tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70814267128839648392023-11-15T23:38:28.588-08:00An Insiders View of ItalyItalians are wonderful people, with a rich history. Having lived in Florence, Rome and Genoa I decided to become an Italian by choice. Here's the way I see it.Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-81583716592472211172010-11-09T12:28:00.001-08:002010-11-09T12:28:49.245-08:00Mario Lanza - Arrivederci RomaOne of my favorite versions of this classical Italian song<br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OaVVSuwO50A?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OaVVSuwO50A?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-37706678132534367382010-10-19T06:05:00.000-07:002010-10-19T06:05:37.288-07:00The Geometry of Pasta<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBABiFOwUPtBK07mY7hX1VwhZBVk3F3AJVouZ08XaPLKbWmbZMWcNcaJPT3Qs6urpsKLgmTyTQJMxufmN6ZufEMET9KaQxfHtu4olLTAqr7u0PkHpV4ujbMj6W57mtdhKGVG7AcmpM7OQ/s1600/18_GEOMETRY-PASTA-BOOK_MCT.standalone.prod_affiliate.91.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBABiFOwUPtBK07mY7hX1VwhZBVk3F3AJVouZ08XaPLKbWmbZMWcNcaJPT3Qs6urpsKLgmTyTQJMxufmN6ZufEMET9KaQxfHtu4olLTAqr7u0PkHpV4ujbMj6W57mtdhKGVG7AcmpM7OQ/s400/18_GEOMETRY-PASTA-BOOK_MCT.standalone.prod_affiliate.91.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial;" type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font: normal normal normal medium/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><div id="story_body"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Most cookbooks are replete with photographs to whet the appetite. Sauces drip from pasta-laden forks, and you can feed a squad of hungry soldiers with a single spaghetti recipe.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">"The Geometry of Pasta," by Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy, is the antithesis of this. This unassuming book has no photographs. The cover design and black-and-white illustrations of pasta — from shells to spaghetti to egg noodles — are by Hildebrand, an award-winning British graphic designer.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Turns out the book doesn't need mouthwatering pictures and huge portions to be extremely tasty.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">"People have been making pasta for thousands of years ... and they've had a long time to get it right. There have been a lot of learning and practice. Lots of people have done the legwork," Kenedy says in a phone interview. "There's a lot more value to be looking back before deciding how to step forward with cuisine than just trying to step ahead in the future."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Kenedy spent several years going through Italy, collecting pasta recipes from dozens of cooks, mastering them and now serving them at Bocca Di Lupo, a restaurant in London's Soho district where he is the owner and chef.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">"Geometry" starts very basic - such as how to create three basic tomato sauces from scratch - then dives into more exotic recipes. While most of the ingredients can be found at the local grocery, Whole Foods or a gourmet market is your friend when you're searching out buffalo milk mozzarella for the Penne al Forno.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">The recipes can appear unhealthy, but Kenedy points out "the quantities of butter, oil and cream can be halved to produce a healthier more domestic version of any of the dishes," and, he adds, that applies to the amount of salt as well.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">The book stemmed from Hildebrand's fascination with different shapes and sizes of pasta and how they suited various sauces and recipes.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">"What's so lovely about pasta is that a lot of the shapes do echo things that have influenced the pasta makers, whether they are shells or indeed crankshafts. They really are food imitating life," said Hildebrand, who has designed best-selling cookbooks. "What we found when we researched is that they really are products of their time. You can date their provenance to what was happening in industrial advances or natural things, which seems like a crazy thing to say about pasta."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">For example, dischi volanti, or "flying saucers," was designed in 1947 after a reported UFO sighting in the U.S. skies.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Finally, if you want to learn Italian, this is a place to start. Bigoli, cappelletti, gramigne, canederli, lumache and orecchiette are names that might not come tripping off the tongue of a casual eater of pasta more used to spaghetti, lasagna and tortellini, but don't worry — "The Geometry of Pasta" covers them too.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Deliciously. ___</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Capelli D'Angelo al Burro e Limone</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">{ pound capelli d'angelo (angel's hair) pasta 1/3 cup butter Grated zest of 1 lemon A grating of nutmeg A few drops of lemon juice A little grated Parmesan, to serve A few basil leaves (optional)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">While the capelli d'angelo (angel hair pasta) is cooking, pour about 1 cup of the cooking water into a pan and boil, swirling in the butter. Add the lemon zest, nutmeg and a little pepper and salt if needed. Allow to reduce to the consistency of light cream (add water if it goes too far), then add the pasta (drained and, as ever, slightly on the undercooked side.) Stir in and add a very few drops of lemon juice to taste.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Serve with a little Parmesan. A few basil leaves, stirred in at the same time as the lemon juice, are a pleasant addition. Roughly four servings. (I recommend adding the basil.)</div></div></span></span></span></div></div></span></blockquote>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-4595731160379956872010-09-21T09:24:00.000-07:002010-09-21T09:24:14.930-07:00Vatican Bank faces Money-laundering ProbeRome, Italy (CNN) -- Italian authorities are investigating the Vatican Bank over possible violations of money laundering regulations, the Bank of Italy told CNN Tuesday.<br />
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Another Italian bank alerted Bank of Italy investigators to two Vatican Bank transactions that did not appear to comply with anti-money laundering requirements, the Bank of Italy said.<br />
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When Bank of Italy investigators told legal authorities about the transactions, they were told that judicial authorities were already investigating the Vatican Bank, the Bank of Italy said.<br />
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The Vatican said Tuesday it is "perplexed and baffled" by the public prosecutor's actions, and the Holy See aims for "complete transparency" in its financial operations.<br />
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The Vatican said it has "full trust" in Ettore Tedeschi, the head of the bank -- which is officially known as the Istituto per le Opere di Religione.<br />
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The Bank of Italy investigation was prompted by two wire transfers which the Vatican Bank asked Credito Artigiano to carry out, the Bank of Italy said.<br />
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The Vatican Bank did not provide enough information about the transfers -- one for 20 million euros (about $26 million), and one for 3 million euros (about $4 million) -- to comply with the law, prompting the Bank of Italy to suspend them automatically, it said.<br />
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The Vatican Bank is subject to particularly stringent anti-money laundering regulations because Italian law does not consider it to operate within the European Union.<br />
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It must supply more detailed information about transactions than European Union banks have to give.<br />
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Source: CNN<br />
CNN's Hada Messia in Rome, Italy, contributed to this report.Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-89028286268940254472010-09-15T03:37:00.000-07:002010-09-15T03:37:51.348-07:00Mafia Arrests Reveal Mob was "Going Green"Police in Italy have seized Mafia-linked assets worth $1.9 billion – the biggest mob haul ever – in an operation revealing that the crime group was trying to "go green" by laundering money through alternative energy companies.<br />
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Investigators said the assets included more than 40 companies, hundreds of parcels of land, buildings, factories, bank accounts, stocks, fast cars and luxury yachts.<br />
Most of the seized assets were located in Sicily, home of the Cosa Nostra, and in southern Calabria, home of its sister crime organisation, the 'Ndrangheta.<br />
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At the centre of the investigation was Sicilian businessman Vito Nicastri, 54, a man known as the "Lord of the Wind" because of his vast holdings in alternative energy concerns, mostly wind farms.<br />
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni called the operation "the largest seizure ever made" against the Mafia.<br />
General Antonio Girone, head of the national anti-Mafia agency DIA, said Nicastri was linked to Matteo Messina Denaro, believed to be Mafia's current "boss of bosses".<br />
Investigators said Nicastri's companies ran numerous wind farms as well as factories that produced solar energy panels.<br />
"It's no surprise that the Sicilian Mafia was infiltrating profitable areas like wind and solar energy," Palermo magistrate Francesco Messineo told a news conference.<br />
Officials said the operation was based on a 2,400-page investigative report and followed the arrest of Nicastri last year.<br />
Senator Costantino Garraffa, a member of the parliamentary anti-Mafia committee, said the Mafia was trying to break into the "new economy," of alternative energy as it sought out virgin ventures to launder money from drugs and other rackets.<br />
In the past few years, Italian authorities have cracked down hard on the crime group that once terrified the country.<br />
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The cupola, or hierarchy, of the Sicilian Mafia has been in freefall since the mid-1990s, when police began arresting its most enigmatic and charismatic bosses.<br />
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Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, who had declared war on the state and ordered a string of killings, bombings and kidnappings, was arrested in 1993 after nearly a quarter of a century on the run.<br />
His successor, Bernardo Provenzano, was captured in 2006 after 43 years on the run. Both Riina and Provenzano hailed from Corleone, the hill town near Palermo made famous by the Godfather movies.<br />
Provenzano was succeeded by Salvatore "The Baron" Lo Piccolo, who was in turn arrested a year later in 2007.<br />
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Police say the circle is now closing in on Messina Denaro, who hails from the grim western Sicilian town of Castelvetrano and is known as the "Playboy Boss" because he likes fast cars, women and gold watches. He has been on the run since 1993.Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-85086229830259678712010-08-05T02:51:00.000-07:002010-08-05T02:51:22.691-07:00Video of an Italian Mountain CollapsingHere is a very interesting video that shows the collapse of an Italian mountain. As far as we can tell this story did not appear in the news - nor could we find out exactly where this took place ... but from the video you can see clearly that this is an actual event.<br />
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Who knew mountains could just flow down hill like this?<br />
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<a href="http://sorisomail.com/email/42722/ja-viram-desmoronar-uma-montanha.html">Click here to see the video. </a>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-11041997871136606752010-07-12T23:06:00.000-07:002010-07-12T23:06:49.724-07:00Forte dei Marmi turns against rich touristsGlitzy Tuscan retreat is trying to stop locals being forced out by wealthy Russian visitors.<br />
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After years of welcoming well-heeled tourists from around the world with open arms, one of Tuscany's smartest, most discreet beach resorts is in revolt against outsiders, wealthy or not.<br />
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Forte dei Marmi – the traditional summer retreat for Italian captains of industry, writers and film stars – is changing the law to try to stop locals fleeing because of house prices driven out of control by incoming Russian millionaires. The town's combative mayor, Umberto Buratti, is reserving space next to luxury villas with sea views for new homes that will only be sold to locally-born buyers or long-term residents. Other Italian resorts with similar problems will monitor the experiment with interest.<br />
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"We want to safeguard the character of the town instead of seeing it turn into a place with no ties, as anonymous as a motorway service station," Buratti said.<br />
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"Not everyone here is rich or Russian," added local councillor Michele Molino. "You look at the designer shops round here and we could be in London."<br />
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Despite the economic crisis that has kept some smart Muscovites at home, local estate agents expect up to 500 Russian families to descend this summer, following in the footsteps of super-rich visitors such as Roman Abramovich and splashing out up to €100,000 at a time to rent villas for the season – albeit a snip compared with the €20m reportedly paid out to buy the biggest villas nestling behind bougainvilleas between the broad beaches and Apuan Alps.<br />
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"Five million is the norm now, but if you go just a few miles inland prices drop by two thirds, which is where the locals have disappeared to," said a local estate agent, Umberto Giannecchini.<br />
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On the seafront, Humvees and Ferraris descend on beach clubs like Twiga, where €1,000 will reserve a table in the VIP section and Russians spend up to €15,000 on a night out.<br />
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It is all a far cry from Forte dei Marmi's 16th-century origins, when Michelangelo built a road from quarries inland to load marble on to waiting ships. The artistic tradition continued into the 20th century with the arrival of Thomas Mann, Aldous Huxley, Giacomo Puccini and Henry Moore, followed by industrial dynasties such as the Agnellis and the Morattis.<br />
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"Despite their wealth, the Italians here have always loved elegant simplicity and understatement," said hotelier Paolo Corchia, pointing to the tradition of CEOs and aristocrats shopping by bicycle at the town's family-run shops. Where those stores once proliferated, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Miu Miu – with a shop window full of coyote fur stoles – now draw in the Russians.<br />
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The Milanese agree with the locals' revolt. "I want to bring the local artisans back in the centre," said Milly Moratti, wife of Inter Milan chairman Massimo, "the fabulous tailors and focaccia bread sellers I remember as a child that have been almost completely replaced by designer stores."<br />
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Holding out on Forte dei Marmi's main square is Vale, the bakery which has turned out focaccia since 1924. "We are thinking of selling up since our traditional clientele is dying out and the Russians don't like focaccia," said the owner, Daniela Nardine, though the mayor's intervention may yet change her mind.<br />
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Born and bred in Forte dei Marmi and the son of a tailor, Mayor Buratti said he is seeking to preserve a local culture handed down from the fierce tribes who defied the Roman empire and the Roman slaves who later settled, leaving traces of their accent in the local dialect. But he is not getting too misty eyed. "The locals were the first to profit from the rising house prices by selling up and buying houses in the hinterland," he said. "That is why there will be a ban on selling the new houses for 20 years."<br />
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If he can defend local stock from extinction, Buratti is happy for some of the Russians to stay, generously conceding that the visitors from the east have become more refined over the years.<br />
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"They have come a long way from the early 90s, when they would order the most expensive Brunello red on the menu then dilute it with water," he said. Locals recount how one oligarch even bought a bicycle and hired an Italian cycling champ to teach him to ride it.<br />
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But at the Piero beach club, a family-run bastion of old-fashioned wooden huts and blue-blooded sunbathers, the Russians are still few and far between. "Visitors here must understand you don't need to show off," said manager Roberto Santini. "The Russians come in, look around, wonder why we are a landmark, then leave."<br />
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As lifeguard Lionello Sacchelli watched over bathers including a former Italian finance minister and a football star, he recalled his favourite bather, Florentine aristocrat Anna Corsini, who was taking dips until she died last year at 98. "She was exquisite," he said. "She didn't care about designer labels and always said 'please' and 'thank you'."Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-19489164230368138152010-07-10T22:41:00.000-07:002010-07-10T22:41:59.222-07:00Amateur Unearths 52,000 Roman Coins worth $1M in the UK<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">London, England (CNN) -- An amateur treasure hunter armed with a metal detector has found over 52,000 Roman coins worth $1 million buried in field, one of the largest ever such finds in the UK, said the British Museum.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dave Crisp, a hospital chef, came across the buried treasure while searching for "metal objects" in a field near Frome, Somerset in southwestern England.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initially, Crisp found 21 coins, but when he unearthed the pot, he knew he needed archaeological help to excavate them.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hoard contains 766 coins bearing an image of the Roman general Marcus Aurelius Carausius, who ruled Britain independently from AD 286 to AD 293 and was the first Roman emperor to strike coins in Britain.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somerset County Council archaeologists excavated the pot -- a type of container normally used for storing food -- it weighed 160kg (350 pounds) and contained 52,500 coins.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hoard was transferred to the British Museum in London where the coins were cleaned and recorded.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The coins date from AD 253 to 293 and most of them are made of debased silver or bronze.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roger Bland, Head of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum, told CNN: "Dave [Crisp] did the right thing, he didn't try to dig it all out. This is the largest ever find in a single pot and the second largest ever [in the UK].</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We think that whoever buried it didn't intend to come back to recover it. We can only guess why people buried treasure, some buried savings, others because they feared an invasion, perhaps this was an offering to the Gods."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bland said the coins were probably worth about $1 million.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dave Crisp, from Devizes in Wiltshire, told CNN: "At the time when I actually found the pot I didn't know what size it was but when the archaeologists came and started to uncover it, I was gobsmacked, I thought 'hell, this is massive.'"</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Crisp, who describes himself as a "metal detectorist," unearthed the pot in April, although the discovery was officially announced on Thursday. Crisp told CNN he would have to split the value of the find with the farmer who owns the field in which he discovered the treasure.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somerset Coroner Tony Williams is scheduled to hold an inquest on July 22 to formally determine whether the find is subject to the Treasure Act 1996. This would help towards determining a value of the hoard should any individual or organization want to buy it.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: BBC <a href="http://us.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/09/uk.roman.coin.treasure/index.html?hpt=Sbin">click here to see photos and video</a></span>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-68854169528817642222010-07-07T04:27:00.000-07:002010-07-07T04:27:00.525-07:00Italian Beach Hotels to be powered by Solar EnergyGermany-based Conergy has signed an agreement to build five solar installations with a total power output of 3.6 MW for Italy-based hotel group BluSerena. Conergy will install the power plants at the group's five beach resorts.<br />
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The hotel chain will power up to three-quarters of its hotel rooms using solar electricity, thereby saving up to 78% on electricity costs, according to Conergy. The installations are planned for resorts in Apulia, Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria. Currently, three of these power stations are under construction.Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-31955171896424978302010-07-05T04:11:00.000-07:002010-07-05T04:11:23.585-07:001,000,000 Vuvuzela's in Genova?If you've been following World Cup 2010 - you know what a vuvuzela is. Can you believe that Genova has orders 1,000,000 Vuvuzela's -- that's more than 1 per person. There's a young man across the street who used to play his nightly when the World Cup games were on - especially Italy. Can you imagine what lots of these would sound like?<br />
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Now ... if they played like the Germans it wouldn't be so bad. Check this out.<br />
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<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tkhJKAkau2A&hl=en_US&fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param ="" name="allowscriptaccess" /></object>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-81270948658615585522010-05-13T01:40:00.000-07:002010-05-13T01:46:34.633-07:00Garibaldi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdSauZrLqiF6k_N_CGIdkmkOx9QQwXqlEulxAVeljuv3Vkdq0DllFAG6WjGDoMTJ04pZ1GbLzs7HhvvPxyHNwT3E3htsOquKbdP6vKdu4fgwIYuvj7o68cmh49LC1iNUxlZJx9154qe8/s1600/DSCN4391.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdSauZrLqiF6k_N_CGIdkmkOx9QQwXqlEulxAVeljuv3Vkdq0DllFAG6WjGDoMTJ04pZ1GbLzs7HhvvPxyHNwT3E3htsOquKbdP6vKdu4fgwIYuvj7o68cmh49LC1iNUxlZJx9154qe8/s400/DSCN4391.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The photo above was taken on May 7, 2010 by my husband following the President of Italy's visit to Genoa on May 5th to commemorate Garibaldi's march of the redshirts. Garibaldi's statue in front of the Genoa Opera house is about 5 minutes from where we live. We really like the red cape on the statue. It makes for a great screen saver.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Giuseppe Garibaldi has been dubbed the "Hero of the Two Worlds" in tribute to his military expeditions in both South America and Europe. He is considered an Italian national hero as he led the insurrection that led to the freedom of Italian lands from the French and Austrians and led to the formation of modern Italy.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">At the beginning of April 1860, uprisings in Messina and Palermo in the independent and peaceful Kingdom of the Two Sicilies provided Garibaldi with an opportunity. He gathered about a thousand volunteers (practically all northern Italians, and called i Mille (the Thousand), or, as popularly known, the Redshirts) in two ships named Piemonte and Lombardo, left from Genoa on May 5 in the evening and landed at Marsala, on the westernmost point of Sicily, on May 11.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
Swelling the ranks of his army with scattered bands of local rebels, Garibaldi led 800 of his volunteers to victory over a 1500-strong enemy force on the hill of Calatafimi on May 15. He used the counter-intuitive tactic of an uphill bayonet charge; he had seen that the hill on which the enemy had taken position was terraced, and the terraces gave shelter to his advancing men. Although small by comparison with the coming clashes at Palermo, Milazzo and Volturno, this battle was decisive in terms of establishing Garibaldi's power in the island; an apocryphal but realistic story had him say to his lieutenant Nino Bixio, Qui si fa l'Italia o si muore, that is, Here we either make Italy, or we die. In reality, the Neapolitan forces were ill guided, and most of its higher officers had been bought out. The next day, he declared himself dictator of Sicily in the name of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. He advanced then to Palermo, the capital of the island, and launched a siege on May 27. He had the support of many of the inhabitants, who rose up against the garrison, but before the city could be taken, reinforcements arrived and bombarded the city nearly to ruins. At this time, a British admiral intervened and facilitated an armistice, by which the Neapolitan royal troops and warships surrendered the city and departed.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
Garibaldi had won a single victory. He gained worldwide renown and the adulation of Italians. Faith in his prowess was so strong that doubt, confusion, and dismay seized, even the Neapolitan court. Six weeks later, he marched against Messina in the east of the island. There was a ferocious and difficult battle at Milazzo, but Garibaldi won through. By the end of July, only the citadel resisted.<br />
<br />
Having finished the conquest of Sicily, he crossed the Strait of Messina, with the help of the British Navy, and marched northward. Garibaldi's progress was met with more celebration than resistance, and on September 7 he entered the capital city of Naples, by train. Despite taking Naples, however, he had not to this point defeated the Neapolitan army. Garibaldi's volunteer army of 24,000 was not able to defeat conclusively the reorganized Neapolitan army (about 25,000 men) on September 30 at the Battle of Volturno. This was the largest battle he ever fought, but its outcome was effectively decided by the arrival of the Piedmontese Army. Following this, Garibaldi's plans to march on to Rome were jeopardized by the Piedmontese, technically his ally but unwilling to risk war with France, whose army protected the Pope. (The Piedmontese themselves had conquered most of the Pope's territories in their march south to meet Garibaldi, but they had deliberately avoided Rome, his capital.) Garibaldi chose to hand over all his territorial gains in the south to the Piedmontese and withdrew to Caprera and temporary retirement. Some modern historians consider the handover of his gains to the Piedmontese as a political defeat, but he seemed willing to see Italian unity brought about under the Piedmontese crown. The meeting at Teano between Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II is the most important event in modern Italian history, but is so shrouded in controversy that even the exact site where it took place is in doubt.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Source: Wikipedia</div>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-3105511564459880662010-05-12T05:23:00.000-07:002010-05-12T05:23:22.521-07:00A Possible Solar Bubble in Italy?<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The world's photovoltaic industry is heading for a shake-out with big Chinese and US manufacturers of solar modules competing for dominance in Europe as smaller companies suffer from a collapse of prices and lower subsidies.<br />
<br />
Executives speaking at the Italian PV Summit and trade fair in Verona last week were heartened by higher forecasts of demand for solar power made by the Paris-based International Energy Agency but they also warned of the dangers of a bubble forming in fast-growing Italy following the bursting of the Spanish market last year.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ingmar Wilhelm, vice-president of Enel's renewables division, said the Italian utility did not intend to take part in the expected consolidation process. Enel is investing with Sharp of Japan and STMicroelectronics, a joint Italian-French company, in a plant in Sicily to produce modules using the latest triple-junction thin-film technology.<br />
<br />
Executives spoke of the "pain" and "turbulence" in the solar modules market last year and stressed the importance of governments, particularly Italy, making sustainable, long-term decisions on feed-in tariffs - the subsidies paid for the electricity produced as the industry moves towards "grid parity" where its prices are competitive with other sources.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Source Financial times. </span><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cddbc70a-5bca-11df-85a3-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Read the full article here.</a></span>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-18353761695696877422010-05-10T21:03:00.000-07:002010-05-10T21:03:45.736-07:00Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Research Center<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Susan Hockfield, MIT's president, and Paolo Scaroni, CEO of Italian oil company <a href="http://www.eni.com/en_IT/home.html">Eni</a>, on Tuesday officially dedicated the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Research Center. Eni invested $5 million into the center, which is also receiving a $2 million National Science Foundation grant, said Vladimir Bulovic, the center's director. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The center has recently reported the ability to print solar cells on paper.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2129861234"><br />
</a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20004170-54.html" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For more details about the MIT research, click here.</a></span>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-25121907588530810492010-03-31T00:10:00.000-07:002010-03-31T00:10:07.093-07:00Italy Is A Smart Grid PioneerIn the early days of commercial electric power, transmission of electric power at the same voltage as used by lighting and mechanical loads restricted the distance between generating plant and consumers. <br />
<br />
In 1882 electrical plants produced only direct current. However, because different users required different voltages electricity specialization of lines and because transmission was so inefficient that generators needed to be near their loads, it seemed at the time that the industry would develop into what is now known as a distributed generation system with large numbers of small generators located nearby their loads.<br />
<br />
One of the earliest pioneers of long distance electrical transmission was built in Cerchi, Italy in 1886.<br />
<br />
On May 16, 1888, Nikola Tesla delivered a lecture entitled A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, describing the equipment which allowed efficient generation and use of polyphase alternating currents. The transformer, and Tesla's polyphase and single-phase induction motors, were essential for a combined AC distribution system for both lighting and machinery. Ownership of the rights to the Tesla patents was a key advantage to the Westinghouse Company in offering a complete alternating current power system for both lighting and power. Regarded as one of the most influential electrical innovations, the universal system used transformers to step-up voltage from generators to high-voltage transmission lines.<br />
<br />
By allowing multiple generating plants to be interconnected over a wide area, electricity production cost was reduced. The most efficient available plants could be used to supply the varying loads during the day. Reliability was improved and capital investment cost was reduced, since stand-by generating capacity could be shared over many more customers and a wider geographic area. Remote and low-cost sources of energy, such as hydroelectric power or mine-mouth coal, could be exploited to lower energy production cost.<br />
<br />
The rapid industrialization in the 20th century made electrical transmission lines and grids a critical part of the infrastructure in most industrialized nations. Interconnection of local generation plants and small distribution networks was greatly spurred by the requirements of World War I, where large electrical generating plants were built by governments to provide power to munitions factories. Later these plants were connected to supply civil load through long-distance transmission.<br />
<br />
Nikola Tesla's ideas have served us well for 120 years - but now with concerns about global warming, increased dependence on electrical appliances, developments in information technology and renewable energy - there is a need for for an even more efficient and optimizing system. This new concept, which is referred to as the smart grid.<br />
<br />
The earliest, and still largest, example of a smart grid is the Italian system installed by Enel S.p.A. of Italy. Completed in 2005, the Telegestore project was highly unusual in the utility world because the company designed and manufactured their own meters, acted as their own system integrator, and developed their own system software. The Telegestore project is widely regarded as the first commercial scale use of smart grid technology to the home, and delivers annual savings of 500 million euro at a project cost of 2.1 billion euro.<br />
<br />
Let's hear it for Italian engineering and innovation. In my opinion it doesn't get the worldwide recognition that it deserves.<span lang="IT"><o:p></o:p></span> <!--EndFragment-->Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-85845704986658844542010-03-10T05:57:00.000-08:002010-03-10T05:57:52.243-08:00The Whale Says Thank You<!--StartFragment--> <div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you read a recent front page story of the SF Chronicle,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you would have read about a female humpback whale</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that caused her to struggle to stay afloat.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate ) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and radioed an environmental group for help.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11Mxm0ZswiqFeBtyBKKZ1Xl0IeelZNiwpD3eLl4uFWhPshUpXaE8lYCx-CrZfZouyoqLApLL5TNXWswgtmE2N6ZefdRjqwpcj7TpRsEReO4wGQVm8NusvRtwDa9vmBCTLB-lwG7cE8sg/s1600-h/image002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11Mxm0ZswiqFeBtyBKKZ1Xl0IeelZNiwpD3eLl4uFWhPshUpXaE8lYCx-CrZfZouyoqLApLL5TNXWswgtmE2N6ZefdRjqwpcj7TpRsEReO4wGQVm8NusvRtwDa9vmBCTLB-lwG7cE8sg/s640/image002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around...she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPfru1vN5HQ0PoO1gQGHQ9FhKWi6nTt-k4QolKc0W5h2R0iMT99N5aBA4ISEKVPW0bKKOp88woDmf0etygZEfdXDGBLvFYunBvU9FphuT0m_x2X-4DzAg313UAo50ZYuAm-TF8OEb9s0/s1600-h/image003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPfru1vN5HQ0PoO1gQGHQ9FhKWi6nTt-k4QolKc0W5h2R0iMT99N5aBA4ISEKVPW0bKKOp88woDmf0etygZEfdXDGBLvFYunBvU9FphuT0m_x2X-4DzAg313UAo50ZYuAm-TF8OEb9s0/s640/image003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment--> <div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"></span>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-30561469990585670342010-02-24T04:13:00.000-08:002010-02-24T04:13:14.330-08:00Italy To Plug In Idling Cruise Ships<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPgKN0gJayE1k0cpuKZ1s7cfgrJrl0qhpEkgofnqJDpbeESVjJNKYOkqdJlI4KEIMz_QzzH7XHYfYb5B9FKKfqo9JVnLAeRl4tpjV7qOPRcoIJ3cQsfpssHMwY0c3B5wJac66ix8o1gM/s1600-h/italy-cruise-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPgKN0gJayE1k0cpuKZ1s7cfgrJrl0qhpEkgofnqJDpbeESVjJNKYOkqdJlI4KEIMz_QzzH7XHYfYb5B9FKKfqo9JVnLAeRl4tpjV7qOPRcoIJ3cQsfpssHMwY0c3B5wJac66ix8o1gM/s640/italy-cruise-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Italian port cities are planning to connect large ships like cruise liners to the grid while they're berthed to cut fuel consumption and potentially slash carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent and nitrogen oxides and particulate pollution by more than 95 percent.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ecogeek.org/preventing-pollution/2657">Venice</a>, Paolo Costa, La Spezia and Lorenzo Forcieri are all expected to install new equipment to allow the ships to plug in to shore-side electricity. Other cities around the world are experimenting with the same idea, including Los Angeles and Goteborg, Sweden, hoping to eliminate the fuel needs and emissions of onboard generators.<br />
<br />
The Italian electricity utility Enel foresees large reductions in pollution and fuel consumption from the practice, but since so far only a few ships are compatible with on-shore electricity, we won't know the full benefits until ports and ships are equipped and the generators are turned off.<br />
<br />
<span class="small" style="font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Written by <span style="font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Megan Treacy</span> on 02/02/10 </span>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-17077622554794269592010-02-07T08:43:00.000-08:002010-02-07T08:44:29.553-08:00English Language Humor<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<blockquote type="cite"><div class="gmail_quote"><div style="background-color: white;"><div><div><div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE PHILOSOPHY OF AMBIGUITY, AS WELL AS THE IDIOSYNCRASIES OF ENGLISH (you might need an Italian English dictionary for these):<br />
<br />
1. DON'T SWEAT THE PETTY THINGS AND DON'T PET THE SWEATY THINGS.<br />
<br />
2. ONE TEQUILA, TWO TEQUILA, THREE TEQUILA, FLOOR.<br />
<br />
3. ATHEISM IS A NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATION.<br />
<br />
4. IF MAN EVOLVED FROM MONKEYS AND APES, WHY DO WE STILL HAVE MONKEYS AND APES?<br />
<br />
5. THE MAIN REASON THAT SANTA IS SO JOLLY IS BECAUSE HE KNOWS WHERE ALL THE BAD GIRLS LIVE.<br />
<br />
6. I WENT TO A BOOKSTORE AND ASKED THE SALESWOMAN, "WHERE'S THE SELF- HELP SECTION?" SHE SAID IF SHE TOLD ME, IT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE.<br />
<br />
7. WHAT IF THERE WERE NO HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS?<br />
<br />
8. IF A DEAF CHILD SIGNS SWEAR WORDS, DOES HIS MOTHER WASH HIS HANDS WITH SOAP?<br />
<br />
9. IF SOMEONE WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES THREATENS TO KILL HIMSELF, IS IT CONSIDERED A HOSTAGE SITUATION?<br />
<br />
10. IS THERE ANOTHER WORD FOR SYNONYM?<br />
<br />
11. WHERE DO FOREST RANGERS GO TO "GET AWAY FROM IT ALL?"<br />
<br />
12. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE AN ENDANGERED ANIMAL EATING AN ENDANGERED<br />
PLANT?<br />
<br />
13. IF A PARSLEY FARMER IS SUED, CAN THEY GARNISH HIS WAGES?<br />
<br />
14. WOULD A FLY WITHOUT WINGS BE CALLED A WALK?<br />
<br />
15. WHY DO THEY LOCK PETROL STATION BATHROOMS? ARE THEY AFRAID SOMEONE WILL CLEAN THEM?<br />
<br />
16. IF A TURTLE DOESN'T HAVE A SHELL, IS HE HOMELESS OR NAKED?<br />
<br />
17. CAN VEGETARIANS EAT ANIMAL CRACKERS?<br />
<br />
18. IF THE POLICE ARREST A MIME, DO THEY TELL HIM HE HAS THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT?<br />
<br />
19. WHY DO THEY PUT BRAILLE ON THE DRIVE-THROUGH BANK MACHINES?<br />
<br />
20. HOW DO THEY GET DEER TO CROSS THE ROAD ONLY AT THOSE YELLOW ROAD SIGNS?<br />
<br />
21. WHAT WAS THE BEST THING BEFORE SLICED BREAD?<br />
<br />
22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT EGOTISTS: THEY DON'T TALK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE.<br />
<br />
23. DOES THE LITTLE MERMAID WEAR AN ALGEBRA?<br />
<br />
24. DO INFANTS ENJOY INFANCY AS MUCH AS ADULTS ENJOY ADULTERY?<br />
<br />
25. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE A CIVIL WAR?<br />
<br />
26. IF ONE SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMER DROWNS, DO THE REST DROWN TOO?<br />
<br />
27. IF YOU ATE BOTH PASTA AND ANTIPASTO, WOULD YOU STILL BE HUNGRY?<br />
<br />
28. IF YOU TRY TO FAIL, AND SUCCEED, WHICH HAVE YOU DONE?<br />
<br />
29. WHOSE CRUEL IDEA WAS IT FOR THE WORD 'LISP' TO HAVE 'S' IN IT?<br />
<br />
30. WHY ARE HEMORRHOIDS CALLED "HEMORRHOIDS" INSTEAD OF "ASSTEROIDS" ?<br />
<br />
31. WHY IS IT CALLED TOURIST SEASON IF WE CAN'T SHOOT AT THEM?<br />
<br />
32. WHY IS THERE AN EXPIRATION DATE ON SOUR CREAM?<br />
<br />
33. IF YOU SPIN AN ORIENTAL PERSON IN A CIRCLE THREE TIMES, DO THEY BECOME DISORIENTED?<br />
<br />
34. CAN AN ATHEIST GET INSURANCE AGAINST ACTS OF GOD?</span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-46007357618897070592010-01-15T04:44:00.000-08:002010-01-15T04:44:13.167-08:00Things in Italy are Better than in Dubai<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h1 style="color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Thousands of children are forced to miss daytime school</h1><div class="biline" style="color: #03296a; display: block; font-size: 0.76em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">K<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">athryn Lewis</span><br />
</div><ul class="feedinfo" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(3, 41, 106); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-color: rgb(3, 41, 106); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 2px; color: #333333; float: left; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 455px;"><li style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;">Last Updated: December 26. 2009 12:42AM UAE / December 25. 2009 8:42PM GMT</li>
</ul><div class="leader_lcol_new" style="background-color: #f3f3fb; float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 455px;"><img alt="" class="leaderim" src="http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=AD&Date=20091226&Category=NATIONAL&ArtNo=712259794&Ref=AR&Profile=1188" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><div class="imagequote" style="color: #666666; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;">Basma Yaslam, 10, from Yemen , left, and Noor Gawdat, 9, from Palestine, attend night classes at the National Charity School in Dubai. <span class="source" style="color: #03296a;">Nicole Hill / The National</span><br />
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</div><div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">DUBAI // One in seven children in Dubai is not receiving regular daytime schooling and instead attends classes in the afternoon or the evening, according to education authorities.<br />
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The figure, a total of 27,000 children missing from regular classes, was released to <i>The National</i> by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), which oversees schools in Dubai.<br />
</div><br />
<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A further 1,300 children are on waiting lists to get into abridged classes at charity schools, at which fees can be as little as Dh4,000 (US$1,100) a year compared with several times that amount for private schools. Several Indian and Pakistani schools offer afternoon shifts, along with charity schools.<br />
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Charity schools, a network of bare-bones academies that cater to the children of low-income Arab expatriates, offer afternoon and evening classes for those who cannot afford daytime private education. The catch is that charity classes offer fewer classroom hours, and teachers at some schools are working double shifts to cope.<br />
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<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“The numbers have increased because of the economic state of the parents,” said Mohammed Robin Edris, the general director of National Charity Schools (NCS). “Many of them have decreased salaries, and many lost their jobs.”<br />
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He said there had been a flood of new applicants to the three branches of the Arabic-language charity schools in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman.<br />
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One woman who moved her daughter to NCS this year after her wages were cut said: “I am the only one working and I can not afford to pay Hanan’s fees and the rent.” A year ago she was paying Dh16,000 for a private day school. Now she is paying around Dh4,000 to send her daughter to NCS in the evening.<br />
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<div style="float: left; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">At least 800 new children enrolled in the charity schools this autumn – some of them taking the places of what Dr Edris called an unusually high number of families leaving the country. “All of them have left either because they lost their jobs or because the money isn’t enough to support a family,” he said. </span></div><div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
The school opened a branch in Ajman this year to provide space for more students, but there are still 1,059 children on the NCS waiting list. Demand remains highest in the northern emirates.<br />
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<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“We need another school in Sharjah,” Dr Edris said. “I have about 40 buses carrying students from Dubai to Sharjah and Ajman.”<br />
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The National Charity School was established in 1983 by the Emirati businessman and philanthropist Juma al Majid around the time that public schools stopped admitting the children of Arab expatriates working in the private sector.<br />
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Expatriates were allowed back into state schools in 2006, but only in limited numbers: no more than one in five pupils can be non-Emirati, and to be eligible students must pass entrance exams.<br />
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<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Those who do qualify also pay tuition fees to the Government.<br />
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Over the past decade, enrolment at the NCS has nearly doubled, and the schools are now at full capacity at 10,259 students.<br />
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“There are smart students, some of them get the highest grades on the secondary national exam, but life forces them to live this way,” Dr Edris said. “It is not healthy. You think the teacher’s brain is working for 12 hours. No, it’s not.”<br />
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<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Dr Edris pointed to other problems with evening sessions: the school day is shorter, ending at 8.30pm, and it has a negative effect on family life.<br />
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“We have to give them only four hours,” he said. “We can’t keep them until midnight. Our teachers, they have to go home, sleep, spend some time with their families. It is very painful.”<br />
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Dr Edris said 75 per cent of the teaching staff in the boys’ school worked a double shift. The rest come from Dubai’s public and private schools, working at night to supplement low wages.<br />
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<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“This is the only way to cope with the situation,” he said.<br />
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<a href="mailto:klewis@thenational.ae" style="color: #03296a; text-decoration: underline;">klewis@thenational.ae</a><br />
</div>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-77574143578559352642009-12-15T02:15:00.000-08:002009-12-15T02:45:46.354-08:00SOME CORRECTIONS TO MY ARTICLE ON PREMIER BERLUSCONII knew it! The Media got their facts wrong - again. The replica of the Duomo which Massimo Tartaglia, Prime Minister Berlusconi's assailant hurled at his face was neither metallic nor matrble; it was made of plastic. Even so, an object replicating a Gothic cathedral with its spires) pointed and sharp if thrown with great force can do considerable damage.<br />
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Tartaglia has apologized to Berlusconi. His apology was accepted. Why ever not? Berlusconi has never been nor will he ever be a vengeful man. He is not one to nurse grudges. Indeed, he is very generous towards his friends, wives, girlfriends and occasional mates for the night.<br />
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I have had more than my share of professional contacts with Berlusconi. I conducted a radio show "CIAO BABY" which was under the aegis of his Fouth Channel. Only jazz and ethnic music was played. Sponsors begged to participate commercially.<br />
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Berlusconi was a dream boss. He never interfered with my opinions which rarely wavered from the controversial, the hard hitting and the some times inflammatory.<br />
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Here are two examples off the top of my head of the many instances of non-interference with editorial content.<br />
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In a program on Brazil; songs from Vinicius de Morais, Antonio "Tony" Carlos Jobim, Toquinho, Ellis Regina, Gaetano Veloso,to name but a few formed an integral part of the show. And then I uttered the statement which created a row.<br />
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"Brazil is a stunningly beautiful almost never ending land mass with a population of 100 million people, 99.9% are desperately poor and the remaining 1% are disgustingly rich. They also don't care about the plight of the 99.9%. Why they don't even see it! So why don't the poor rise up in revolt against this constant abuse and injustice? One word is the answer: CARNAVAL. Take away carnaval and the Brazilian people will initiate a revolution the likes of which the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution would seem like Trick or Treat."<br />
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The Brazilian Ambassador to the Quirinale, was a frequent guest at my Villa of the Saracen in Bellosguardo, Florence. He made a formal protest to the Chairman of the Board of Mediaset - Silvio Berlusconi. He also told me he was very hurt at my" betrayal."<br />
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"Brava Cara!. Keep up the controversy. Bene Bene. Every paper and television newscaster is yakking about your declarations. I have visited Brazil. The misery is too awful. Certainly, you are not retracting any part of your statement, Ciao, again, Brava."<br />
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On the Anniversay of the bombing of Pearl Harbor I played swing music which was popular at the time both i Hawaii as well as in Manila. 'The Japanese bombed both cities on the same day. The American papers only singled out the naval air station of Pearl Harbor, because Manila was the capital of the American Empire, the Philippines their only colony<br />
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"As a Republic, America felt uncomfortable exposing the fact that it had a Pacific Empire in order to thwart Japan's hegemony there. News can only be swept under the palm and coconut trees for so long and then the ugly truth comes out. On December 10th 1941, the Japanese invaded the Philippines, entering through its Northern island mass of Luzon. The Chief of the Armed Forces was a charismatic, handsome, tall, individualistic General "who took no crap from nobody" Douglas MacArthur. Back in the States, he was the country's most loved and popular hero so thousands of cats flew out of their bags."<br />
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The American Ambassador and the Japanese Ambassador not only sent letters of protest hand delivered by couriers to Silvio Berlusconi in Milan, it was CC. to me as well. Several hundred Americans,most of whom I knew as either friends and acquaintances, protested peacefully in front of the Piazza which housed Channel Four's radio and television studios.<br />
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"Stay away from the windows." my sound engineer warned me.<br />
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Berlusconi rang as I knew he would.<br />
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"Ciao Cara. Ho ricevuto le lettere.I have received their letters. You know what? I am going to ignore it. I shall reply a couple of weeks from today. Who knows, maybe I won't. I suppose few journalists would dare say anything. Indeed, they wouldn't even mention Pearl Harbor. But there you are, you are you, and CIAO BABY has very high ratings! Even the prison population listens to you faithfully and regularly."<br />
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"Really Silvio, they're locked up for the love of God. What else can they do?"<br />
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" Don't you know that those in prison and in jails are sought after as highly prized audiences? I mean Radio Dimensione Suono, Rai Radio and Radio Montecarlo are in there trying to crack your ratings to no avail. They have no one even remotely similar to you. Keep it up."<br />
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How did this electronics engineer Massimo Tartaglia penetrate the wall of body guards? For one thing, Berlusconi likes being in the fray, he is a gregarious and social individual. When the attack took place, he was signing autographs.<br />
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I think he should rid himself of all those macho men and follow Muammar Ghadaffi's example.<br />
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" You should only trust women," said the Muslim Leader of Libya.<br />
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His bodyguards are all AMAZONS. What's more, most are Serbians.<br />
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Get well soon, Silvio. I like you, you have always been troppo simpatico to me. It will take more than a plastic replica of the Duomo used as a "shuriken" ( ninjas still use them because they are effective) to keep you down. He did manage to cut your unlined botoxed face, but it's a small matter. Cosmetic surgeons can patch you up like new. What are you rich for?<br />
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Will you ever be the same jolly, good-natured political seducer and womanizer that amuses me so?Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-4208594231668615772009-12-14T04:14:00.000-08:002009-12-15T00:05:07.275-08:00ARE WE GOING TO SEE MORE ATTACKS ON WORLD "LEADERS'?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_-EwN1tp3FyXK-f-Y_x4URj50Y15Ww3evRSuxeW8Oy2CrB6oEEl6EYE6AitRbrTZg0xr4FVDXFbYxRzWacPiV9ruYlrCsj06hyphenhyphenTAkwO-fYXVbLy_IGZMEVHpyAGS20J4q1pogjNj7eRg/s1600-h/9e298c55248457b513d2b9743ad37d5f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_-EwN1tp3FyXK-f-Y_x4URj50Y15Ww3evRSuxeW8Oy2CrB6oEEl6EYE6AitRbrTZg0xr4FVDXFbYxRzWacPiV9ruYlrCsj06hyphenhyphenTAkwO-fYXVbLy_IGZMEVHpyAGS20J4q1pogjNj7eRg/s400/9e298c55248457b513d2b9743ad37d5f.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was attacked by a mentally unstable man( or so says the Media) as he was on his way to his armor-plated limousine in Milan's Duomo after a political speech made to his supporters. He was struck in the face by a miniature metallic replica of the Duomo. According to a medical report from San Raffaele Hospital, he suffered two fractured front teeth, cuts on his lips which required 7 stitches, and lesions on his nose.<br />
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I don't have any statements to make. Just questions.<br />
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1. His attacker, Massimo Tartaglia is an electronics engineer, not an insignificant accomplishment. Again, the Media, owned and controlled by Berlusconi except for LA REPUBBLICA, whose major shareholder is his political and social adversary, tycoon Carlo de Benedetti; but in cases like attempts to injure or to kill a politicaL or financial Leader, the Media closes ranks.<br />
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You tend to read much the same thing in the same words, commas, and hyphens in all the newspapers, statements to the Press, twitters on the Internet, and endless news on television. Boring.<br />
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The electronics engineer, Tartaglia was not out of work. His Papa owned the establishment where he was employed.<br />
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Is the company in the midst of a financial or union turmoil?<br />
What is the history of this company?<br />
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2. I know several friends who are still seeing psychiatrists, even after 15 years or longer. I think even Roman Polanski has not ceased to see one for 30 years. Does this mean a priori that ALL the people I have cited above are mentally disturbed?<br />
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Am I missing a syllogism here somewhere that talking regularly to a shrink signifies mental illness?<br />
Is there even a credible syllogism to be made here?<br />
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3. I happen to think that many of our present Leaders of the Ha! Ha! Free World are anything but all there. Why? Because they are only too human and what's more they are of an inferior quality else the real power brokers would never have allowed them access to the most powerful positions in their respective nations. By my sententious statement that they are inferior human beings, I mean that they lack: Conscience, Ethics, Courage, Integrity,Honesty, Compassion, Loyalty and Morality.<br />
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Just take a look at the Leaders of WW2.<br />
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One was a drunken manic-depressive(Oops! the euphemism today is a Bi-Polar disorder.) who had suffered heart attacks and a couple of strokes. All, while serving in office and thinking he and he alone was conducting a War. (Winston Churchill)<br />
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Another was an opium addict, whose complications from a long term polio-myelitis certainly affected his brain and his day to day reasoning. The pain never left him so how could he function? Others suggested or pressured him into making unwise decisions for the country. His political beliefs tended to lean heavily to the Left. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)<br />
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Yet another one was diagnosed with Parkinson's Syndrome as early as 1934. His doctors treated him with ever increasing doses of amphetamines mixed with cocaine injections and steroids. This concoctions create feelings of persecution alternating with sensations of immortality. ( Adolf Hitler)<br />
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And of course there was Uncle Joe Stalin. Roosevelt in his sick mind was so bowled over by dear old Uncle Joe he caved in to all his murderous demands. Stalin is probably the most perfect example the world has ever seen in the 20th century of a psychopath-sociopath.<br />
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None of these Leaders, so far as I know was ever seen by a psychiatrist. Only in the last 10 or 15 years have historians(thanks to the Internet) dared to write the evil secrets of these 4 men.<br />
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4. The attack on Berluscon is being blamed by his party and his cohorts on a climate of "Hate" swirling around Italy. Merde! The conditions set up by Berlusconi and Bossi ( who is so xenophobic he makes Xenophon look like the late Senator Edward Moore Kennedy) created this negativity and nasty feelings.<br />
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5. There is no doubt that a state of tension exists between the people and its Leaders. This is palpable in<br />
London,Edinburgh, Madrid, Rome, Milan, Paris, Berlin and Lisbon. Notice that I have deliberately left out the U. S. Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Well, don't gloat, they are in the same feces. The do-nothing- just- keep- spinning- Leaders have lied and lied and lied and the voters, the people have lost patience if not hope.<br />
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6. Where was the Secret Service, the CIRPE assigned to protect Berlusconi? They claimed to have received reports that an exalted mad man might be on the loose looking to harm the Prime Minister. Really??? So, where did the lot of you go? The most serious problem of all spies and security fellows is that they lack imagination. They are trapped inside the box.<br />
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7. The Electronics Engineer, Tartaglia had no criminal record not even a traffic ticket. Since he was close enough to do some damage to the PM: keep in mind that Berlusconi was hurt in the face, mouth and nose. Another centimeter or even less and he might have indeed lost an eye. Therefore, he was close enough to throw a dagger straight at his jugular or carotid artery. He did not. In his pockets police found another small replica of the Duomo and a small can of pepper spray. A true martial arts Sifu/Sensei could have hurled the metallic statuette of the Duomo as he would a shuriken with such force that he could have smashed his windpipe with little or no effort.<br />
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8. What kind of half-assed attack was this? A rehearsal? Could Tartaglia possible be a mind control asset? I hope I am very wrong on this one.<br />
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9. Indira Gandhi once told me during a brief moment of relaxation on her trip to Rome." Bella, I try not to worry because if someone truly wants to get me, they will, even if it takes them years to do so."<br />
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N. B. In his novel THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas (Pere), Edmond Dantes, the protagonist, waited 20 long years before exacting revenge on every single individual who had wronged him and had participated in his unjust and reprehensible incarceration.Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-10301137991192341372009-11-08T07:53:00.000-08:002009-12-14T01:50:46.394-08:00The Giraffe Test<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_OREfn_kDyzbUQse_HhAZsfjj9v533ELNvCPG0bqXAhh1zbtcu2J1BE4czoyt9kRCGngI8vXFnDn__xzW1tMw0K4Ytj1ncdCF8RvZqhdolzQ_-q_pcGAq31xKfl9B24Ozyn0JNuFnAk/s1600-h/giraffe1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401765498830111378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_OREfn_kDyzbUQse_HhAZsfjj9v533ELNvCPG0bqXAhh1zbtcu2J1BE4czoyt9kRCGngI8vXFnDn__xzW1tMw0K4Ytj1ncdCF8RvZqhdolzQ_-q_pcGAq31xKfl9B24Ozyn0JNuFnAk/s400/giraffe1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 282px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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</div>This test consists of 4 questions: Stop and Think about and decide on your answers before you scroll down:<br />
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Q1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?<br />
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The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way. <br />
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2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?<br />
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Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?<br />
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Wrong Answer.<br />
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Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.<br />
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3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals Attend .... Except one. Which animal does not attend?<br />
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Correct Answer : The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there.? This tests your memory. Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.<br />
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4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and You do not have a boat. How do you manage it?<br />
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Correct Answer:? You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes. <br />
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According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the Professionals they tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four-year-old.<br />
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Incidentally my eight year old grandson Niccolo" who turned 8 in October, He's Scorpio answered all questions correctly and quickly.<br />
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"It's just common sense and logic Nonna," he told me.<br />
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"KEEP IT SIMPLE."<br />
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That was Confucius - Kung Fu Tzu's maxim.<br />
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Those clowns at Andersen Consulting and everywhere else this giraffe test would have been presented,<br />
would have failed abysmally because their minds are too cluttered with rubbish.<br />
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They think Simplicity is bad. WRONG!<br />
</div>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-5907720194467455492009-11-07T04:04:00.000-08:002009-11-07T04:44:33.411-08:00Why Celebrate Columbus Day?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBYD0S3nqlRRO_q4VCaa-WmIMIfsRPUgMyqPrcyWYn0hhKYgZVKle60mZ-Lg6pXs6pk49XaXqRRCsRXFz9fhGSfFdXNkAKlsq1ww00J_q_h6U-lf5U_b4UWDBfqrHhZxWFp58bC8n8_o/s1600-h/225px-Ridolfo_Ghirlandaio_Columbus.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBYD0S3nqlRRO_q4VCaa-WmIMIfsRPUgMyqPrcyWYn0hhKYgZVKle60mZ-Lg6pXs6pk49XaXqRRCsRXFz9fhGSfFdXNkAKlsq1ww00J_q_h6U-lf5U_b4UWDBfqrHhZxWFp58bC8n8_o/s400/225px-Ridolfo_Ghirlandaio_Columbus.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401332206668730946" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px; font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><b><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Why celebrate Columbus Day?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Americans first celebrated "Columbus Day" in New York City in 1792 to honor the 300th anniversary of the "discovery" of America. It has been celebrated annually since 1920 on or around October 12th.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Who was Columbus? According to Wikipedia <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">It is commonly, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_theories_of_Christopher_Columbus" title="Origin theories of Christopher Columbus" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">although not universally</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, believed that Christopher Columbus was born between 25 August and 31 October 1451 in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genoa" title="Genoa" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Genoa</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, part of modern Italy.</span><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">[</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">4</span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">]</span></span></span></span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> His father was </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Colombo" title="Domenico Colombo" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Domenico Colombo</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, a middle-class </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool" title="Wool" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">wool</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaving" title="Weaving" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">weaver</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, who later also had a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese" title="Cheese" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">cheese</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand" title="Stand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">stand</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> where Christopher was a helper, working both in Genoa and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savona" title="Savona" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Savona</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. His mother was </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Fontanarossa" title="Susanna Fontanarossa" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Susanna Fontanarossa</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino and Giacomo were his brothers.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif, serif; font-size: -webkit-xxx-large; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">He was a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigator" title="Navigator" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">navigator</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialist" title="Colonialist" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">colonizer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorer" title="Explorer" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">explorer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "> whose voyages across the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean" title="Atlantic Ocean" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Atlantic Ocean</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "> led to general European awareness of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas" title="Americas" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">American continents</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "> in the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere" title="Western Hemisphere" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Western Hemisphere</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">. With his four voyages of exploration and several attempts at establishing a settlement on the island of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola" title="Hispaniola" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Hispaniola</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">, all funded by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile" title="Isabella I of Castile" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Isabella I of Castile</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">, he initiated the process of</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas" title="Spanish colonization of the Americas" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Spanish colonization</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "> which foreshadowed general </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_colonization_of_the_Americas" title="European colonization of the Americas" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">European colonization</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "> of the "</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World" title="New World" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">New World</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">."</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Although he "discovered" a new world for the Europeans - he never reached continental America. The first European to do that is believed to be Lief Erikson (Norse) who, according to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagas_of_Icelanders" title="Sagas of Icelanders" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Sagas of Icelanders</span></a>, established a Norse settlement at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland" title="Vinland" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; ">Vinland</a> in 1002 or 1003</span>, which has been tentatively identified with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Anse_aux_Meadows" title="L'Anse aux Meadows" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">L'Anse aux Meadows</span></a> Norse site on the northern tip of the island of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_(island)" title="Newfoundland (island)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Newfoundland</span></a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_and_Labrador" title="Newfoundland and Labrador" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Newfoundland and Labrador</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada" title="Canada" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Canada</span></a>. By the way in 1964 the US government authorized October 9th to be celebrated as Lief Ericson Day - the date was not chosen because of any significant feat of Lief Ericson - but because that was the first day a ship from Norway came to the USA (after it was independent). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Back to Columbus. He never reached America. He discovered an island in the Bahamas (Caribbean). This island was inhabited by the Arawak. Since he had been searching for a shorter route to India ... he named these people "Indios". </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Ok -- so as far as the Europeans were concerned he discovered a new world -- at a time when Europe was entering into its Colonization period. But what did he do with this discovery?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Columbus went back to the Bahamas 3 different times. According to the records - when he arrived he though the people were attractive and very generous. But Columbus was anxious to prove the worth of his discovery to his benefactors and supporters and was convinced there was gold there. Only there wasn't - so what did Columbus do? He tortured the "indios" to get them to tell him where the gold was -- by hanging, cutting off the hands of all males over 14 years old, taking the women as sex slaves for his men, feeding the babies to his dogs, etc. But no gold. So what did he do -- he brought back "slaves" to Europe. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">At the time some historians believe the population of this area was around 3 million -- within 50 years of Columbus's "discovery", most of the Arawak had either been killed or died from disease. So should we celebrate this "achievement". This would be like asking the Turks to celebrate the birthday of Vlad the Impaler.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">What do you think?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">For more information regarding Columbus check out this video from Brass Checks TV: <a href="http://brasschecktv.com/page/142.html">http://brasschecktv.com/page/142.html</a>. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div></b></span>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-78572110068744754772009-08-31T23:59:00.000-07:002009-09-01T00:00:43.857-07:00The Humor of MisunderstandingWhich Way To The Restroom?<br /><br />A rather old fashioned lady, always quite delicate and elegant, especially in her language, was planning a weeks holiday in Sydney with her husband, so she wrote to a particular camping ground and asked for a reservation.<br /><br />She wanted to make sure that the camping ground was fully equipped, but didn't know quite how to ask about the toilet facilities. She just couldn't bring herself to write the word "toilet" in her letter.<br /><br />After much thought, she finally came up with the old fashioned term "Bathroom closet" but when she wrote it down, she still thought she was being too forward, so she started all over again, rewrote the letter, and referred to the bathroom closet as the B.C.<br /><br />"Does the camping ground have it's own B.C." is what she wrote.<br /><br />Well, the camping ground owner wasn't a bit old fashioned, and he just couldn't figure out what the old lady was talking about, so he showed the letter around a few of the campers and the only thing they could come up with was that B.C. stood for Baptist Church, so he wrote the following reply.<br /><br />Dear Madam,<br /><br />I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take the pleasure of informing you that a B.C. is located nine miles north of our camping ground, and is capable of seating 250 people at one time.<br /><br />I admit that it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of campers go there and many take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive nice and early and stay quite late.<br /><br />The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that there is a special supper planned there to raise money to buy more seats so that everyone will be able to sit in comfort.<br /><br />I would like to say that it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part, just that I am so busy most of the time.<br /><br />As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort to go, especially in the cold weather. If you decide to come down to our camping ground perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you and introduce you to all the other folks.<br /><br />Remember, this is a very friendly community.Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-16647975512927945292009-08-03T23:45:00.001-07:002009-08-06T05:42:57.051-07:00EVVIVA VENEZIA!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEhCWEl4yR-eEkOArsjkugzNfaGClrzBFVgP6AcAk4fo7UCxQp8kLQ5ccEGYhtnk_lEcmbb5kJFy96fQdH14v7aZ4TriQHnRrj9x_nEUEM1Pd1ZhNvvyHpuIC3Cf4Z9p4EXNjZopiY-s/s1600-h/ital7079.small.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 348px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEhCWEl4yR-eEkOArsjkugzNfaGClrzBFVgP6AcAk4fo7UCxQp8kLQ5ccEGYhtnk_lEcmbb5kJFy96fQdH14v7aZ4TriQHnRrj9x_nEUEM1Pd1ZhNvvyHpuIC3Cf4Z9p4EXNjZopiY-s/s400/ital7079.small.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366487582106267810" border="0" /></a><br />We are all aware that Venice is vanishing before our very eyes. Even the gorgeous pink and light rosee stones know that. Like writer Mary McCarthy, I find Venice a very feminine city as opposed to Florence which is truly masculine. This has nothing to do with the so called "nurturing" spirit of the female. Indeed, the Venetians plundered, pillaged, burnt, raped, and slaughtered with a ruthlessness and a viciousness that would have paled King Vladimir(Vlad) the Impaler. That is saying a great deal.<div><br /></div><div>It was their arrogance which drove them during the epoch of ancient Rome to build stilts on mud and silt. True, the Lagoon was astonishingly beautiful. What is man good for if not to defy the Gods?</div><div><br /></div><div>But there are too many millions of humanity who visit Venice. It is a city of 50,000 people and they cannot cope in any way, shape or form.<br /><br /></div><div>Mayor Massimo Cacciari, a philosopher, linguist(he speaks Latin, German, ancient Greek, Arabic and Persian) has turned into the Lee Kuan Yew of the Adriatic. Bravo for him! </div><div><br /></div><div>Woe to those who discard anything on the street. it is punishable by a heavy fine.</div><div>Entering any fountain to cool off one's toesies is VERBOTEN. That too will earn one a sizeable fine.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZqqWZym-yMLFKSjjAfcmuAXGvHht2N4YpFYCH3UTCVM6zoq2OrryySkF_YP3w3TObcUahkPVl2W0n0BYQLJSKQRoR60-o8EOOewbzVDftyiFCO3UmiAOOW5Xlm_RhdrtCRaf4-zJ2b0o/s1600-h/italy-venice-p-52.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 308px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZqqWZym-yMLFKSjjAfcmuAXGvHht2N4YpFYCH3UTCVM6zoq2OrryySkF_YP3w3TObcUahkPVl2W0n0BYQLJSKQRoR60-o8EOOewbzVDftyiFCO3UmiAOOW5Xlm_RhdrtCRaf4-zJ2b0o/s400/italy-venice-p-52.1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366487588872379666" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div>Never, never feed the pigeons or doves. They are carriers of meningitis and other horrible maladies. The city of Venice has embarked on a vast extermination campaign. Do not be deceived by their sweet cu-cu-rru-cu-cus - these birds are deadly. It's either they or us.<br /><br /></div><div>Even God may not be in a condition to help you if you jump into the Lagoon or into one of it's canals. Not only is it dangerous because of the vaporettos(water taxis) but some of the waters are still polluted with petrol and other chemicals plus the E coli and strep and staph which abound in the jade green waters. So, on top of a debilitating illness, you will be faced with a fine of 3,000 Euros.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tourists on tour buses must be armed with their own toilet paper or else they will be charged for their use on the public toilets.<div> </div></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>Restaurants will not allow a tourist to use its facilities unless they buy a cup of espresso or caffe latte. Minimum cost is 13 Euros. We prefer nice tourists who spend beaucoup loot not beggars.<br /><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgH6AR0C6WhWn4l9PSIvEOIEH2QFdCW5O5sNWybWP-NRr2EyfhhHpcR3O_Jcy5uM98QgCHCKl6_WdwHfOkVoU5UB2sV5E_Ja9tR9esaHiFmZINph0y_OT8JN0gIp2fGQryXhtXP_H_lI/s1600-h/ital7091.small.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 342px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgH6AR0C6WhWn4l9PSIvEOIEH2QFdCW5O5sNWybWP-NRr2EyfhhHpcR3O_Jcy5uM98QgCHCKl6_WdwHfOkVoU5UB2sV5E_Ja9tR9esaHiFmZINph0y_OT8JN0gIp2fGQryXhtXP_H_lI/s400/ital7091.small.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366487582974283234" border="0" /></a></div><div>Gondoleers may NOT sing O Sole Mio, Turna Surriento, Funiculi, Funicula or other Neapolitan songs requested by their clients. This is La Serenissima - Venice, for Criminy's sake!!!<br /><br /></div><div>They must also not solicit clients. They exist to give the city a unique color, not necessarily to ferry noisy and drunken tourists through the canals and caletas.It is expensive to hire a Gondola. It has always been thus. Prices <div> </div> will go up by 30% to avoid the hoi polloi.</div><div><br /></div><div>UNESCO declared Venice a treasure of humanity. Ahime! Some members of Humanity don't treasure Venice as they should. The presence of the Italian Army is to ensure that it does.</div><div><br /></div><div>Moroccan and Senegalese sidewalk vendors cannot display and hawk their wares in Piazza San Marco under pain of heavy fines and/or jail if the offenses are recidivist. The vendors will have their very own market place farther away from Canareggio. I am all for free enterprise but please don't let your wares clash with the aesthetics of the place. Piazza San Marco is sacred. Hai capito? </div><div><br /></div><div>Mayor Cacciari has called in the Army to assist him in implementing these rules. Tourists, rich and poor are miffed.</div><div><div> </div> </div><div>"Don't come to Venice," he says rather tartly. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have some other rules to suggest to Mayor Cacciari.</div><div><br /></div><div>There should be a Venetian Visitor's tax on every living soul who comes to Venice. The super rich;we know straight away who they are because they head for the Hotel Cipriani, the Gritti, Danieli, Excelsior in the Lido, the Monaco etc. must pay a minimum tax of 500 Euros which is automatically tacked on their hotel bill.<br /><br /><div> <div> <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguv2khCRzIEl3dUv8M7fq5cMVRqNNL3M3tKW2KCxRIA5g6_d7BCmOPzZtw19LbC2Y_F0xIYVIUhgS0nN2DzpYd7BxLQjw4_Xa5LxxC3grTIKrrtAKJLkFJQEeD0t8xVTY5bPk_nJr-4gQ/s1600-h/italy-venice-v-69.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguv2khCRzIEl3dUv8M7fq5cMVRqNNL3M3tKW2KCxRIA5g6_d7BCmOPzZtw19LbC2Y_F0xIYVIUhgS0nN2DzpYd7BxLQjw4_Xa5LxxC3grTIKrrtAKJLkFJQEeD0t8xVTY5bPk_nJr-4gQ/s400/italy-venice-v-69.1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366487593855619090" border="0" /></a></div> </div> </div></div><div>Every tourist on a bus should pay 30 Euros each, no ifs or buts. I think it should be included in the price of the ticket. Private jets should pay a special landing tax, to be determined by the modern day Doges of the city. The rich can be notoriously miserly. I know this for a fact. I have witnessed it many times within members of my own clan. Well, they are going to have to lump it if they wish to luxuriate in the enchantment and sorcery of Venice. </div><div><br /></div><div>Passengers on trains and airplanes should do their part as well. Since the Italian State Railroad has raised the prices of tickets to Venice this should be studied carefully. In any case, foreigners should pay more than Italians. Few Italians go to Venice in the spring and summer because they have their own homes by the sea or in the countryside.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ah! yes. The Casino in Venice. There should be a surcharge for gambling. Another one when a high roller wins. What is one rich for? I have never heard of anyone with the ability to take his liquidity with him. So, cough up.</div><div><br /></div><div>What's that? The rich will all troop to Montecarlo ? Merde! Let them. Montecarlo is beautiful BUT would you dare compare it to the Laguna, the shimmering Palazzos at night, the sorcery? the magic? the emotions and fierce passions of Venice? Get real. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have splendid memories of Venice. One is lying on the floor of a majestic gondola which reminded me of a Viking ship because its sail was in red and white stripes. My companion and cavalier, Baron Philippe de Rothschild and I lay swaddled in furs against the night chill. He recited/declaimed the quatrains of Omar Khayam, the Ghazals of Hafiz and the Mathnawis of Rumi.</div><div><br /></div><div>Count Vittorio Cini was perhaps Venice's greatest benefactor in the 20th century. We became deeply infatuated with each other. Our love affair lasted until he died, although it never degenerated into sex. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Young beautiful bodies belong together," he told me.</div><div><br /></div><div> He was 90 and looked 50. I was almost 33. Nearly two meters tall, sharp and dark golden eyes, the eyes of a raptor. His skin was a mixture of cream and strawberries for he loved sailing on the Adriatic. He had a marriage of sorts to a fascinating woman who could almost be called an explorer. His two daughters reminded me of King Lear's Goneril and Regan. </div><div><br /></div><div>Come September La Serenissima holds its Regatta. On that occasion Vittorio's yacht flew my clan's royal colors high on the mast. I was transported back to 17th and 18th century Venice. I smiled and kissed his hand. One could show admiration, love and respect to a 90 year old Titan.</div><div>Count Cini's myriad industries in Mestre and elswhere in the Veneo had been partly responsible for the "acqua alta" the annual flooding of the Piazza di San Marco. how does one scold a personage of Vittorio's calibre? Doubtless he knew which is why the Cini Foundation is very engage in all artistic and social matters pertaining to Venice. </div><div><br /></div><div>Our family's ties go back to the 18th century when the Hapsburgs ruled Venice and the surrounding areas. One of my ancestors donated what today would amount to $8 million U.S. to build new locks, closures and fortify existing ones. This took place in 1846. The commemorative plaque is still in place. When Venice had its cataclysmic flood in 1966, historians angrily denounced the fact that the locks had not been maintained since 1846, when Count Mikal von Vacani had donated the famous sum of money. Indeed, the Italian authorities had not spent a cent since then. <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7FNtSPhgTr8qcbqKK9vxNyj_mqFGxsVxVOYkuZTZC30vY-wPGsrTP3LrNaNzrSVtPOsPaeRDaP1AjqRNZ3vtTBm-_vQHDkYmZIixwo_viyO8Ah9C39CJizbdHgjkfCb3VpqO_1Ty9bxk/s1600-h/italy-venice-v-103.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7FNtSPhgTr8qcbqKK9vxNyj_mqFGxsVxVOYkuZTZC30vY-wPGsrTP3LrNaNzrSVtPOsPaeRDaP1AjqRNZ3vtTBm-_vQHDkYmZIixwo_viyO8Ah9C39CJizbdHgjkfCb3VpqO_1Ty9bxk/s400/italy-venice-v-103.1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366487581871098466" border="0" /></a></div> </div><div><br /></div><div>The Moses project to save what's left of Venice has seen a series of stops and starts. Governments are notoriously slow in disbursing funds. N. B. The monies have been allocated from the EU and private financiers. If all goes well, Moses should be completed by 2012. I have my doubts as do most Venetians.If anything can go awry it inevitably will. Hope is the last thing one loses. The Venetians will die first before their La Serenissima vanishes from the face of the earth.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's face it. Venice does not have a particularly positive karma. Yet they have managed to create vast fortunes through their ruthless and pitiless nature hidden under a deadly charm. Most of their treasures such as the lions of San Marco were plundered from Byzantium. Later, their wealthy nobility commissioned artists like Titian, Bellini, Tintoretto, and Canaletto. Their banks granted loans to the entire world in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries at high rates of interest.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lest we forget Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. A superb psychological study of human nature; the wealthy shipowners who took shuddering risks, the brilliant women of Venice and its ruthless moneylenders. One of them was Shylock, a Jew. The play is hardly performed these days except in Venice. Some individuals, elsewhere in the world fear being termed anti-semitic. Not so the sophisticated Venetians. It's part of their history. Some of the most illustrious families are Sephardic Judean in origin. Most of all they consider themselves Venetian.</div><div><br /></div><div>They forked up money to merchants in Arabia, Istanbul, Peking, Delhi, Lebanon and Scotland. Tis said that British royalty intermarried with many of these royal Venetian bankers, centuries ago because their wealth, exquisite manners, good looks and penises dazzled them.</div><div><br /></div><div>EVVIVA VENEZIA! </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-90777947736964480932009-06-02T00:59:00.000-07:002009-06-02T01:13:53.180-07:00Stove of the future?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaxvg5GnLomFncamoYAG_yzQNGnsX5XT4-puProgPReagbV59cVOj-Y2EnZf2bTaOl1fCnOqwRgQgFO777MKFipXjcnFjl_ZKIuvpo_0pFqYm1HcEjPbBMqtEsSbxzjX_nLVEcBe1jsU/s1600-h/table.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaxvg5GnLomFncamoYAG_yzQNGnsX5XT4-puProgPReagbV59cVOj-Y2EnZf2bTaOl1fCnOqwRgQgFO777MKFipXjcnFjl_ZKIuvpo_0pFqYm1HcEjPbBMqtEsSbxzjX_nLVEcBe1jsU/s400/table.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342637100793634706" border="0" /></a><br />Showy chefs can demonstrate their uncanny dexterity with Rendezvous, a table that doubles as a rangetop.<br /><br />This design concept uses new technology that's just about ready for the mass market: induction electronics, arranged in random cooking zones.<br /><br />No plugging in for you — just place a blender or electronic frying pan on its surface and it magically soaks up the electricity, cooking in no time.<br /><br />Its slide-out drawers can be warming trays or refrigeration units. And check out those radical controls embedded in the side. Once you're done cooking or mixing, it's ready to perform its other function as a spacey-looking kitchen table.<br /><br />Follow the link below to take a look at more pictures of this table/cooktop of the future from Electrolux Global Design at <a href="http://dvice.com/archives/2009/05/electrolux-indu.php">http://dvice.com/archives/2009/05/electrolux-indu.php</a><br /><br />For more cool kitchen ideas that will be appearing in stores in the near future - check out the 9 new products selected in the electrolux design competition by visiting<br /><a href="http://dvice.com/archives/2008/09/electrolux-desi.php">http://dvice.com/archives/2008/09/electrolux-desi.php</a>Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7081426712883964839.post-27500119706125336722009-05-31T00:56:00.000-07:002009-05-31T00:59:45.074-07:00Why Mistakes are Good when Learning EnglishFail Faster, Succeed Sooner<br /><br />When you use Listen and Answer in English, do you make mistakes? Probably you do. <br /><br />Is it bad to make mistakes when you speak? <br /><br />No. Its not bad. Its not bad to make mistakes-- its only bad to think about grammar rules.<br /><br />To speak English easily, you must make a lot of mistakes. You MUST. In fact, the more mistakes you make, the faster you will improve.<br /><br />The most important thing is that you MUST feel relaxed when speaking. <br /><br />Make mistakes. Have fun. Don't think about grammar rules-- just communicate quickly. <br /><br />You must feel relaxed. You must have fun with the language. When you do that, you will improve very quickly.<br /><br />Soon, you will be making fewer mistakes! You improve automatically. <br /><br />Speed is more important than perfection. That's right -- focus on being fast. Focus on understand faster and faster.<br /><br />Listen to songs in English -- sing a long. Read my blogs out loud. <br /><br />Smile! Laugh! Practice frequently.<br /><br />You will be suprised how much better you will get ... and faster.Contessa Isabella Vacanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353575283269950315noreply@blogger.com0