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?
Millennials and Liquid Leadership
Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain. --Dale Carnegie A leader is the one who is able to create a world to which people want to belong. --Robert B. Dilts Frequently, I hear about people of my generation, Generation X, and baby boomers complaining about the fact that they struggle to communicate with millennials. I also have … Continue reading Millennials and Liquid Leadership
Ideas for a DIY Smart Home: Energy Monitoring
Introduction Last year, I decided to analyze in detail my house's electrical power consumption as I found it quite high, given the limited utilization of my home. I googled around to find a relatively cheap solution. This post describes briefly what I did to measure the overall consumption, 7 days a week, 24 hours a … Continue reading Ideas for a DIY Smart Home: Energy Monitoring
Teacher, Priest, Family Doctor …
... psychoanalyst and the list could go on. Apparently, these occupations have almost nothing in common. Is this true? Some weeks ago, I attended a public meeting hosted by the teacher Enrico Galiano. He currently works at a secondary school teaching eleven- to thirteen-year-olds. According to the masterprof.it web site, he is one of the top … Continue reading Teacher, Priest, Family Doctor …
Disrespectful Happiness
Happiness is perhaps the most disrespectful thing to human pain. La felicità è probabilmente la cosa più irrispettosa dell'umana sofferenza. Notes Featured image source: https://wellmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Pain-and-Pleasure.jpg
An Obsession for Victory
I have always been fascinated by top athletes who spend their entire lives aiming at one goal: winning. Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, and Roger Federer are examples of this elite group of people. Anyone who has ever practiced a sport knows well that an extremely rare combination of factors is required to reach—and to keep—such … Continue reading An Obsession for Victory
Class T Audio Amplifier with Integrated USB DAC and Bluetooth Receiver
Introduction This post is rather technical and describes a homemade class-T amplifier that I started to build in 2010. I consider it a never-ending project because, from time to time, I tweak it to add new features or to improve existing ones. For example, in the spring of 2017, I put my hands on it … Continue reading Class T Audio Amplifier with Integrated USB DAC and Bluetooth Receiver
Joyful Writers
Being a joyful person is an unforgivable sin for a writer. Essere una persona gioiosa è una colpa che non dovrebbe mai essere perdonata a uno scrittore. Notes Featured image source: https://andreamarson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/818ce-writer.jpg
Price to Be Paid
Recently, I have created a page on which I'll be listing some intellectuals who have played an important role throughout my life. They have helped me significantly because they have shed some light on several issues I have come across. Some weeks ago, an event occurred that represents a good example of how these people's … Continue reading Price to Be Paid
Please, Don’t Call It Basketball Anymore
On several occasions, I stated what I think about current basketball (for instance, see the following posts: Basketball 1.0, True basketball, and Pristine basketball). After watching some games of the 2018 NCAA tournament, I have to admit that my beloved college basketball has been corrupted as well. It is not as unwatchable as the NBA … Continue reading Please, Don’t Call It Basketball Anymore
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