Archive for Italy
total respect
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Running with tags competition, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Dolomiti, downhill skiing, Italy, Milan Cortina Winter Games, Olympia delle Tofane, ski accident, ski race, Winter Olympics on February 10, 2026 by xi'an
a journal of the imperial centuries
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life, Wines with tags Black Plague, book reviews, butternut, Colosseo, COVID-19, cuisine, Daniel Defoe, fori romani, gumshoe, Italy, Japan, Journal of the Plague Year, metro station, mystery novel, pasta, pissaladière, pulled pork, restaurant, Roma, Rome, science fiction, Tokyo, tonnarelli, transhumanism, twist, whodunnit on February 9, 2026 by xi'an
Over my trip to Rome, I managed to finish Titanium Noir, a science-fiction novel by Nick Harkaway, about an old-school detective trying to solve a murder in a society where a happy fews can become Titans, enhanced humans (aka transhumans) with larger bodies and higher life expectancy, except when they get killed of course. This is a rather enjoyable book, even though the science-fiction part does not play so well, since almost everything sounds like it was the 50’s, the 1950’s! Even the dialogues, which are somewhat outdated (no one uses gumshoe anymore!). But apart from that, the detective work is enough of a page turner and the final twist not completely predictable. Enjoyable maybe not to the point of continuing the series, since the twist cannot happens twice! Also read the very short novella Human Resources by Adrian Tchaikovsky, hugely if shortly disappointing!
Cooked winter standards (at home) like butternut soup and pulled pork. And pissaladière. Had two meals made of tonnarelli pasta, while 25H in Rome, a square variant to the spaghetti. One before strolling to the Fori Romani to watch the most recent excavations. And to admire the new Colosseo-Fori Imperiali metro station (with reconstituted household wells! And exhibits of objects found at their bottom).
Unrelated, but I watched MIU 404, a rather silly police series set in Tokyo, whose main appeals resides in exposing some issues in the modern Japanese society, like stalking or the status of migrants. But don’t expect realistic resolutions of the crime(s) motivating each episode…
destinazione bellissima Roma
Posted in Kids, pictures, Running, Travel, University life with tags fori romani, IASD Master programme, Italy, La Sapienza, Master program, Roma, Rome, seminar, Université Paris Dauphine on January 18, 2026 by xi'an
Nature tidbits [23 October 2025]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Running, Travel, University life with tags @ScientistTrump, academic freedom, Adolph Northen, Agents4Science 2025, Austin, Australia, Berezina, book review, Brazil, Brown University, cognitive biases, cover, dark energy, dark matter, Edwin Hubble, emigration, ERC Synergy Grant, Federal Government, France, Garching, Google, Hubble constant, imitation game, immigration, Italy, Max Planck Institute, mental health, Milky Way, MIT, Napoléon Bonaparte, Nature, PhD position, PhD students, PhD thesis, protect, quantum computing, Reionization, Royal Society, Russian campaign, Stanford University, Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, The University of Texas at Austin, Trump administration, Turing's test, UCLA, ultra-marathon, University of Pennsylvania on November 27, 2025 by xi'an
a discussion on the nature of the “little red dots” that have been recently observed and whose nature remains open, the most popular explanation (I was given during lunch) being black holes surrounded by gas (even though I cannot understand why the gas is not attracted by the black hole!) [and would have produced a more exciting cover!]
a review of the recent book Discordance: The Troubled History of the Hubble Constant by Jim Baggott, entitled Why we still don’t understand the Universe — even after a century of dispute! A review that regrets that more time is spent on the Hubble “constant” (which varies with time!) rather than more controversial issues like dark matter and dark energy (And strangely bemoans that the book is focussed on scientific developments, missing sociological ones. Duh?! (Bonus for a picture of suit-and-tie Edwin Hubble sitting at the centre of a telescope),
two entries on the well-being [or lack thereof] of PhD students, with nothing particularly surprising (eg, inclusivity and respect help!), and Brazil, Australia and Italy ranking top locations but in a comparative study that does not mention France (as often in international comparisons found in Nature) despite the place being in the top 10 countries delivering PhD degrees, not that I believe PhD students are particularly well-treated in French academia!, the (unexplained) surprise being Italy ranking so high given the close resemblance between the two countries (low stipends, shortage of postdoc and permanent positions, high teaching loads for the advisor, limited travel budgets),
a conference (purposedly) made of AI-written papers reviewed by AI referees, Agents4Science 2025, how universities are rushed into adapting to AI-fluent students, whose skills are changing, and the rise in fake authors produced by paper mills, with a limited range of acceptable solutions,
why Trump 2.0‘s blackmail on pharmaceutical companies is counter-productive and likely to slow down progress, and why his massive increase of highly qualified scientists is shooting (or nuking) USelf in the foot, given the huge proportion) of im/emigrated Nobel prize winners (for physics, chemistry, and medicine), along the (post-) Nobel prize in economics is a direct or indirect reply to this regression by awarding the Prize to economists who worked on the importance of creativity and science on growth (not very surprising at first look!)
and it got worse & worse & … [verbatim]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags Agent Orange, America, antivaxers, autoritarian, baby Trump, Christopher Columbus, cliffs, colonialism, Columbus Day, conspiracy theories, Donald Trump, far-right ideology, Italy, Ministry of War, nationalism, populism, quotes, The Guardian, The New York Times, theocracy, US Constitution, US elections 2024, US politics on October 19, 2025 by xi'an
“[The 13 grant recipients assessing an alleged link between vaccines and autism] have to move quickly. They, they – when the alternative is that nothing bad can happen, let’s do it now. I was just saying to Bobby [Kennedy] and the group, let’s do it now. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen.” – DT, 22 Sept 2025
“Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House. Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, ‘freak out’ when they see the quality and beauty. Best Oval Office ever, in terms of success and look!!! President DJT” – DT, 28 Sept 2025
“I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous [U.S.] cities as training grounds for our military … the ones that are run by the radical-left Democrats … And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.” – DT, 30 Sept 2025
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction or gender delusions. No more debris. As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that shit. “ – Peter Hogseth, 230 Sept 2025
“Columbus Day — we’re back, Italians (…) Under my leadership, those days [of exposing the tragic consequences of Columbus’ arrival] are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.” DT – 8 Oct 2025
