Fribourg (CH): the City of Fairies

Maybe because it was the first weekend with Stasia after a long break. Maybe because Fribourg surprised us with its many bridges and its vibrant middle age architecture. Maybe because snow makes every landscape unforgettable or just because on the way to the the mountains we got lost among ice palaces and fluo gardens of Karl Neuhaus’ Eis Paläste …

Maybe because of all of this, we had a very magic Sunday Check out our pictures here!

Cheap money-driven systems always win, but at what price?

Think about living during the culprit of a “money-driven system”, where every product could gain its place in the world just because of its low price and its large public acceptance. High prices would play against the buying power of the majority. As well, niche, peculiar products would guarantee no high incomes.

Would we lose anything by producing everything by following these few restrictions?

What if art and culture learned the same rules? What if medicine and science looked for profit instead of health care and research? What if the working class had to renounce to its rights to keep prices low? What if technology wasted its power to satisfy markets and not innovation? What if media followed audience levels instead of increasing everybody consciousness? What if politics substituted their public agenda with populist initiatives?

Only God knows how such society could survive!

Not every microwave oven is fit for cooking (good)

I do not cook in microwaves but I needed to quickly warm up a small amount of water around 40 to 50°C. By using a modern and cheap microwave set at minimum I simply could not do it: water was not at all heated or it reached 80 to 90°C in a couple of seconds. By repeating the same “experiment” with an old and more expensive microwave oven I could obtain what I wanted.

This revealed me something I did not know: there are two classes of microwave ovens. The cheaper ones seem to heat the food by strong and fixed microwave impulses: what you change with the “power” wheel is just the timing (or frequency) of the impulses. The more expensive microwave ovens permit the user to regulate the power of each impulse, therefore heating up constantly the food to be cooked.

Although every microwave user I know replied to my amazing discover with “Anyway, I do not use it for cooking” (???) – keep in mind this difference. I suppose cooking by bursting impulses or by slow heating make a big quality difference at the end!

Scarica il formulario ONLINE contro il pagamento di parcheggi strisce blu irregolari nella carreggiata (Articolo 7, comma 6 del Nuovo Codice della Strada)

Se le Iene hanno ragione, come la Moratti sembra confermare, diamo una mano al Comune (di Milano e non solo). Esponete dietro al parabrezza questo documento quando parcheggiate su parcheggi irregolari (ovvero contro la legge) a strisce blu e avvertite delle vostre buone intenzioni il pubblico ufficiale che vorrebbe multarvi.

Miglioriamo la qualita’ della vita del nostro Comune! Meno carta per le multe, meno ricorsi da far pagare, meno avvocati da interpellare!

Clicca qui col tasto destro del mouse e scegli “Salva destinazione con nome” per salvare il documento .pdf sul tuo pc. Hai bisogno di Adobe Reader per aprire e stampare il documento.

My first HDR picture: better CS4 or Photomatix Pro?

It is always good having Kelby’s CS4 book available in the most quiet room of the flat … a new trick learned today! Look at the CS4 manipulated picture and at the automatic work of Photomatix Pro (or just click on the post summary picture): which one do you prefer? Although I feel Photomatix Pro did its job, I find more original the manual settings I went through with CS4. Anyway, this is probably not the best subject for bracketing and HDRing, I will try tomorrow with the sun light!

Incapacita’ e arroganza delle ambasciate italiane all’estero

Gia’ scrissi della grossa incompetenza e supponenza che alberga nelle ambasciate / consolati italiani con le quali ho avuto mio malgrado a che fare. Sia come Italiano, che come straniero, il malaugurato che debba richiedere servizi alle ambasciate italiane all’estero perdera’ tempo, pazienza e soprattutto dignita’.

Ora sembra che per questioni ben piu’ gravi che il rinnovo di documenti, le ambasciate italiane in Egitto e Libia si comportino ancora peggio, lasciando i malcapitati Italiani all’estero allo sbaraglio e in pericolo di vita. Se vogliamo migliorare l’Italia, iniziamo dal ripulire le ambasciate dagli incapaci che le occupano.

How to properly seduce a Swiss girl [SOLVED]! With 15 brand new Italian tips for a successful date!

Last week “Friday” issue (the weekend magazine of 20 minutes) revealed (in German only!) how a Swiss girl should behave to successfully approach a boy (oh, yeah!). I translate you the most important points in English, so that even you, passionate non-German speakers, will finally know how to conquer the heart of the Swiss girl of your dreams (or of your one night) !

Below are the translated dating-tips for Swiss girls: read and understand Swiss girls doubts and expectancies and turn any occasion to your favour! In case you need additional help, read below each point the “Lorana Tip for boys” to be a sure winner!

Gheddafi: chi i Carabinieri ferisce, dei Carabinieri perisce?

Ricordo il disgusto che provai nel vedere le Forze Armate italiane rendere omaggio a Gheddafi il dittatore libico, quando venne a piantar la tenda in Italia in agosto 2010. Oggi leggo che La Russa appronta unita’ italiane da spedire in Libia, si spera non a difesa del rais…

PS Molti colleghi svizzeri vorrebbero invitare il dittatore a richiedere asilo politico assieme al figlio

Amazing Metro 2033: best PC game I ever played!

1. It is not only a first person shooter … it is an adventure too: there are several actions to perform in addition to shooting
2. It is an incredibly catching story (I would like to read the book now)
3. It has super graphics and more than realistic environments and it played totally smooth on my PC with settings at their best
4. It is in Russian with English subtitles and Russian voices are wonderfully acted
5. There are tons of weapons to choose from… and tons of monsters and humans to shoot at
6. It has spectacular moments in action with amazing camera views and quick choices to be taken
7. It has totally different strategies when playing alone or in squads
8. Your choice to shoot or not: you can survive even without ammo in some situations, just sneak and run
9. You have to search constantly for ammo thus pushing you to explore the full environment
10. The end is totally satisfactory after so many hours passed playing it – although I was surprised I was not automatically moved to the last chapter (ethereal) which I found more or less by chance.
11. There are even two alternative ends, it’s all on you to decide for which one.

What do you need more? Buy it buy it! Be sure having  a good PC to run it.

P.S. Thanks Mark for suggesting this game to me!

Italy declares war to Afghanistan: Italy is at war, who cares.

After what Espresso and Repubblica published yesterday in Italian language, I expected today no more underaged-prostitutes-of-the-President on newspaper first pages. I was wrong, of course.

I was naive enough to believe that reading about Italy at war against Afghanistan would have been a shock for most of the Italians (this post youtube video – in English – is online since 9.11.2010, by the way).

It seems no Italian cares for Italy being at war in denial in Afghanistan, despite the 11th article of the Italian Constitution clearly says Italy cannot go to war to solve international conflicts.

I propose printing the Italian Constitution on toilet paper: its actual usage will not change, but maybe more Italians will read it…