Archive for Italy

mixed news on the Western [abortion] front

Posted in Books, Kids, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2024 by xi'an

In the past weeks, a mix of negative and positive moves about abortion in Europe and the USA (which among other bans resuscitated a 1864 near-total abortion ban in Arizona and saw sad-faced Mike Pence complain in TNYT (!) about mad-hatter and opportunist Donald Trump “retreat from the pro-life cause”):

France has added that “The law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy, which is guaranteed” to the Article 34 of the French Constitution, which is intended to make access to abortion a fundamental right but still remains a formal move as it can be reinterpreted restrictively (which conditions?!) and does not state anything about the practical side of universally ensuring this access, which might be severely hindered by a dearth of willing practicians or the introduction of constraints on clinics, as seen for many years in the US, prior to the revocation of Roe vs. Wade.

Poland has seen its MPs from its lower house vote on four bills on abortion for further study, of which two propose legalising abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy and cancel the current quasi-complete ban on abortion.

Germany Bundestag is working on a bill that would outlaw the intimidation of people around abortion clinics offering abortion. The country should however more much further by making abortion legal, which is not the case now (even though there are “exceptions for abortions with counseling in the first trimester, and for medically necessary abortions [incl. or serious social or emotional distress] and abortions due to unlawful sexual acts”) and actual access to abortion practitioners proves a challenge. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) are unsurprisingly opposing this legalisation.

Italy saw Meloni’s far-right government allowing anti-abortion activists to enter abortion consultation clinics!!, as part of a package of measures funded by the EU!!!. with the [newspeak] argument that they “must not criminalise those who are against abortion. [The Government has] always allowed freedom of conscience on issues of this kind [and] believe it is right for everyone to behave according to their own beliefs and conscience.”

Rome’ing around (& around &…)

Posted in Books, pictures, Statistics, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2024 by xi'an

My trip back to Paris from the 4th Italian Meeting in Probability and Mathematical Statistics was somewhat horrendous, with a much delayed Transavia flight, due to technical issues in Orly that set us back more than two hours. That I could have spent at the conference or strolling through Rome…

Instead, I waited at Fiumicino, indulging into a cannolo (dinner) that was reasonable for airport standards. Then, as the repaired Boeing plane had just left the gate in Fiumicino, the staff informed us a passenger has had a vasovagal syncope and needed be evacuated, which proved relatively efficient, but nonetheless setting us back another two hours and cheery on the cake!, forcing the plane into rerouting to De Gaulle airport as Orly airport closes earlier at night for being in a denser urban area (and much closer to home as well).


When we arrived after midnight, there was of course no train home running and as usual very few taxis or Ubers around. I eventually got into one that had trouble managing the overnight road closures that plague Paris prior to the Olympics and ended up reaching home by 2am…. Resulting in an overall trip duration of 11 hours, longer than flying to Seattle or Réunion Island!

While this long trip allowed to finish in one go The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, and hence the Scholomance trilogy, which was definitely below par when compared with the previous novels, maybe because it was taking place out of the boarding school, and hence barely sufficiently engrossing to cut the airport noise and visual pollution at bay (but with the side effet of me believing I had lost my wallet for a few minutes), I was still tired enough the following day to fail to finish a local evening 10k, dropping out after 5k (and 19’26”, which was a great time but impossible to sustain for another 5k…) The Athletics Championships were definitely and already far away!

BAYSM registration now open!

Posted in Kids, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 21, 2024 by xi'an

The registration for BAYSM 2024 is now officially open. The Bayesian Young Statistician Meeting will take place in Ca’Foscari on 29 and 30 June, 2024, prior to the ISBA meeting. Early bird registration is available till 10 May and for a very low fee that includes lunches and a reception, terrificò! (Note that dedicated childcare is furthermore available.) And note that the early bird registration for the World ISBA meeting has also been extended to 01 May.

Bayesian wars of the canals

Posted in pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2024 by xi'an

working inside a painting

Posted in Statistics with tags , , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2023 by xi'an