you know, there are those songs it’s quite easy to fall in love with, a decent melody, maybe from some unknown singer or band, you just hear them on the radio and obviously you hear’em when they already started and so have no idea on title or singer, so just grab some words in the lyrics such as “come along with me ” ease your pain” “seize this day” and then comes google and so you discover that the group or singer is someone called Titiyo (i confess my ignorance ) and after some more search you find the mp3 too, so that’s what i’m listening quite in loop mode

well, if you’ve a Sony DSC F-55 digital camera and have discovered how to make the software Picture Gear lite 3.2 to work with Windows 2000 (or found an alternative sw just to transfer images via the serial port) pls pls let me know it’s been some time i’m looking on the net for a solution but it seems i can’t find it unless it’s in one of those documents in japanese…

Checking my last post was so dry, i mean obviously tech stuff is that way but beside technology there’d be some human factor that in some case we may tend to forget. Similar observation can be found in a interesting and provoking book i’m reading eagerly (just 100 pages today): Cluetrain Manifesto, about changes in the way business

runs in the internet age, i mean it’s not the usual e-everything buzzword collection so easy to find but a somewhat radical way of seeing changes and come back to the original voice of people in companies and market, a touch of being really human that implies watching closely, understanding and connecting real people in the real world. Ain’t that funny ? shouldn’t companies know already what their clients need or for us just looking at the way things are, but in many cases we just avert our eyes, no, not this time, that’s me looking at you…

< geekmode >

i just got and installed a new soundcard : Terratec EWX 24/96 the main idea was to be able to handle digital/optical audio in for some higher audio quality, the good thing was that i installed in a quite old pc crowded with various isa and pci cards (scsi,modem,network, another sounblaster awe64) and apparently installation went smooth, no IRQ or other conflicts, too bad that many other steps will be needed before i can fully exploit the digital input in my music chain : at least buying a MD deck with digital out and well before that just to make a complete solution : some new mics and maybe a MDLP portable MD recorder… phew boosting hi-tech expenses

< /geekmode >

as an italian i feel really ashamed and embarassed for what our prime minister, mr. berlusconi said last day in Berlin making a foolish declaration saying that western civilisation is superior to Islam because of our achievements in terms of wealth and human rights. Not only the affirmation of a “superior” civilisation is racist per se, whatever the position is; sure there are differences between cultures and people, but this is not the point, and then that specific remark is quite baseless. Let’s have a look back at the past century and we’ll see orrible things in our wonderful western world. It’s true that the economic achievements were great, well, so what ?
I won’t even try to comment on another part of his assertion when he draws a parallel between terrorism and anti-globalisation, this is just such a proof of ignorance that’s enough. What we’d really try to do is know better other cultures and civilisation : Islam and arabs are between us, in our cities or anyway or not so far, so trying to know better what are their ideas, they values is important and could just lead to better understanding and knowledge and maybe cooperation and peace.

already seen : comes autumn and with it also the season sickness, so i got this cold that is making me increase revenue of Kleenex, Scottex or other companies that make paper handkerchiefs, going this way i guess they’ll even offer me some stock option too 😉

Althought it was a rainy and grey day i won my lazyness and went to Milan for the EICMA, an international motorcycle exhibition, and it was interesting to see some new bikes and all that comes along with the exhibition (read nice girls). I didn’t spot many or radical new models, well i’m interested in the cruiser/custom bike segment so i don’t care much for sportsy stuff. To remember there were this new Bulldog by Yamaha that’s something with a modern style but with something that could make it a classic, such as the old VMax.
And there was also the brand new Harley, the V Rod, so i sit down on both to have a taste. Well the HD is a very long bike and i feel they’re not so easy to ride, at least when i first jumped on my own Suzuki Intruder 1400 with a custom advanced commands i didn’t feel much at ease, so i got’em removed and got back to to the original. At the Ducati booth there was also this big steel monster created with parts of bike, intriguing. Are you scared ? you should not, so to let you  with some nice and peaceful view have a look at this father and son on two minibikes.
When you say that some things are handed  down from generation to generation….

just watched “l’ultimo bacio” , an italian movie that had a good success in the last months. I found it very nice and with a good rendition of feelings and fears of the characters: some 30something facing the fear to really “grow old” with all the choices (family,marriage,work) that need to be made and the struggle for that feeling young again with all the consequences. I can’t say that i do relate closely but nevertheless, being in that age range, there’s food for thought

it’s been a very busy week, working at full speed, client visits, meetings, dozens and dozens of e-mails to read. At least i enjoyed one long lunch break in the center of Milan with the chance of wandering around and visiting some music shops where i did buy the latest from Bob Dylan : Love and Theft (that i’m really enjoying) and some bookstores too like Hoepli. It’s amazing their array of books and i like to look around for inspiration in between so many different books, there’s especially the section about art and design that offer many hints and althought i’m not directly into that i do believe that inspiration is something that may come across different environments.