Rome… Once again

Tomorrow I’ll be in Rome for working reason, of course… Despite the duties and activities to do there, I hope that, at least this time, we’ll get the chance to have a small tour to our beloved Rome.

I hope as well that this time no metro-accident will occour, otherwise I’ll be definitely banned from there!

See You in two days!

What’s wrong?

I was lieing on my sofa and I was thinking about what it’s going on around me. There are politicians that do not represent the people that voted for them; there are people who vote for politicians not representing them. There are teeagers raping classmates and recording the scene for uploading it on the Internet; there is a famous singer who is going to make an hard-movie and send it to the Internet; there are teachers threatened by pupil; there are pupils gagged by theachers; there are TV programs, called reality, that show a reality completely different from the real life; there are people defining themselves agaisnt the war but acting like soldiers.

What’s wrong? Is the world around us really like that or is it just what someone wants to make us to believe? Are the media creating it or, really, it is like that?

If it is, well, let me scream!

BOOKCROSSING

Uhm… I didn’t know about this hobby. It means of a tracking system for books. As far as I understood, the subscribers can leave books around the world, the important thing is that, before leaving them, the books are signed with a code. If someone finds that book can report it on the www.bookcrossing.com.

I don’t know anybody who has used this website. To be honest I don’t know if I’d use it… I care too much about my books for leaving them around alone waiting for someone.

On the other hand it can be a chance to exchange opinions and suggestion about books… Maybe I’ll try using one of the latest Ken Follet’s books… Not a big loss…

Addio Elena

Volevo usare questo spazio per dare l’ultimo saluto ad una mia cara amica, anzi… credo non si offenderebbe se dicessi una seconda sorella maggiore.

Volevo ringraziarla per essere sempre stata fedele a se’ stessa.

Le volevo bene e so che lei ne voleva a me.

Un grosso abbraccio, carissima Elena, e addio.

3rd generation and further..

Well… I thought that the UMTS 3rd generation mobile phones were not yet a standard for the market. I was wrong or at least a bit behind. The new frontier of the mobile communication is (at least in Europe) represented by the HDSPA (high-speed downlink packet access).

The main improvement, as far I have understood up to now, corresponds in the “Adptative Modulation and Coding”. The communication starts with a common QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying), if the channel’s SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) gets better then the modulation scheme is switched to a 16-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation). Also the coding scheme changes accordingly to the SNR, decreasing the redundancy as the SNR increases. Last improvement I heard about is that the retransmission of lost packets that is charged to the cell station…

Faster, of course, but which are our real needs? Do we really use the videocall? Do we really want to watch the television on the 2″ mobile phone display? I have an UMTS phone, I’ve tried the videocall only once (the same day I got, for free, my new phone), after that time I haven’t use it anymore. It means that I don’t need it, otherwise I’d have used it all the times I made a call.

Is it possible that more and more is not the need that creates the market, but the market that creates needs?!?!? I really have a difficulties in trying to understand it…

Guccini Francesco

Venerdi’ sera ho assistito ad un altro concerto di Francesco Guccini. Gia’ un altro. Sara’ la terza o quarta volta che vado a sentirlo cantare (e non solo…). Ma perche’ un trentenne dovrebbe andare ad ascoltare l’oramai 66enne Guccini? Beh, Guccini lo si va ad ascolatre perche’, quando inizia lo spettacolo, non si ha di fronte qualcuno che ti dice “Buonasera” e alla fine del concerto ti dice “Grazie”. Andare ad ascoltare Guccini significa aver voglia di una serata all’osteria, dove con qualche amico te le vai a cantare.

Il clima, insomma, non e’ quello del grande evento, ma di una tranquilla riunione di amici. Forse l’unica pecca consiste proprio nel fatto che alcuni “amici” confondono la riunione con un’occasione per lo sballo, rovinando, in parte, il clima. Ma questa e’ un’altra storia…

Per quanto riguarda il concerto in se’, la scaletta ha proposto un’enorme quantita’ di classici: Dio e’ morto, Auschwitz, Incontro, Eskimo, Farewell, La locomotiva, etc. etc. Insomma, pensate a tutte le piu’ famose di Guccini, ecco… Le ha cantate.

Insomma… Un gran bel concerto, con un Guccio in grande spolvero!

Life is unfair

This article it’s not about an opinion, but it’s a matter of fact. Life is definitely unfair.

I challange the whole Word to tell me something which is fair over this f…ing planet. Tell me one, I said only one, thing that is fair!!!

Is it possible that people that have suffered go on suffering, while people, that don’t even know what the sufference is, go on smoothly?

That nobody comes to me saying that there’s another life!!!!!!!

Sorry for the personal outlet…

Wikipedia…

I do not hide that the first source of information that I use on the Web is Wikipedia. It’s a kind of free encyclopedia, where everybody can leave information about any argument.

To be honest, I can say that, concerning matters that I (more or less) know, I’ve never found big mistakes. On the contrary I’ve found very deep and precise descriptions about things that I had forgotten… (I’m getting older and older)

In that cases, anyway, I had the possibility to evaluate either the information I got were right (or at least likely) or not reliable. But what could I say about something I do not know at all?

It’s definitely a good thing to have a free, huge and always available information source, but, I think, it’s essential to be prone and willing to check whether they are true or not!

What do You think about that?

Save The BIT!

Speaking to a friend of mine, Loranablog tender (http://loranablog.wordpress.com), I’ve been told that nowadays in biology when an experiment has to be done, it’s repeated very few times if it involves animals; when plants are used, the experiment can be repeated about ten/twenty times.

Then I started to think about the simulation I did during my thesis job… and I realized that I’ve killed Bilions of poor Bits, that could bring information around the World improving the whole human race’s knowledge. I feel guilty! (Ops… If You have time, read the Shannon’s article about “Information Theory” – It’s quite easy, if You know some math, and very interesting).

Now I repent of it. I know that there are hundreds of organization that are against the exlpoitation of animals or plants… From my point of view is worth to consider also the slaugther of bits! That’s the reason because I’d like to found the S.B.A. (Save the Bits Association).

I’m searching for subscribers!!!

My God! This Flu is stronger than I thought!

Old Movies

As You know… I’m sick at home, nothing serious, just a normal (and boring) Flu. Anyway, I was at home today and I got the chance to see one of those wonderful movies made when actors were actors and actreeses were actresses.

The movie I’m refering to is “Breakfast at Tiffany”. I really like Audrey Hepburn… Unfortunately I don’t see around many movies like that one, may someone give me some suggestion?