DECEPTIVE BEAUTY

DECEPTIVE BEAUTY

Deceptive and dangerous is the beauty of the intense pink-orange and red sunsets that close the short winter days.

If you often witness these visual ‘spectacles’ it may be that you live in a wretchedly polluted area like mine. 

You must think I’m obsessed if I even associate sunsets with my periodic returns on the subject

Actually, these sunsets conceal a massive presence of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere.

ISPRA Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e Ricerca Ambientale  explains nitrogen dioxide (NO2):
a reddish-brown gas, poorly soluble in water, toxic, with a strong, pungent odour and strong irritating power. It is a pollutant with a predominantly secondary component, as it is the product of the oxidation of nitrogen monoxide (NO).

Nitrogen dioxide is a widespread pollutant that has negative effects on human health and, together with nitrogen monoxide, contributes to photochemical smog.

Photochemical smog i.e. the formation of secondary pollutants is conditioned by the presence of light radiation in the ultraviolet region.

We grow up learning that the sky is blue, did you as a child ever have the ‘why?’ period?

Why the sky is blue is explained to us by Rayleigh’s Scattering

To summarise the concept in a small format, a bit like espresso 🙂 the scattering of light reflecting off small particles.

I would also point you to an interesting publication reporting on a study of sunsets in paintings, and at this point I cannot fail to mention William Turner

Title of the article published by EGU European Geoscinces Union:
Further evidence of the important environmental information content in the relationships between red and green depicted in the paintings of the great masters.

Assumption: We examine sunsets painted by famous artists as information for the optical depth of particles after large volcanic eruptions. Images derived from precision colour protocols applied to the paintings were compared with online images and found to provide accurate information.

We can imagine what changed in the atmosphere after volcanic eruptions, but there are no volcanoes here, so what happens?

When nitrogen dioxide particles are present in the air, it is as if a kind of geometry is created that obstructs the sun’s rays.

In these cases the red light through an interplay of different frequencies and wavelengths somehow manages to prevail.

Deceptive beauty.

That is why we see sunsets of intense, bewitching colours and allow ourselves to be enchanted by what is invisible to the eyes …

GIFTS, HOW?

GIFTS, HOW?

Gifts, how?

To tell the truth, for me the beauty of presents is the search, the moment when you think of the most suitable thing for the person who will receive it, the instant when you look at the eyes, hoping it will be a surprise, hoping to see joy.

But I also have been so lucky to receive gifts of the kind that

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropiateness rather than in its value.
Charles Dudley Warner 

So here it is:

the illuminated sign

Regali come?

which my husband has already strategically placed in my reading corner.

The bookmark with the cup 

Regali, come?Regali, come?Regali, come?

ready to be with me in reading my next book

Il Caffè della Terra coffee produced in Vigevano

Regali, come?Regali, come?

How about it?

Would you like to tell me about a gift of yours?

A gift received or given, a guessed gift or an embarrassing gift, a useful or desired gift, a bizarre gift or the gift you will never forget.

I generally always take a long time for presents, some people choose a shop and then find everything quickly.

Do you have a strategy or do you rely on chance?

Do you plan months in advance or do you dedicate yourself to presents in December?

Do you ever follow a common thread?

Do you prefer to request gift wrapping from the retailer or do you take care of it yourself?

Lately, many shopkeepers use the logo shopper bag, which is no longer included in the price.

Do you think the anti-waste concept or the surprise is more important?

What if you receive a gift that for some reason you will definitely not use?

Coffee’s ready, sit down and we’ll talk!

TELL ME A STORY

TELL ME A STORY

Raccontami una storia – Tell me a story is an initiative by Maria Guidi, La tana di Aloiz  and Sandra Giannetto

Raccontami una storia is a game that consists of writing a story following certain directions and a theme.

The theme of the second edition: ‘drawing inspiration from a painting!’

I suggest you follow the organisers to discover interviews with the three winners.

Then, if you feel like it, you can read my story

Even this morning, I am watching the sun rise beyond the skeleton of the building opposite: since the soft orangey pink has begun to contrast with the grey illuminating the sky and hope, I don’t want to miss the colours because they are proof that it is not over yet.

I thought I would never see them again, I thought my punishment for not having exploded yet was to become a useless part of a single inexorable leaden gloom.

I regret that I was unable to count the days accurately, that I succumbed to confusion, that I did not even take care of my memory.

Had I done so, I might now know how much time had passed.

But I didn’t want to think any more, I just wanted it all to end. Each new day was just another skipped meal, another interminable darkness strewn with anguish, another series of exhausting yet unsuccessful efforts in search of an impossible solution.

Instead, the light has begun to mark time again and I now believe it, it is not just a dream, nor a coincidence, nor even my illusion: the sun still exists.

One enemy lurks, however: fear.

I have not been hit, I have not been crushed, I have not been asphyxiated, and I have even managed to hide from the incursions of the human jackals, but I still cannot free myself from the grip that presses on my brain and paralyses me.

I tell myself it makes no sense.

Then I relive everything.

The gigantic ball igniting the sky and suddenly bouncing upwards, and immediately the shockwave.

A macabre, accelerated domino that shatters everything.

Without my eyes having time to see, the heat was already on me.

Pain is not food.

But I must eat more of it if I am to find real nourishment.

And then Frances is at the end of her tether, and I want to do everything I can, just as she did from the moment she dragged me by weight into the cistern until she taught me how to climb down the shaft to the warehouse.

She held the rope and sang U2 to give me courage

You’r in the mud
In the maze of her imagination
You love this town
Even if that doesn’t ring true

The first time I wanted it to stop but I didn’t dare shout it out for fear that some of the marauding Huns would hear me. Yet if it hadn’t been for those sung words ‘sky falls, you feel like … it’s a beautiful day …’ I wouldn’t have been able to find enough strength to climb back up.

The more things I could carry, the longer I could rest in hiding again.

And to think that on the various occasions when I had more or less tried, I had never managed to climb up a rope: my hands burned within minutes and the non-existent muscles in my arms didn’t even pretend to contract.

Survival.

A huge challenge to overcome in order to stay alive, even when staying alive seems like the worst of ideas.

Adrenaline, instinct, terror, mixing in a closed circle of pulsations bouncing between heart and brain at uncontrollable speed.

Survival.

Force that becomes flesh split between two heads: hope and despair. Like a Cerberus whose paws rest on the breath with all their agonising weight.

Survival.

Thinking that there can never be anything worse until existence turns into waiting.

Waiting for respite, waiting for food, waiting for mercy. Waiting for a miracle, for help, for a new day.

Like today.

The painting is Light and Colour (Goethe’s Theory) by William Turner.

72 SEASONS

72 SEASONS

72 Seasons is the title chosen by Metallica for their new album released yesterday and anticipated by a global premiere on Thursday, April 13 at the same time in cinemas around the world.

72 Seasons equals the first eighteen years of life.

The 72 seasons of life before coming of age, before becoming an adult.

James Hetfield said he was inspired by the idea of maturation that occurs during these years reading a book.

None of the interviews I found ever asked what this book was, yet that is the first question I would ever ask, “James what book did you read?”

In general, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo 72 seasons have not been easy, and I think each of us periodically rethink to the 72 seasons period.

For example, I often say that after a carefree childhood, adolescence was a bit of a middle age in its negative sense.

What memories do you have of your 72 Seasons?

Still talking about darkness: James Hetfield reminds us of its importance because without it there would be no light.

I reflected on this concept for the first time precisely during my 72 Seasons ….

Speaking of light, Lux Æterna is the debut single from this album and by associating it with Memento Mori I wondered if these obvious references are a consequence of the historical period in which we are living.

Instead, James Hetfield called Lux Æterna a joyful song and a kind of throwback to the 80s

What do you think about this definition?

I personally haven’t decided yet if I completely agree with it, however, I am sure of one thing: the second excerpted track If Darkness had a son is perfect to give a remarkable power.

My son and I listened to it in the morning while we were in the car on our way to school and the office, and we had fun and nice smiling.

Indeed I’m not the only one who gets energy from Metallica, as the Virginia Tech team uses Enter Sandman for pre-game … of course you can’t compare it to aka, but for those without Maori roots and ancestors, the effect is powerful enough, isn’t it?

Aside from coffee, of course, what gets your power?

SHADOW

SHADOW

Shadow, what is your first thought?

I start by quoting people: Nick

Then random: motors

Music

Movies

I could go on, more and more, would you like to mention other examples as well?

The world is full of shadows

I wonder how the choice to call Shadow even a computer that can be accessed remotely came about.

It is is a powerful Windows PC that allows to use any kind of application without buying hardware, which as you know, tends to be obsolete very quickly, as well as expensive.

A faculty that opens up a kind of new and important revolution with respect to the use of technology in our daily lives.

Or do you see it more as another standardization?

The obvious and immediate benefits come in the form of being able to operate at maximum power without having to shell out large sums in equipment purchases.

Also at the level of the environment, the exploitation of certain materials would certainly be reduced, and above all, the need for disposal of many devices would be reduced, since everyone would be able to operate with the available device, simply by connecting.

However, connection may also be the first downside: if it goes off, all work would stop.

The same if the “server” would break.

And again: the conditions at the beginning may appear advantageous, but the costs could rise uncontrollably, as we are unfortunately seeing.

So there is a risk of finding oneself regretting the old PC, perhaps slow but working.

Light, or shadow?

While we decide, something “dark” undoubtedly is the cloud!

I can’t help but think about the scene in which Jason Segel yells at Cameron Diaz, “nobody knows what the cloud is!”

The infamous cloud: a kind of black hole where our data ends up, or a valuable opportunity?

To USerS 🙂 the harsh judgment.

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