May 2004

Italian Law and Naming Your Baby

May 28, 2004

“What were they thinking?” department: This monument to those fallen in WWI in the Lake Como town of Gravedona shows someone whose parents named him “Troppotardi” – “too late”. An article in Il Corriere della Sera points out that Italian law aims to prevent children being given “ridiculous, shameful, or embarrassing” names by their parents. [...]

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Secondary Sex Characteristics

May 28, 2004

Enrico just came back from his US trip with a copy of Playboy magazine. Not something he normally buys, but this issue features Charisma Carpenter, a long-time favorite from Buffy and “Angel,” more or less in the altogether. The last time I saw the inside of a Playboy was over 20 years ago – back [...]

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Commuting Culture Clashes in Italy

May 28, 2004

On the train from Lecco to Milan the other day, the conductor came down the car, as they usually do, to check tickets. A Spanish-accented woman in the seat in front of me had a generic (distance) ticket, but had not stamped it at the station before getting onto the train, as you are required to [...]

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Rossella and Hamish: A Love Story

May 25, 2004

video shot August 14, 2004 music copright Patrick Doyle; buy it here May 25, 2004 “Jump? What jump? I don’t see any jump.” “Okay, I see it. But I ain’t jumping it!” “Whoa, did I jump that?” “Well, might as well do this one, too.” “And this one…” “…and this one and this one and [...]

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Compulsory School Age, Bought Diplomas

May 23, 2004

There have been two big pieces of news in Italian education this week: The Education Ministry has announced that the age for compulsory schooling will be raised from its current 15 to 18 years. Parents and communities will be tasked with enforcing attendance, on pain of fines. (This law already exists for under-15s, though it doesn’t [...]

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Raising the Roof: Expanding Housing Space Vertically

May 23, 2004

For several months now, we’ve had a close-up view of a major construction project in a neighboring building. When you buy a top-floor apartment in an Italian condominium building, you often (usually?) also buy the right to some or all of the attic space under the slanted the roof, called the solaio. Where building codes permit, [...]

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My Technical Writing

May 16, 2004

WinOnCD Documentation User comment from CNet on WinOnCD 5 (US release, November 2002): “I definitely am not a techy and I had no problems. The reason is because I carefully read the manual. The manual is detailed. It took a number of hours to digest. There is a learning curve, but after some practice everything [...]

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