T as TAG

T as TAG

TAG, literally label, in computer science: sequence of characters with which we mark the elements of a file for later processing; by now tag is a tool with which we basically “link” to each other.

Do you often use tags?

I find it fun and I thank Fritz Gemini from the blog Philosophizing in Cheerfulness for tagging me following the idea of the blog The World of Shioren

The rules are simple:

1. Match the first one you can think of with the letter of the alphabet, whether it’s the title of a song, an object, a person, the title of a movie, anything, just as long as it’s off the top of your head, maybe even writing two lines of explanation… assuming it’s there!

2. Make a list (if you like, you can also add pictures or the link if they are songs).

3. Tag as many blogs as possible that you think would be interested (there is no numerical limit).

4. Obviously tag the originator, use the tag image and whoever nominates you so that your responses can also be read.

I started with a set of words, but then I realized that the corresponding translation would not respect the alphabetical order, so I rethought the whole thing by trying to use words corresponding to so-called anglicisms.

A as ABACAB
just because it sounds good. At first it was concerned with metrics, then the pattern changed, but Genesis decided to keep this title simply because it was abstract.
If you think of something abstract, what comes to mind?

B as BREAK
obviously because the break is the prime time for coffee 🙂

C as COFFEE
NO EXPLANATION NEEDED!!!

D as detective
I love mysteries to be solved!

E as ENIGMA
just to stay on topic …

F as FASHION
because fashion equals beauty, creativity, freedom, expression, imagination, flair, art.
If I say fashion, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

G as GIORGIO ARMANI!

H as HACKER
consider it in a good way: I admire the ability.

I as IDEA
in general ideas are always important, when they are brilliant they become the heritage of humanity.

J as JEANS 

K as KILLER
… have I seen too many movies?

L as LIVE
tell me about an unforgettable concert!

M as MUSIC
I consider it essential.

N as nickname
how did yours come about?

O as OUTFIT
what is your favorite style?

P as PUZZLE
the first one I remember was a landscape, reconstructed together with my mom, the last one a series of sharks together with my son.

Q as QR code

R as R.E.M.
stage of which I wish I could preserve memory.

S as SOUNDTRACK
what is your favorite soundtrack?

T as TAG
off course

U as UTOPIA

V as VIDEOCLIP
no, actually it’s enough just to say video now: since they became viral in the 1980s, videos evolved from the famous “tube” to TikTok to reels.
Do you create them? Do you follow them? Do you share them?

W as WEEKEND!
can you explain how weekends can always fly by in a huff?

X as X-FILES
cult series! We used to look forward to Sunday nights as a must-see date. Here you find episode reviews by Sam Simon.

Y as You
because to me you are important.

Z as ZEN
because if you have made it this far you surely are zen, aren’t you?

Since reading the blogs of the mythical Reader group I saw that as usual I come last and everyone already made it, I would think of an expansion across the border and, without any commitment of course, I tag Layla: Nin Chronicles,  Karo: Krolowa Karo and Kimberly: Hacketthill Farm.

And I tag you!

T for TAG
T for THANK YOU!

I WAS BORN ON THE DAY OF THE PIAZZA FONTANA MASSACRE

I WAS BORN ON THE DAY OF THE PIAZZA FONTANA MASSACRE

I was born on the day of the Piazza Fontana massacre, and I defy even those who are not superstitious not to see ominous signs in it.

I was born at home, on the kitchen table, like a fresh loaf of bread in the early morning

When my mother shaked my father telling “it’s time,” he just turned on the other side and went on sleeping.

How could I blame him? I was coming to dawn as importunate as an alarm clock.

I was born in Cilavegna and I am one of the last people to be able to say this: as of January 1970 it was no longer possible to use a midwife, and it became mandatory to give birth in a hospital. Since there were no hospitals in Cilavegna, from that date on, new babies saw the light elsewhere.

I was born in Lomellina, land of fog and mosquitoes, but my father is of Venetian descent and my great-grandmother on my mother’s side was German. I am basically a mixture.

I was born into a simple family, Ihad simple things and a happy childhood.

My maternal grandmother, who looked after me from the time my mother resumed her job as a clerk, had swollen knees from all her mondina days, and, unable to move nimbly, entertained me by telling stories.

The result was that, before I began to walk, I spoke perfectly without the classic infantile mispronunciations, and I knew nursery rhymes, prayers and numbers.

Words were my first games, my first friends, my first nourishment.

Nevertheless, the kindergarten debut was quite traumatic: my shyness was relentless.

I had not yet understood the pleasure of chatting and socializing, a concept I largely recovered after the middle ages of adolescence.

But let us proceed step by step: for the nuns who conducted the kindergarten, my interaction defect was not a noteworthy aspect, quite the contrary. Rather, the problem was created by my inability to fall asleep after lunch.

Standing still in my cot, I would silently weave the bangs of the rough plaid under which I was supposed to fall asleep instead.

I did not feel that I was creating a disturbance, but that was one of my first errors of judgment: I still have clear memories of the reprimand from Sister Antonia, who among the sisters was the better and quieter one.

Thereafter rather than the bangs I took to interweaving my attempts at intentionality with my grandfather’s big heart. He would work night shifts and in the morning, exhausted, instead of going to rest. he would accommodate my requests, effectively endorsing the intent to skip kindergarten.

A tumor took him away when I was only five years old leaving me a huge void and an unfulfilled desire in return.

He used to tell me “as soon as I retire I will teach you German.”

During the war he was used as an interpreter after a German officer, striking him, heard him reply in his own language.

I thought I would learn easily, that I would listen happily as with Grandma’s stories, but instead he could tell me no more.

When elementary school time came, there was no school on Thursdays, but by then I didn’t care much.

Some people still called us remiges: lined up in rows of two, hand in hand, with our overcoats over our black aprons from which sprouted the big blue bow knotted under the white collar.

It began on the first of October when the desks were still desks, and the folders contained a checkbook and a ruled notebook, small ones, with the blotting paper for the ink of fountain pens: witnesses to a writing that no longer exists.

… TO BE CONTINUED.

Pic by Massimo

AND THE WINNER IS …

AND THE WINNER IS …

Surprise: the result of the survey reveals that Kenneth Branagh wins over the other interpreters of the great Hercule Poirot.

I take this opportunity to thank EVERYONE for sharing opinions and comments that I take into consideration with attention and interest in the teachings they contain.

RETURN TO TIFFANY

RETURN TO TIFFANY

Return to Tiffany is Maison Tiffany’s iconic collection.

Its origins date back to 1966, when Tiffany first began selling key chains with the now famous phrase “Please Return to Tiffany & Co. New York.”

The key chains were assigned a unique registration number, which ensured that Tiffany & Co could trace the keys back to the owner if they were lost.

That’s why Return to Tiffany: because the prestigious Fifth Avenue store would be able to reunite the data through a precise and confidential serial number.

In the fifty years that have passed, the Return to Tiffany collection has made its mark as a symbol of the tradition of craftsmanship, a fundamental pillar of Tiffany.

A Tiffany advertisement showed the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day: a heart-shaped Return to Tiffany tag in 14-karat yellow gold, priced at $11 …

Over time, there have been several evolutions: in 1980, Tiffany debuted the first piece of jewelry incorporating the Return to Tiffany tag, a heart-shaped yellow gold pendant on a necklace.

The collection expanded to an assortment of rings, bracelets and earrings, each with its own personality, all engraved with the emblem reminiscent of Tiffany‘s unparalleled style.

Have you ever happened to lose something?

I’d like you to tell me that you found it or that it was returned to you by some good soul.

According to Article 928 of the Civil Code  the delivery of the object found must be made known by publication for two successive Sundays and must remain posted for three days each time.

These seem like archaic concepts now that all kinds of information is disseminated online.

In Japan have a special name for lost or forgotten items: WASUREMONO 忘れ物.

Don’t you find it cute?

For them then, return is a very important issue; they are extremely precise and accurate.

The most commonly forgotten items are:

. cell phone

. bag 

. train, bus, metro pass

. wallet

. umbrella

. keys

. electronic cigarette

Keys therefore come long after an object that did not exist in 1966: the cell phone, yet Tiffany’s continues to represent somewhat “the heart of New York.” Or not?

DON’T CALL THEM CHIPS

DON’T CALL THEM CHIPS

Don’t call them chips because they don’t contain potatoes, and that’s not even news: the term potato chips has become part of our language to imply slice of potato, usually fried: a package of potato chips as stated in Garzanti

The Georgofili Academy attributes its invention to George Speck, also known as George Crum based on the legend that wealthy financier Cornelius Vanderbilt one day sent back a plate of fries three times dissatisfied with the cooking. So Crum cuts the potatoes into wafer-thin slices and fries them until they are so crisp that they cannot be eaten with a fork, and seasons them with lots of salt.

Later George Crum opened his own restaurant and began marketing the fries, which, in 1920 would be packaged in pouches.

As children we knew them in the classic Pai bags and then in slang we continued to call chips other kinds of bagged snacks although they were composed of corn, cheese or other ingredients.

Similarly, when we were children, saying flour corresponded to referring to the product of grinding wheat

Instead, we now talk more about pseudo-grains and have come to the “new” protein flours, if we can call them that.

Various sites can be found that as an alternative to high-protein flours such as legume flour, for example, market flours made from dried grubs.

These are not urban legends, or even generalizations, it should be specified, but ingredients that are specifically stated in the labeling.

With one of these flours, “chips” have been produced, but perhaps they should be called something else, don’t call them chips.

What would be an appropriate name in your opinion?

Do you think you will eat any kind of food with these flours?

Is the feeling of annoyance that I personally feel only a psychological question?

According to a survey by Coldiretti dated May 2021 following approval by of Europe to the marketing of insect-based foods, 54% of Italians consider insects foreign to their food culture.

Are you in favor?
Is this just a protein like any other to you?

QR code

QR code

Let me introduce the KCDC QR code aka the Keep Calm & Drink Coffe QR code!

In the hope that it will be useful in some way, I hope to be able to spread it in a sensible way, of course as always advice is welcome 🙂

QR code is short for Quick Response and is basically a bar code on steroids. While the bar code stores information horizontally, the QR code does so both horizontally and vertically.

How?

In the case of barcodes, information can only be encoded in the transverse direction i.e., in one dimension, while in the case of 2D codes, information can be encoded in both transverse and longitudinal directions i.e., in two dimensions.

But it is more difficult for scanners to recognize the position of a 2D code than that of a bar code.

Based on this idea, a position detection pattern was created, located at the three corners of each code.

To avoid false recognition, the position detection pattern must have a unique shape.

Members of the development team began an exhaustive investigation of the relationship between black and white areas in images and characters printed on flyers, magazines, corrugated cardboard and other documents after reducing them to patterns with black and white areas.

Thus identifying the ratio that appeared least on the printed:1:1:3:1:1.

In this way, the widths of the black and white areas in the location detection pattern were determined, and the scanners became able to detect the code regardless of the scanning angle by finding this unique ratio.

But who composed this development team?

To find out, we need to take a step back: in the 1980s the barcode system was used in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, and retail.

In the 1990s due to the shift from mass production of one type of product to more flexible production, more detailed production control was needed at production sites, and in association with this, the development of a bar code with a higher capacity was needed.

In 1992, Masahiro Hara 原正浩, who was engaged in the development of barcode readers and OCR optical character recognition devices at Denso, was asked to develop bar code readers that could read bar codes faster.

In addition, products were being increasingly resized, so it was necessary to create a code that could be printed in a smaller area.

After a year and a half from the start of the development project, following much trial and error, the QR Code system was successfully developed, capable of storing about 7,000 digits with the additional capability of encoding Kanji characters.

This code can store a large amount of information and at the same time can be read at over 10 times the speed of other codes.

Mine, however, keeps coffee time, try it to believe 🙂

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