Buzzurro

This blog has moved ! Our new address is www.buzzurro.net

J.Doe and I are moving and this blog is moving too !
We have a new blog that replaces this.
The new address is

www.buzzurro.net

Please change your bookmarks !
See you in our new blog.

We are moving to the US

J.Doe ed io ci trasferiremo negli Stati Uniti entro poche settimane.

In un altro post, tratteremo piu' in dettaglio delle motivazioni che ci hanno spinto a questa decisione.

Per il momento, diciamo che ci stiamo trasferendo li' allo scopo di migliorare la nostra vita.

Invece di fare come tanti, che si lamentano, e basta, delle cose che non vanno nella loro vita quotidiana, noi cerchiamo di cambiarla in meglio.

Quindi, tra un po', i post del blog Buzzurro verranno sparati non dall'Italia, dove siamo attualmente, ma dagli Stati Uniti.

Ciao ciao

Now in English:

J.Doe and I are moving to the United States in a few weeks.

We will discuss more extensively the reasons of this choice.

Now I will just say that our move is aimed at improving our life.

We are not acting like many who just complain about things that don't work in their lives, without doing a thing, instead we try to improve ours.

So, in a short time, Buzzurro's blog posts will be published not from Italy, where we currently are, but from the U.S.

Ciao ciao

A Happy Thanksgiving...

...to my wife, to my in-laws, to all American people who I know in person, to all Americans who read this, and to all of you who celebrate the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Who stole my USB key ?

This USB key, if stolen, is able to send an email to the legit owner saying: hey, I'm here, here's the IP address of the PC I'm connected to, take me back home ! Cool.

Not only...

It can be remotely controlled, so that it clears out all data it contains. Not bad.

And, who stole my laptop ?

[Via Geeksquare]

A story

When the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the great Rabbi Israel Shem Tov, saw misfortune threatening the Jews, it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted.

Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Maggid of Mezritch, had occasion, for the same reason, to intercede with heaven, he would go to the same place in the forest and say: “Master of the Universe, listen ! I do not know how to light the fire, but I am still able to say the prayer,” and again the miracle would be accomplished.

Still later, Rabbi Moshe-leib of Sasov, in order to save his people once more, would go into the forest and say, “I do not know how to light the fire. I do not know the prayer, but I know the place, and this must be sufficient.” It was sufficient, and the miracle was accomplished.

Then it fell to Rabbi Israel of Rizhin to overcome misfortune. Sitting in his armchair, his head in his hands, he spoke to God: “I am unable to light the fire, and I do not know the prayer, and I cannot even find the place in the forest. All I can do is to tell the story, and this must be sufficient.” And it was sufficient.

And you know why ? Because God loves stories.

How much is our blog worth ?

J.Doe asked me: what does this mean ? It's just a game, I guess it is supposedly the blog's market value if filled with advertising:

My blog is worth $92,584.56.
How much is your blog worth?

But I don't think we're gonna pay the bills with our blog.

Soft boiled egg with asparagus on toast for breakfast

What I'd like to taste, not necessarily for breakfast. The recipe is here.

Getting a first class flight upgrade for free

Some suggestions on how to get your economy class flight upgraded for free: useful especially on long international flights.
Here (thanks to him/her/it/whatever).

Bad Customer Service-continued

Today my friend and I had lunch together at a little restaurant near where she works. The menu with prices was on the placemats that the waiter/owner put in front of us. I ordered a 5 Euro pizza, and she ordered a 5 Euro pizza and a 2 Euro coca cola.
The food and our conversation were really enjoyable, but finally the time came to ask for our bills so we could leave. The owner brought my bill. It was 5 Euro as expected. He also brought my friend's bill. It was 8 Euros. After studying it for a few seconds, she asked the owner ' Why is the bill 8 Euros? The menu says the pizza costs 5 and the coca cola costs 2 Euros. That should be 7 Euros total.'
And he replied 'Well, I served you a medium glass of coca cola. That is 3 Euros. 3 for the coca cola and 5 for the pizza is 8.'
To which she replied 'Why is a glass of coca cola 3 Euros ? It only says on the menu a coca cola is 2 Euros. It doesn't even say anything about sizes or glasses. There is only the one price of 2 Euros mentioned.'
To which he replied 'There was a misunderstanding. 2 Euros is for a can of coca cola. 3 Euros is for the medium glass, which I served you.'
She said 'This wasn't a misunderstanding. I didn't want a 3 Euro soda, I wanted a 2 Euro soda, which is on the menu.'
To which he said 'You pay for what you are served, and you were served a 3 Euro coca cola!'
So what did my friend do ? She PAID.
If it was me I would have made more of a fuss. I mean you cannot advertise one price and then charge another. In the US this would be illegal. Bait and switch. A crime. I've never even heard of a restaurant doing business like that. Talk about a fast way to lose customers. And over 1 lousy Euro too. The 2 of us will never go back there again.

What is Tocvil ?

...sottotitolo, a proposito del dibattito sulle epurazioni in Tocqueville.

Il fattaccio, a questo punto, dovrebbe essere noto e stranoto. Comunque, e' tutto spiegato nei blog di Dacia Valent, Rolli, Andrea Mancia, Alberto Puliafito, Wind Rose Hotel.
In sintesi, i post dei toc villani sono selezionati, perche' facciano bella mostra di se' in TV (inteso come Tocqueville), da aggregatori umani.
In TV, esiste un (sotto ?)insieme di questi selezionatori che mette ai voti l'ammissione o meno di nuovi blog, e, quello che colpisce di piu', l'eventuale espulsione di blog da TV stessa.

Che dire ? Se Andrea Mancia fosse il proprietario di TV, sarebbe suo diritto decidere chi puo' entrare e chi deve uscire da essa. Se non sta bene a un blogger essere aggregato ben bene dal proprietario unico, signore e badrone di TV, uscire da TV o non entrare nemmeno sono due opzioni possibili. Nel qual caso, non ti obbligherebbe il dottore ad aderire a TV. E Mancia non sarebbe obbligato, da parte sua, ad accogliere chiunque purche' blog-dotato.

Il problema e' che Mancia non e' il proprietario unico di TV, almeno credo...

Domanda: di chi e' Tocqueville ?

Dal foglietto informativo di Tocvil leggiamo:

La redazione di TocqueVille si riserva insindacabilmente la scelta dei post da aggregare e il diritto di negare o revocare l'iscrizione.

Ma la redazione di TV chi e' ? Andrea Mancia e poi ? Come si diventa aggregatore ? Probabilmente per una sorta di cooptazione. Su invito di chi, di un altro aggregatore ? Solo di Mancia ?

La mancanza di chiarezza e di trasparenza costituisce una fonte di problemi.

Chiarezza, ad esempio, sulla ragione sociale di TV, altrimenti Alberto Puliafito, che non mi sembra esattamente un fesso in base a come scrive, non sarebbe incorso nell'equivoco di essere "sgradito".

Trasparenza su questi "dietro le quinte".

I toc villani sarebbero ciascuno di pari importanza, eppure un gruppo non ben definito di toc villani e' in grado, tramite votazione, di cacciare un toc villano.

In quanto toc villano, avrei gradito alcune informazioni in piu' su questioni non da poco quali il processo di espulsione di altri toc villani. Non mi sembrano cazzatine, scusate il francesismo.

Sebbene sia toc villano, nessuno e' venuto da me, a bussare alla mia casella di posta elettronica, toc toc, toc villano, chiedendomi che ne pensassi di espellere Noantri.

TV e' una comunita' ? E' un servizio ? E' un'associazione politica ?

Se TV fosse un servizio, erogato a titolo gratuito (grazie al cielo), questi sarebbero i suoi terms of service, a cui si dovrebbero adeguare i suoi fruitori, pena la sospensione del servizio.

Il servizio a cui avrei aderito sarebbe l'avere alcuni dei miei post sparati sulla home page di tocvil, scelti a insindacabile giudizio... eccetera eccetera.

I fruitori fruirebbero a titolo gratuito, la fornitura del servizio avverrebbe su base volontaristica, gli ~~epuratori~~ aggregatori aggregherebbero aggratis.

In realta', TV non e' un servizio (o non e' solo un servizio), si differenzia da un servizio ed e' invece una comunita', per il dialogo che avviene giornalmente tra i suoi appartenenti.

E allora, essendo TV una comunita', come fa un gruppo interno a TV ad avere il diritto di espellere un blogger, senza interpellare nessuno al di fuori di loro stessi ?

Questo gruppo si deve essere costituito, almeno in prima convocazione, dietro invito di Mancia, in quanto detentore delle chiavi di TV.

Cio' e' evidente. Se io e un altro blogger iscritto a TV ci mettiamo a discutere di chi dovrebbe essere allontanato da TV, cio' non ha nessuna influenza sulla sua permanenza o meno in TV, poiche', ad esempio, noi non siamo detentori delle password del sistema informatico di TV che permette di eliminare un blog dalla lista.

Quindi, il diritto ad espellere gli proviene, direttamente o indirettamente, da Mancia stesso, il realizzatore di TV.

Mi sembra evidente che ci sia una carente comunicazione riguardante il funzionamento interno di TV, e in generale una carente comunicazione da TV verso i suoi appartenenti. E' evidente che un sottogruppo (o sopragruppo ?) di blogger in TV prenda parte al processo decisionale, sviluppato attraverso un dibattito; da questo dibattito e da quelle decisioni sono tagliati fuori gli altri, che in certi casi, le subiscono. E' evidente che, in molti casi, leggendo quanto aggrega TV in questi giorni, i miei concittadini toc villani sono soddisfatti di questo stato di cose, o, detto in altri termini, gli sta bene cosi'.

Ed e' probabile che chi non sia di stretta osservanza neocon in politica estera, e pro-casa della liberta' in politica interna, o, detto in altri termini, chi non segua la linea, le linee toc villane, rischi il cartellino giallo o rosso.

Cosa c'entra tutto questo col liberalismo ? Boh.

Mi piacerebbe essere smentito, ma sono pessimista al riguardo.

Rosh HaShanah

L'Shana Tova to all readers !

Ray Nagin, Hero or Moron ?

We think (together with U.S. News) that he's a moron:

Which politician emerged from the mess of Katrina as the biggest bonehead involved? No, it's not Michael Brown, George W. Bush, or even the bumbling Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.

But New York Times calls him "a folk hero"...

Firefox users, never EVER install NewsMonster !

The reading of this post is reserved to geeks who use Firefox. The others may skip it.

NewsMonster is supposed to be sort of a Firefox extension that should act as a RSS reader.
Do you want my advice ? NEVER EVER install it !

Good reasons for not installing it:
- the uninstall procedure DOESN'T WORK. How would you want to install a thing you cannot uninstall ?
- After the installation, a wide sidebar appears on the right, approximately 30% the size of the window, NOT sizeable, not shrinkable.
- some of the menu items added by NewsMonster seem not to work (especially the "NewsMonster Preferences" menu item, from which, by the way, you are supposed to uninstall the product...)
- unlike other Firefox extensions, NewsMonster is not listed among the other installed extensions (via the "Tools | Extensions" menu item)
- the OPML import function doesn't work. I tried to import my RSS feeds in OPML format, and it imported only one of them.

I successfully uninstalled it by doing the following tasks:
- closed Firefox
- deleted the c:\newsmonster folder
- under "c:\program files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome", I deleted "newsmonster.jar"
- under "c:\program files\Mozilla Firefox\components", I deleted a group of files (*.jar, *.js) last modified at 10/23/2003, 3:13 AM
- under "c:\program files\Mozilla Firefox\ subdirectories, edited every recently changed *.rdf file, trying either to delete xml tags containing the "newsmonster" string, or turning them into comments, i.e. changing tags like


<RDF:li>
...newsmonster...
</RDF:li>

into


<!--RDF:li>
...newsmonster...
</RDF:li-->

Strangely, it worked. Once reopening Firefox, the NewsMonster disappeared, and everything else seemed to work fine.

I'd not generally advice to do what I did for erasing NewsMonster. Don't do this at home. You might get burned.
Instead, I'd suggest to uninstall Firefox and reinstall it.

If you want a fairly good RSS reader, try FeedDemon. It is not perfect, it has a few defects , but it's better than many other RSS readers.

And DON'T install NewsMonster, for Heaven's sake !

Simon Wiesenthal, 1908-2005

Yeetgadal v' yeetkadash sh'mey rabbah
B'almah dee v'rah kheer'utey
v' yamleekh malkhutei,b'chahyeykhohn, uv' yohmeykhohn,
uv'chahyei d'chohl beyt yisrael,
ba'agalah u'veez'man kareev, v'eemru: Amein.
(The crowd answers: Amein. Y'hey sh'met rabbah m'varach l'alam u'l'almey almahyah)

Y'hey sh'met rabbah m'varach l'alam u'l'almey almahyah.
Yeet'barakh, v' yeesh'tabach, v' yeetpa'ar, v' yeetrohmam, v' yeet'nasei,
v' yeet'hadar, v' yeet'aleh, v' yeet'halal sh'mey d'kudshah b'reekh hoo
(The crowd answers: b'reekh hoo).

L'eylah meen kohl beerkhatah v'sheeratah,
toosh'b'chatah v'nechematah, da'ameeran b'al'mah, v'eemru: Amein
(The crowd answers: Amein).

Y'hei shlamah rabbah meen sh'mahyah,v'chahyeem
aleynu v'al kohl yisrael, v'eemru: Amein
(The crowd answers: Amein).

Oseh shalom beem'roh'mahv, hoo ya'aseh shalom,
aleynu v'al kohl yisrael v'eemru: Amein

(The crowd answers: Amein)

"Holocaust Remembrance Day Caused London Bombings, and Makes Muslims Upset"

A committee appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair to “decrease the level of Muslim extremism” in the UK has advised him to cancel Holocaust Day, which is remembered by most European countries on January 26, because it makes Muslims feel offended, and because it caused London bombings.

More here>>

Katrina Victims Praise Bush and Blame Nagin, Disappointing ABC

A stunning example of media bias. Dean Reynolds, for ABC News, interviewed some people at Houston Astrodome, where many New Orleans refugees are located. But he had the answers to his questions he didn't want to hear:

“I'd like to get the reaction of Connie London who spent several horrible hours at the Superdome. You heard the President say retpeaedly that you are not alone, that the country stands beside you. Do you believe him ?”

Connie London: “Yeah, I believe him, because here in Texas, they have truly been good to us. I mean-”

Reynolds: “Did you get a sense of hope that you could return to your home one day in New Orleans?”

London: “Yes, I did. I did.”

Reynolds: “Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response ?”

London: “No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs.”

Reynolds: “And they weren't?”

London: “No, no, no, no. Lord, they wasn't. I mean, they had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people.”

Reynolds: “Now, Mary, you were rescued from your house which was basically submerged in your neighborhood. Did you hear something in the President's words that you could glean some hope from?”

Mary: “Yes. He said we're coming back, and I believe we're coming back. He's going to build the city up. I believe that.”

Reynolds: “You believe you'll be able to return to your home?”

Mary: “Yes, I do.”

Reynolds: “Why?”

Mary: “Because I really believe what he said. I believe. I got faith.”

Reynolds: “Back here in the corner, we've got Brenda Marshall, right?”

Brenda Marshall: “Yes.”

Reynolds: “Now, Brenda, you were, spent, what, several days at the Superdome, correct?”

Marshall: “Yes, I did.”

Reynolds: “What did you think of what the President told you tonight?”

Marshall: “Well, I think -- I think the speech was wonderful, you know, him specifying that we will return back and that we will have like mobile homes, you know, rent or whatever. I was listening to that pretty good. But I think it was a well fine speech.”

Reynolds: “Was there any particular part of it that stood out in your mind? I mean, I saw you all nod when he said the Crescent City is going to come back one day.”

Marshall: “Well, I think I was more excited about what he said. That's probably why I nodded.”

Reynolds: “Was there anything that you found hard to believe that he said, that you thought, well, that's nice rhetoric, but, you know, the proof is in the pudding?”

Marshall: “No, I didn't.”

Reynolds: “Good. Well, very little skepticism here. Frederick Gould, did you hear something that you could hang on to tonight from the President?”

Frederick Gould: “Well, I just know, you know, he said good things to me, you know, what he said, you know. I was just trying to listen to everything they were saying, you know.”

Reynolds: “And Cecilia, did you feel that the President was sincere tonight?”

Cecilia: “Yes, he was.”

Reynolds: “Do you think this is a little too late, or do you think he's got a handle on the situation?”

Cecilia: “To me it was a little too late. It was too late, but he should have did something more about it.”

Reynolds: “Now do you all believe that you will one day return to your homes?”
Voices: “Yes” and “I do.”

Reynolds: “I mean, do you all want to return to your homes? We're hearing some people don't even want to go back.”

Mary: “I want to go back.”

Reynolds: “You want to go back.”

Mary: “I want to go back. That's my home. That's all I know.”

Reynolds: “Is it your home for your whole life?”

Mary: “Right. That's my home.”

Reynolds: “And do you expect to go back to the house or a brand new dwelling or what?”

Mary: “I expect to go back to something. I know it ain't my house, because it's gone.”

Reynolds: “What is the one mistake that could have been prevented that would have made your lives much better? Is it simply getting all of you out much sooner or what was it?”

Mary: “I'm going to tell you the truth. I had the opportunity to get out, but I didn't believe it. So I stayed there till it was too late.”

Reynolds: “Did you all have the same feeling? I mean, did you all have the opportunity to get out, but you were skeptical that this was the really bad one?”

Unnamed woman: “No, I got out when they said evacuate. I got out that Sunday and I left before the storm came. But I know they could have did better than what they did because like they said, buses were just sitting there, and they could have came through there and got people out, because they were saying immediate evacuation. Some people didn't believe it. But they should have brung the force of the army through to help these people and make them understand it really was coming.”

London: “And really it wasn't Hurricane Katrina that really tore up the city. It was when they opened the floodgates. It was not the hurricane itself. It was the floodgates, when they opened the floodgates, that's where all the water came.”

Reynolds: “Do you blame anybody for this?”

London: “Yes. I mean, they've been allocated federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of our city personally. I really do.”

Reynolds: “All right. Well, thank you all very much. I wish you all the best of luck. I hope you don't have to spend too much more time here in the Reliant Center and you can get back to New Orleans as the President said. Ted, that is the word from the Houston Astrodome. And as I said, when the President said that the Crescent City will rise again, there were nods all around this parking lot.”

Thanks to Newsbusters.

Cindy Sheehan Aide Claims New Orleans Flood Caused by Government That Dynamited Levees To Protect The Rich

Andrea Garland:

we have learned that the reason our part of the neighborhood flooded was not due to the hurricane, but rather to a misguided effort on the part of our government. Fearing that the flood waters would invade Uptown New Orleans (the wealthy, white part of town), they dynamited another hole in the levy on our side to let flood waters in there and keeping them away from Uptown. Apparently they over did it with the dynamite.

Thanks to Free Republic.

Cindy Sheehan: "Pull Our Troops Out of OCCUPIED New Orleans"

WONDERFUL !! She's my anti-hero !!

Evidently, she got an abstinence crisis from media under-exposure. Poor lady ! Hurricane Katrina must have been a strong psychological hit for her.

Democrats Recommendations on How to Exploit Katrina

From democrats.org web site (via Behind Enemy Lines):

"Use FEMA's disastrous behavior in N.O. TO ESTABLISH A PLATFORM RE: What DEMS do better...."

"Be sure to emphasize that Bush cut funding for items that would have increased their flooding prevention.
ALSO please please do not let our Governer Dean dare say as did Bill Clinton just now..."there is no way they could have known." Don't say it, it is a lie. We all knew it was crisis time. So please don't pander to Bush and say there is no way he could have known. Bush did not prepare and he cut FEMA. When Bill Clinton said that today, I wanted to scream. He should not have said that...it was a lie."

After Bush, Blanco: The Buck Stops Here

"We all know that there were failures at every level of government: state, federal and local. At the state level, we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again. The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility."

More here.