the candidates being listed beoforehand by the parties leader. Despite the premises, the V-Day was a great success, in terms of partecipation at least. I wouldn't be so optimistic about the Parliament passing the law bill, at least in a reasonable time, but we will see about that.

But here, following the dem. from far away, I was actually wondering: why was it necessary?

In other European countries I know, a MP involved in a scandal or, even worst, convicetd for a crime, would immediately resign. Sadly, in Italy it just ain't so.
It is like something is missing, a missing pawl that you may either name "shame" or "respect for voters" or simply "responsibility". It is hard to say where this pawl should be located in the whole machine, or where it is located in other democracies.

Just to make some examples (very few, otherwise this post is going to be as long as hell), Cesare Previti
, several times under trials and convicted for many crimes, once openly admitted he had done tax-dodging. When he said that, he was a minister of the first Berlusconi's government in 1994 but, of course, he didn't resign. Former governor of Banca d'Italia, Antonio Fazio, kept his seat for several months after his absolutely unfair relations with many Italian bankers were revealed. the old Mp Gustavo Selva once hijacked an ambulance for his own purposes (getting in time to a talk show!), first lying and then threatening the doctors and attendants, committing at least a crime. But he didn't resign.
This summer another MP, the ultra catholic Cosimo Mele, was found in an hotel room with two whores and a lot of cocaine. Well, prostitution isn't illegal, but drug is. Guess what? He's still there.
The examples would be countless. Media talk about these things, but those people just don't feel like they should answer or give explanations of any sort. I would bet in Denmark, or Germany, or UK, or France, discovering such things would have immediately brought to resigning.

Why is it then different in Italy? What's the missing pawl?

I think it would be a way too simple to say they're different cultures and the likes. Let's put it this way: if, say, a British MP was found while enjoying himself with whores and cocaine, why would he feel forced to resign? What mechanism would push him towards getting on his way home?

First of all, I think the Parliament wouldn't stand on his side but rather start an inquiry, exposing the MP to a serie of humiliating procedures. Then, I assume there would be pressures from his own party, willing to get rid of a person potentially noxious for the party's image before voters (this happened, for example, to German former Chancellor Helmut Kohl when he was involved in a finance scandal - and that was the guy who reunified the country!). So, he would most likely be spontaneously marginalized by his own collegues, rather than comforted like somebody who had a little accident!

And, last but not least, the media would tear him apart every day, until resignment. This should be the traditional role of medias, that of being the fierce but true expression of people's outrage.
There we go: maybe that's what Italy is mostly missing: aggressive, cynical and straight media, the guard dog of popular justice. Maybe populist, but without partialities, truly reflecting the citizens' feelings.
Next to, comes naturally, an electoral law where the voters, and no the parties, are to decide who is going to represent them.

Well, the V-Day was a success though, and that's what counts for now ;)

D.

South Tirol 1 - Microsoft 0

2007-09-06T13:12:00.000+02:00

Adopting open source software instead of paying royalties to Microsoft is a fantastic money-saving practise both for companies and public bodies. The reason why isn't adopted everywhere, I must admit, is still kind of arcane to me.
Now, Italy hasn't really been very active in terms of switching towards free software, despite several drafts of laws have been running on the table.

It seems natural then, to emphasize the good news, like the one in the video above, all the Italian speaking schools in Bolzano, South Tirol have adopted free sofware (I guess they mostly refer to the Open Office suite), allowing them to save up to 270.000 euro per year. Not bad, hu?

D.

Interrail report, Part 3

2007-08-30T23:34:00.001+02:00

3rd part: Leipzig

The roaring ICE got me to Leipzig in no time and I met Fabian who was at the station reading a huge book by some unknown English writer...it's nice to see that some things just stay the same :)
After a refreshing and very needed halt at his place we get to the city and start exploring...Leipzig is a very particular city, the first thing I noticed was the dozens of work-in-progress around the city, construction sites of various sizes were to be found nearly everywhere either renovating old turn-of-century style buildings or getting new things done.

Despite Leipzig was formerly part of the DDR, I didn't have the impression that it has affected its look too deeply: soviet style blocks, for example, are relatively rare, and anyway they didn't look too bad; I mean, I know quarters in Sicily that look WAY worst despite 60 ys of democracy...but ok, Germany is Germany after all!
Rather, this very nice mix of different styles gives the city a very pleasant taste...

(A view of the city from the top of the highest skyscraper, breathtaking...)

The center was very lively, with many clubs, bar and elegant shops scattered all through. The Cathedral of St. Thomas and surroundings were pretty nice and surrounded by fantastic spots. I couldn't avoid taking a picture with the famous statue of Bach, who is a big Leipzig icon cause he spend much of his life there.

(The famous statue of J. S. Bach next to the Cathedral, St. Thomas, where he worked for many years...)

For some arcane reasons, they don't seem to give a damn about Wagner, who is instead born and raised in Leipzig, apart from a louzy poster I saw somewhere there was no trace of him, who knows...

Nevertheless, if you asked me the most valuable icon of the city would be by far the Bratwurst, a true concentrate of goodness sold nearly everywhere for 1 euro, I couldn't believe my eyes!

(Me with a dickface standing before the Völkerschlachtdenkmal, that is a colossal memorial for the defeat of Napoleon near Leipzig, in 1813)

Apart from jokes, what really makes Leipzig charming is its student life, even though I didn't see it really crowded with people reading frantically and the like (it was still august), but the number of posters, ads, bookstores, bikes and people's faces unmistakably characterise it as a fantastic university city...in this respect I found very similar to Bologna, and it's maybe not a coincidence that these two cities have a twinning agreement since many years, as I found out later on.

Unfortunately I didn't really experience the nightlife in Leipzig which seemed very promising, I wasn't feeling too good and so...well, it's also nice when you have reason to come back ;)

(Leipzig had plenty of nice spots...)

And that was it! Leipzig was the most deserving of the endings I could have wished for my journey, but still an end. Sunday, the last two ICEs brought me back to Denmark and to reality; a little nostalgy seems to raise already, but I enjoy the great feeling I always have when coming back from a journey...

One thing I know for sure: next year I go interrailing again!!!

P.S: I was nearly about ot forget...for whoever might be interested, and especially for my memory not to fade away, here is the complete itinerary of my first interrail:

17/08: TRAPANI (!), Palermo, Torino, Savona, Ventimiglia, Nice, Marseille.
18/08: Montpellier.
19/08: Montpellier, Montferrier sur Lez, St. Maries de la mer.
20/08: Montpellier, Paris, Stuttgart
21/08: Munich, Burghausen, Ach, Duttendorf.
22/08: Burghausen.
23/08: Burghausen, Munich, Nurimberg, Leipzig.
24/08: Leipzig.
25/08: Leipzig.
26/08: Leipzig, Hamburg, Ringsted, Odense.

And let’s c what’ll come next!

Cheers,

D.

Interrail report, Part 2

2007-08-30T22:15:00.002+02:00

2nd part: Bavaria

I met Andreas right at the Munich central station…he was quite surprised to see me not only on time but even before the expected time (must not be so common with Italians), because in fact I was supposed to arrive with a following train…
After I got rid of my heavy burden at the luggage depot we head towards the city, quick cappuccino and then sightseeing through Munich…which I found really great: elegant, monumental, commercial, green, Munich has all this and more. Relaxing walk through the English garden, and then I got introduced to one of the most enviable Bavarian invention: the Beer Garden (Biergarten).

(Getting around Munich...the two towers of the cathedral, Frauenkirche)

(A view of the National Theatre and, below, the neighbouring square)

After such a nice experience I though I could only go down, but the best was still yet to come…we jumped to the train and head towards the place I was going to spend the following two days: Burghausen.
I must say it, Burghusen was maybe the most beautiful leg of my journey…I didn’t really know what to expect from such a small place but eventually I fell for it!
Situated on an hill alongside the river Salzach, this medieval city is mostly famous for hosting the longest castle in Europe. Towering the city (“la ville souterraine”, as Napoleon said once he climbed up), the charm of the castle was nearly…mystic to me, truly unforgettable.

(I must admit it, I didn’t take this pic…but wasn’t it worth putting it…?)

Last but not least, Burghausen is also an outpost to Austria, was just enough to walk a bridge and found myself in the land of Mozart and Karl Popper, I even managed to put my footprints in two cities, Ach and Duttendorf…quite an achievement :)

(Curious enough, visiting a monastery close to Burghausen, I found this Christ holding a Danish flag, still haven't figured what might mean...)

Burghausen is a veritable fairytale place, I should consider moving there in my elderness...however, since I am still young and fresh, after three days I pull myself together and jumped into a roaring ICE and left: destination Leipzig, the former DDR was waiting for me to come...

To be continued

Interrail report, Part 1

2007-08-30T13:51:00.000+02:00

Do you all know what’s InterRail, right? I bet you all do but for those who shouldn’t, it is a train pass that allows you to take every train around Europe (almost) unlimitedly for a certain period of time. Like the idea? If so, you are in very good company, as the program has been running since 1972 and has a huge number of travellers per year.

Seen the premises…the time had come! After listening thousands of stories, rumors, enthusiastic (and boombastic) comments I was more than ready to have an Interrail myself, so I got my stuff on the shoulder and left! Of course there are many reasons why somebody would go interrailing: some go for sightseeing, others for meeting new people, tasting the adventure and the like.
My reasons were essentially three: I have been wanting to visit France and Germany for long time without having time to do it, it was an handy way to see some old friends, I wanted to come back to Denmark in a cheap and funny way.
Like a rolling stone…but with a direction home :D. (This is terrible, I know)

1st part: Languedoc – Roussillon

The first day of travel…full of hopes and dreams I flew to Turin, my native city which I must find time to discover at some point, by train to Savona and then Ventimiglia (right at the border with France). Crossing the border from Ventimiglia (despite Italian train officers did their best to spoil my optimism) was very nice: just a very long tunnel through the Alps and suddenly you are in France…the Riviera is charming from the train window too and very soon I got to Nice. Art-nouvau, pastel colors buildings made clear I was not in Italy any longer, the cleanliness strengthen this impression. But I had no real time to waste, had to get to Montpellier and was still a long way to go…then panic: no more trains going to Montpellier for the day, the best I can get is a train going to Marseille and of course I jump on it as fast as I can…in Marseille Mag came to pick me up, and seeing her face was for me a sign that god actually exists after all :D. After a quick tour of Marseille by night, enough to enjoy the lively and elegant peer area, we head to Montferrier where as soon as I saw the bed I fall asleep…or I should rather say I passed out.

The following three days were just enough to discover the natural beauties of the Montpellier area: the beautiful mountain city of Montferrier sur Lez, built on the top of an ancient volcano, towers the neighborhood and with its basalt fortifications forms a very charming mix with the surrounding nature; Montpellier was a city of very unexpected (to me, how ignorant ;)) beauty, extraordinary elegant buildings (which I found out to be due to a megalomaniac mayor…ambition is not at all bad though) that could very well be those of a capital, are balanced by a very Mediterranean atmosphere in the little streets of the center, which could very well be a cleaner version of Palermo.

(Montpellier, the beautiful Cathedral of St. Peter. Below, a view of the Regional Council palace...)

Moving forward to east, I visited the town of Saintes Maries de la mer, deep inside the region called La Camargue, an area of great natural value embedded between the river Rhone and the Mediterranean sea…which is also famous for its “courses camarguaises”, a local version of the corrida where the bulls are not to be killed (ah, civilization!). Interesting enough, Saintes Maries de la mer is a pilgrimage site for gypsies, very devoted to Mary and thus…

(In Saintes Maries de la mer we found time to keep an old tradition going...)

After three days of gorgeous sites, dinners and conversation in French (which I am very proud of!!!) I was toughened enough to continue my journey, it was time to head towards the Teutons and so I jumped towards a TGV (Montpellier-Paris, i.e. the whole country in 4 hours, fantastic…) to Paris and then to Munich…au revoir France, a bientôt!

To be continued...;)

Summer ending thoughts

2007-08-26T20:56:00.001+02:00

Hi there!

Looks like a hundreds years I haven’t been writing on my little internet space…sorry for the long absence, Sicilian life :) has swallowed me completely and being without steady internet connection surely didn’t help me…but now I am heading back “home” (well, adoptive home at least) to Odense where a new semester full of everything is waiting for me.
In fact I am typing this post directly on the train getting me from Hamburg to Odense (all the trains seats are equipped with plug-in, and there is wireless connection nearly everywhere…God bless the Germanic nations!).
Should you be wondering why the hell did I end up in northern Germany…well, the reason is that I am still, for the last day, formally on Interrail, a ten days trip that has driven me towards fantastic spots across Europe, a unique experience that I advice you all to do! Too much for a single post though :P, but it’s definitely going to be the topic of my next one!

Tschüss,

D.

Sad recurrence

2007-07-19T19:10:00.001+02:00

July, the 17th of 1992, Paolo Borsellino was killed in Palermo, blown up by a bomb put under his car.

I am not sure you know all know who I am talking about: He was an Italian prosecutor committing his life to fight against the Sicilian mafia, major contributor, together with Giovanni Falcone, to what was named "Maxi-Trial".

Shortly before being murdered, he released an interview to a French tv, where he pointed at Berlusconi, who was not yet a politician back then (good old times!) and its several holdings as possible hubs for reciclying mafia money. A shortened version of the interview was played only once at about midnight, on a RAI satellite channel and never showed again...no other channels showed any interested in buying the tape, but that's how it goes.

Weren't they interested, where they afraid? In any case, Borsellino was murdered by a car bomb.

He once said: the one who fears, dies every day, the one who doesn't only once.

Chapeau,

D.

One year ago from today...

2007-07-09T18:53:00.000+02:00

Hey guys,

I'm sorry but without internet connection blogging's kind of hard! However, I couldn't have avoided celebrating this date: 9th july, one year from now...Italy on the roof of the world!

One year from now and still partying, in many ways...if it is true that every generation shared myths, this is what this last world title has been for mine!

So funny, Italy always seems to be in total disarray (in all senses) but never like that day I felt like proud of being Italian...illusory feelings of course, but shared with all the people around it was simply unforgettable...power of football!

The video is the most enjoyable I could find (to my taste of course), enjoy and stand up for the champions!

Davide

Vi ses senere, Odense!

2007-06-29T02:54:00.001+02:00

Hey guys,

this will be very likely to be my last post from Odense, for this semester at least...I am leaving soon towards new thrilling adventure and amazing locations.

Well, in fact I am just going for summer holidays to Sicily...isn't that an amazing location? And I am working on the thrilling adventures...so keep visiting the blog, cause I certainly won't stop writing!

For a change, I am leaving quite overjoyfully as I eventually succeded in finding a great flat where I look forward to settle, and also because I had my last-minute lucky strike: I was offered a part-time job at my university as tutor for the newcoming students, needless to say, I accepted immediately!!!

But it's still job anyway, and that's the last of my thoughts right now, in fact this is pretty much how my horizon for the next month and a half will look like ;)

The picure portraits Cala Rossa in the isle of Favignana

Not bad, hu?

So...what can I say more? I hope you are all in vacation already and have fun from dusk til down ;)

Enjoy yourselves and take care,

D.