My Year in Blogging – 2011

January 1, 2012

I have had a website for over ten years now. It began as an archive for the personal email newsletter I started publishing after leaving my job at Roxio – some of the 170,000 subscribers to my Roxio newsletters said they wanted to keep hearing from me, and some of them are still readers and [...]

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The Twitter Diaries: December, 2011

January 1, 2012

(in reverse chron order) DeirdreS: @milouness That would be bad news – look what a huge underground economy has done for Italy http://twitter.com/DeirdreS/statuses/152877179003342848 2011-12-30 20:52:04 DeirdreS: Passwords nightmare solved: takeaway for me: “You can’t scale a founder talking about how passionate they are.” http://twitter.com/DeirdreS/statuses/152854488523350016 2011-12-30 20:40:46 DeirdreS: @bcantrill You /had/ to get that horrible image [...]

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Learn Italian in Song: Mamma & Papa’

December 23, 2011

written, recorded and copyrighted by Alex Britti Again, it could only happen in Italy: a pop/blues singer pens a love song to his parents. Hey, papà, stammi a sentire, Hey, Dad, listen to me ti ricordi quella volta che siamo andati a pedalare Remember that time we went pedalling con le biciclette stanche, With our [...]

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Me and Tech

December 19, 2011

If you’re arriving here from Brendan’s blog post and wondering what I have to do with technology, here are some links: stuff I did at Sun Microsystems (and Oracle) technical video portfolio my current job as SmartOS Community Manager and, and I edited the DTrace book

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Italian House Numbers

December 18, 2011

House numbers in Milan and many other cities are usually standard and boring, like this: . But sometimes you find interesting and unusual ones, so I’ve decided to collect them.    

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Italian Fountains

December 18, 2011

Not every Italian town is famously picturesque, but, even in those that are not, the attentive observer can find a wealth of beautiful detail and decoration. (I’ve already mentioned the doorknockers.) So here’s a collection of heads on fountains from all over Italy (not necessarily dull ones). ^ These three are all in Chiavenna ^ Varenna. [...]

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San Pellegrino: The Remains of the Grand Hotel

December 18, 2011

A relic of the heyday of San Pellegrino, the Grand Hotel was (quite literally) a watering place for the wealthy, in the early 1900s when health spas with natural mineral springs were all the rage. The hotel is an Art Nouveau treasure, built in 1905, but now sadly going to ruin, its fixtures gradually being auctioned [...]

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Index of Videos

December 18, 2011

All my videos [to 2007] are listed here in reverse chronological order of the date they were shot, newest on top. To visit the related web page, click on the title. To download the video, right-click on the video filename and select “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”. Work in progress – there are [...]

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Montepulciano

December 18, 2011

coppersmith’s shop, “temple” of San Biagio I don’t remember when this trip took place, maybe summer of 2004.

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Green Veggie Lasagne

December 18, 2011

I have made variations on this recipe for years, most recently for my own birthday potluck the Saturday after Thanksgiving. My friend Mary, who knows a thing or two about good food, said she’d like to know how to make it. This isn’t a recipe in the strict sense, because I can’t be bothered to [...]

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“The Road Home” Shortlisted for an Oscar

December 15, 2011

This dramatic short by Woodstock alum Rahul Gandotra – shot in and around Woodstock School in the Indian Himalayas – was recently shortlisted for the Oscars.  

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Katrina: What Happened in the Hospitals

December 10, 2011

The New Projects Xes Effects on the Middle Class Don’t Bring Your Kids Here Corruption The Effects on Communities 9th Ward Celia’s Story What Happened in the Hospitals

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SFGMC Christmas Concert 2011

December 9, 2011

Here’s a clip from last night’s Christmas Concert by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Christmas – which was, by turns: gorgeous, giggly, teary, heartwarming, and uplifting. You’ve still got a chance to see it – three shows on Christmas Eve!  

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Katrina: Celia’s Story

December 8, 2011

The New Projects Xes Effects on the Middle Class Don’t Bring Your Kids Here Corruption The Effects on Communities 9th Ward Celia’s Story What Happened in the Hospitals

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Art School, Castello Sforzesco, Milan

December 6, 2011

One of the areas inside the castle that Leonardo da Vinci designed for the Duke of Milan houses a school for applied arts, appropriately enough.    

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Katrina: The Effects on Communities

December 6, 2011

The New Projects Xes Effects on the Middle Class Don’t Bring Your Kids Here Corruption The Effects on Communities 9th Ward Celia’s Story What Happened in the Hospitals

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View of Lake Como from Lecco, Evening

December 5, 2011
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Learn Italian in Song: Serenata

December 5, 2011

Serenade by Toto Cotugno Serenata quasi a mezzanotte A serenade at almost midnight guardie e ladri che si fanno a botte guards and thieves who pummel each other e i ragazzi da soli and the young people alone sono ancora romantici. are still romantic Serenata per i separati A serenade for the separated e i [...]

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Learn Italian in Song: Viva la Mamma

December 5, 2011

  Viva La Mamma by Edoardo Bennato also recorded by Neri per Caso Only in Italy would you get a pop song celebrating dear old mom! But it’s also a bit of nostalgia for the 1950s, the hectic post-war period when Italy was booming. The italicized parts are not in the Neri per Caso cover. [...]

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Flowers on a Windowsill

December 4, 2011
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