June 14th, 1998. Around 4:00am. I'm glued to the TV and I'm going to witness history in the making, but I am not yet aware of this. He steals the ball from Malone. He slowly and patiently crosses the mid-court line. The game is down the stretch, in the clutch, but he's not in a … Continue reading No Space for Emotions in Sports Any More?
The True Lure of Money
I'm pretty sure that the title of this post has made most of my readers think immediately of private jets, flamboyant sports cars, and luxury mansions. In this article, however, I would like to talk about a different flavour of lure associated with money, yet even more intriguing and fascinating, at least for me. Pretty … Continue reading The True Lure of Money
Equity Crowdfunding and Start-ups
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about start-up companies. In that post, I expressed some reservations I have about the world of start-ups, even though I generally welcome the creation of new, innovative companies. Since the publication of that post, I have had the opportunity to invest a small amount of money … Continue reading Equity Crowdfunding and Start-ups
Translating Stephen King and the American Imagination
The title of this post is the same of the workshop that I attended recently. It was organized by the same foundation that arranges the pordenonelegge.it literary festival, which I talked about here. This annual workshop is conceived by Laura Pagliara, a professional translator who collaborates with the foundation. It mainly targets aspiring translators and … Continue reading Translating Stephen King and the American Imagination
Communication and Employer Branding: How Employers and Applicants Switched Roles in the Internet Era
Last September, I had a thought-provoking meeting with a representative of what I call a "social recruiting company". I use this expression because this company—which I will refer to as SRC for convenience—exploits a social media-like communication approach to implement an innovative and ingenious business model. By the way, it was clear from the start … Continue reading Communication and Employer Branding: How Employers and Applicants Switched Roles in the Internet Era
There’s a New Kid in Town
Maybe all is not lost for true basketball lovers. A 19 year-old kid from Slovenia is showing the world that old school basketball is still alive. And it can be successful, too. Drafted in June 2018, Luka Dončić is proving to everyone that you can play the old way and yet be effective. This is … Continue reading There’s a New Kid in Town
Saudade and Identity
Saudade is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves.source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade Portuguese is a language known for its intrinsic musicality (Important update: my friend Matteo pointed out to me that this it true for Brazilian variant only). When you listen to a person speaking … Continue reading Saudade and Identity
Merciless Time Management: How Managing and Aging Affected My Ordinary Life
In this previous post, I talked thoroughly about the efficient use of resources at my workplace. What I stated there is also true for the scarce resource par excellence, time. Being precious, I started to make careful use of my time several years ago. I wanted to manage my time as well as I had … Continue reading Merciless Time Management: How Managing and Aging Affected My Ordinary Life
Italienischer Militärinternierter (Italian Military Internee) — Part II
On September 1st, I received a message from Paul[1], an Italian-Canadian man who came across my blog while googling around to search for information about the history of his father. During his research, Paul found my article about the imprisonment of my maternal grandfather in the middle of WWII. Like my grandfather, Paul's father was … Continue reading Italienischer Militärinternierter (Italian Military Internee) — Part II
An Imaginary Trip to the USA — Chapter I: Introduction
Throughout the years, I have had the chance to meet several American people in person or online, with whom I have had numerous conversations. Often, we have talked about our respective countries because this has been one of the topics we have been interested in. We have usually asked each other a lot of questions … Continue reading An Imaginary Trip to the USA — Chapter I: Introduction
Ideas for a DIY Smart Home: How to Build a Simple LoRaWAN™ Network from A to Z — Part I
Important update (2019-06-02) After publishing this post, I received some relevant remarks from LoRaWAN experts who are active in the The Things Network community. The most important is the fact that the system here described is not based on a true gateway because my implementation is not compliant with the LoRaWAN specifications. Further issues: The … Continue reading Ideas for a DIY Smart Home: How to Build a Simple LoRaWAN™ Network from A to Z — Part I
AI Don’t Lie
Most basketball fans remember the famous sentence that Rasheed Wallace often repeated during the games: "ball don't lie." This post's title should be a reminder of that sentence. As a matter of fact, this article talks about the role Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play in basketball. Even though I never wrote an article on AI … Continue reading AI Don’t Lie
Losing the Edge
Manager: a professional who achieves set objectives by organizing other people's work. Recently, I had an interesting conversation about management with my good friend, Matteo. Specifically, we discussed the role of the technical manager in modern companies. Matteo has a deep technical background and is a great engineer. Currently, he is experiencing a stage of … Continue reading Losing the Edge
Fascism Disguised as Oligarchic Democracy
At the beginning of May, I attended a conference in the wonderful town of Sacile. It was hosted by Professor Antonio Soligon, a retired teacher and writer who loves the city of Venice intensely. He talked about the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a historical building that the oma.eu website describes like this: First constructed in 1228, … Continue reading Fascism Disguised as Oligarchic Democracy
The Art of Trading Off: How Engineering Has Affected My Ordinary Life
In this post, I talked about the creative side of engineering. Surprisingly, that is not the only one. In a nutshell, this is what engineering is all about: https://youtu.be/egWvQuT5TCU Simply put, you have to achieve a technical goal with a set of available resources (time, people, money, etc.) and within a deadline. That's it. Most … Continue reading The Art of Trading Off: How Engineering Has Affected My Ordinary Life
Bloodied Sands
In 2014, I visited France and, during my brief stay in Paris, I took a 1-day tour in Normandy. The strict schedule consisted of several visits to places related to one of the greatest military operations in the history of mankind, D-Day. Normandy is a unique place. Its natural characteristics—rainy weather, peaceful seas, lavender fields, … Continue reading Bloodied Sands
Magical Notes
Since I became an adult, I have been fascinated by music. My fascination is the one you feel for the unknown because, technically speaking, I know almost nothing about music. The thing I find so intriguing about it is that a combination of individual sounds—and pauses—may be so powerful as to arouse feelings and emotions … Continue reading Magical Notes
Apathy
A couple of months ago, my teammates and I organized a friendly basketball game between my amateur team and a team composed of players who were born around the year 2000 (technically speaking, they compete in the U20 local tournament). As usual, I was excited about the idea of playing against players that young. Although I … Continue reading Apathy
Cursed Engineers
On March 23rd, I attended a public talk in San Daniele del Friuli, a town that is famous worldwide for its delicious ham. The main guest was the writer Elena Commessatti. The event was organized by Leggermente, a cultural association which aims to promote reading.[1] The organizer devised a compelling formula for such events. Basically, … Continue reading Cursed Engineers
You Play to Win, Don’t You?
At first sight, this question sounds rhetorical to the majority of people living in the western world. We should not take for granted the answer, however. Some weeks ago I wrote a post on victory. Right after writing it, coincidentally I had the chance to discuss on another blog a different topic related to victory … Continue reading You Play to Win, Don’t You?
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