Jan
30

When progress isn’t.

2006 | Filed Under Italy, Milan | Leave a Comment

I got my nice shiny new travel pass last week. It's one of those high tech credit card sized cards with a chip built in to it. Very flash. Trouble is it's not as convenient as the old paper model. With the old 'tree unfriendly' model I could waft on and off buses, trams and the metro in an almost painless fashion and I even stood a sporting chance of getting a seat, seeing as I did not have to fiddle about getting my ticket stamped. I could also get a new monthly pass from just about any old tobacconists or from many news kiosks. Easy peasy!

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Jan
27

The differences between girls and boys.

2006 | Filed Under My son, Thoughts | Leave a Comment

Until I actually became a father, I sort of believed that boys and girls started off the same. What I mean is that I believed that girls were encouraged to play with toys aimed at their sex and boys, likewise, played with toys that were intended to turn them into, well, boys. You probably think I am daft, and you, dear reader, probably knew this all along, but I didn't, not really. The fact that I'd never really given it a thought until I had a child, is about the only excuse I can offer for my ignorance. I apologise for this.

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Jan
27

And finally…..

2006 | Filed Under Italy, Milan | Leave a Comment

…after a bout of pretty chilly weather, the snow finally arrived, covering Milan with a snug blanket of deep snow. 'Wonderful' is the only word to describe it, unless, of course, you need to travel any great distance. Luckily for me, my 'out and about' work for the week had all but come to an end and my final two hour session was supposed to have been with a guy who lives well outside Milan. When he rang me back, he explained that he had been trying to extricate his car from snow in the area of the hostpital which he had just visited. Needless to say, our meeting was put off until another day.

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Jan
24

Long day

2006 | Filed Under Thoughts, Work | Leave a Comment

Am again considering having myself cloned. Then while one of me was at work, the other could be at home doing other stuff. It's one of those busy periods when I find myself up to my ears in work. This is great from a financial point of view in that it may help cover some of those slack periods. The thing about working for yourself is that you don't get holiday or sick pay and the tax man makes no allowances for these either. Sob. Sob.

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Jan
23

An ode to my favourite gadget

2006 | Filed Under Technology and Gadgets | 1 Comment

My pocket PC. It's great. Apart from being able to keep a record of what I'm getting up to, it can send emails, show me my photos, surf the net, read my beloved .pdf files, nag, er, remind me not to procrastinate, help me check the meanings of words, let me look at (small versions) just about every document I'm using at the moment, keep information in one nice easy place, play music and show me films(but I don't bother with these functions, 'coz of my magic MP3 player and our big TV). It can also talk to my mobile phone (scintillating conversations they have too, I can assure you) and it makes a fine cup of tea (joke).

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Jan
23

British for children

2006 | Filed Under Italy, Language, Milan | Leave a Comment

Does the title of this entry make sense? If so, please enlighten me. And perhaps the education authorities here in Milan, for it was they who entitled a section in their brochure promoting infant schools with these words. The title in Italian is "Inglese per bambini", which, thankfully is more likely to be understood correctly by parents flicking through this booklet. It's not a typo either, seeing as this expression is repeated within the text of the section.

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Jan
23

Lord of War - a film

2006 | Filed Under Films | Leave a Comment

It's been a long time since a film has genuinely frightened me, but I have to tell you, dear reader, that 'Lord of War' not only scared the wits out of me but left me wondering just why the whole human race deserves to exist: perhaps it's all little hard on the humanity to question its existence, but you can certainly question exactly why certain people are the way they are; and it got me thinking whether we really know what the word 'civilized' really means. Or maybe it's just me who does not understand the concept of 'civilized'.

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Jan
19

The kids are…all getting fat?!

2006 | Filed Under Italy, Thoughts | Leave a Comment

It's true apparently. Italian children are going the same way as many other youngsters from rich and developed countries; that is they are putting on too many pounds. Is this a surprise? Well, no it isn't, not really. Just think about it for a moment. The telly and other media bombards kids (and their parents) with adverts for fattening foods and drinks. Then there are the Playstations and Gameboys and the like, none of which exactly encourage movement. It is a well known fact that Italians are fascinated by football, but not enough children appear to play regularly enough to keep those calories at bay.

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Jan
19

My narcissistic son

2006 | Filed Under My son | Leave a Comment

You think I'm joking right? Well, I'm not. Our little one simply adores eyeing himself up in the enormous mirror which adorns our broom cupboard door. Not only that, but this very morning he actually went into his day nursery without making any fuss; for the first time since he started there last October.

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Jan
19

Contrasts - a partially inaccurate observation

2006 | Filed Under Italian politics | Leave a Comment

I read yesterday that schools in Italy are so underfunded that they are having to ask parents to make donations. A curious situation in a country which seems to be expert at taxing anything and everything that can be taxable. Makes me wonder where all the cash is ending up.

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Jan
16

A thought - well several, and it’s only Monday

2006 | Filed Under Films, Thoughts | Leave a Comment

We watched the film 'Stealth' last night - a tale about an advanced unmanned fighter plane in the not so distant future. It's not a bad film - lightweight Hollywood action pic really, but unlike some films of the same genre, it made us both think - which is quite unusual for hollywoodian stuff. This here plane had an AI system and thus learnt as it went along - he trouble was, it learn both bad and good things from its human 'companions', which it copied rather too well. I won't ruin the story, should you wish to see the pic, but it made me ask myself the question 'How do you, or how does a machine teach itself the difference between 'good' and 'bad'? and 'How can you define the concept of 'morals' to a machine?'.

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Jan
13

The man at the top

2006 | Filed Under Italian politics | Leave a Comment

Mr B, the boss of Italy and many things within the country, is gearing up for the elections. Late last year, when I should have commented on this, Milan was beset with hoardings bearing the B mans smiling face and stating all the good things Mr B and his minions have done for Italy. One of these statements caught my attention - it stated that Italy and Italians where well respected throughout the world. This struck me as being a wee bit odd seeing as the Economist, last year, had run an article about Italy being the sick old man of Europe, two large Italian companies had almost hit bankruptcy as a result of the less than honest actions of their senior managers and the head of the bank of Italy, no less, was being investigated for insider dealing, amongst other things. Such incidents do not generally create a healthy level of respect for a nation. Perhaps, just perhaps, Mr B should have cancelled this particular advertising campaign, which I suspect probably made many Italians feel rather sick - but I'm only a foreigner, so I know nothing about the place really and I'm probably a communist too.

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