Addio Mike
La signora Rita Dalla Chiesa ha appena comunicato durante la puntata ordierna di Forum la scomparsa di Mike Bongiorno.
Un saluto quindi al caro Mike che non rivedremo piu’.
Author Archive
Il fumo uccide, l’arrosto pare di no
Post trovato sulla cache di google del sito undicom.it, mi sembrava interessante salvarlo dall’oblio.
——————–
Il fumo uccide, l’arrosto pare di no
A cercare il senso (non il significato, quello è ovvio) delle scritte terroristiche presenti sui pacchetti di sigarette, viene come il sospetto che ci sia qualcosa che non va. A che cosa servono? E, soprattutto, a chi?
E’ da un po’ di tempo che il pacchetto di sigarette si pone come l’interlocutore più vicino al fumatore in materia di danni da lui stesso provocati. E’ come se il boia fosse colui che mi spiega che a giocare con le lame si rischia di tagliarsi.
Ma a prescindere dalla contraddizione insita nella questione, a cercare il senso (non il significato, quello è ovvio) delle scritte terroristiche presenti sui pacchetti di sigarette, viene come il sospetto che ci sia qualcosa che non va.
A che cosa servono? E, soprattutto, a chi?
Ma a prescindere dalla contraddizione insita nella questione, a cercare il senso (non il significato, quello è ovvio) delle scritte terroristiche presenti sui pacchetti di sigarette, viene come il sospetto che ci sia qualcosa che non va.
A che cosa servono? E, soprattutto, a chi?
Si sta cercando di far passare il concetto che le scritte servano al fumatore per apprendere che il fumo fa male e, di conseguenza, indurlo a smettere. E che lo stato, imponendole, ci protegga.
Ah si?
Bene, prendiamolo per buono. Sono un fumatore e sono inconsapevole dei danni, reali o presunti, che il fumo provoca. Compro le mie sigarettine e, leggendo il pacchetto, apprendo che il fumo provoca dipendenza e che il medico ed il farmacista possono aiutarmi a smettere. Ne devo dedurre che di malattia si tratta. Che devo essere curato.
A questo punto mi aspetto che venga applicato su di me trattamento analogo ad altro genere di dipendenza. Come prima cosa, dunque, mi reco dal medico e richiedo il rilascio di un certificato che attesti la mia dipendenza dal fumo, con il quale, data la mia sfortunata condizione, giustificare il fatto che io fumi in qualunque momento la mia dipendenza melo imponga, ovunque mi trovi. Soprattutto in luoghi e/o situazioni che mi impediscano di uscire all’aperto per farlo, tipo ricovero in ospedale, viaggio sul treno, coda all’ufficio postale, sul mio posto di lavoro ecc..
Dopodichè mi aspetto la comprensione e la commiserazione di tutti quelli a cui mostro il certificato in quanto a conoscenza della mia condizione di malato grave, a rischio di vita (il fumo uccide, ricordate?).
Fatto ciò pretendo, a spese del servizio sanitario nazionale, cure psicologiche che mi aiutino ad affrontare il fatto che sto per morire e che, con ogni probabilità sto per uccidere i miei figli (fumo passivo), un trattamento terapeutico funzionante che elimini dal mio organismo i danni causati dal fumo e un trattamento terapeutico funzionante che mi aiuti a smettere. In questo tempo, ovvero mentre sono ancora preda della mia dipendenza, il servizio sanitario nazionale deve rifornirmi della mia dose quotidiana di nicotina, ovviamente della mia marca preferita.
Ottenuto quanto preteso, mi salvo. Guarisco. Non sono più dipendente, non fumo più. Non sono più in pericolo di vita, mi sento un uomo nuovo. Decido di fare del volontariato, per dare il mio contributo al combattimento di questa tremenda malattia: la dipendenza dal fumo. Anzi, perchè limitarsi? Fondo un’associazione che si occupa di obbligare delle scritte analoghe a quelle dei pacchetti a tutte le tazzine da caffè, le carte di cioccolato e qualsiasi contenitore io venga a scoprire il potere invasivo del suo contenuto. La notte me ne vado in giro per le strade cercando di convincere i pusher del rione a distribuire ai loro clienti opuscoli illustrativi sui danni provocati dalla droga. E siccome ho visto mia cugina fumare chiedo al giudice che imponga un Trattamento Sanitario Obbligatorio.
E avanti di questo passo.
Sembra un’assurdità?
Può darsi. Sentite questa altra però.
Sono un fumatore inconsapevole e apprendo dalle scritte sui pacchetti l’estrema nocività del fumo. Leggo meglio il pacchetto alla ricerca di chi me lo ha venduto. Trovo un’altra scritta, stavolta più misteriosa: MONITAL.
Ma come?
Lo stato (apposta minuscolo) con l’unghia del mignolo della mano sinistra mi protegge e con il pugno della destra cerca di uccidermi? Perchè mi viene a raccontare che fumare mi fa tanto male e poi ci guadagna più di tutti dalla vendita delle sigarette?
Ma se veramente fanno tanto male perchè non le vietano? E se non fanno poi così male da vietarle, perchè le scritte?
Io, fumatore inconsapevole e bisognoso delle scritte per apprendere, mi sento confuso.
Quindi, nel cercare di fare chiarezza dentro di me, racconto un’altra storia.
L’ambivalenza statale su fumo, alcool e simili è nota a tutti, tuttavia è il caso di approfondirla perchè non si limita a guadagnare su ciò che cerca di allontanare, ma si estende al messaggio implicito al suo comportamento.
Da una parte mi dice: caro mio io ti ho avvisato. Il mio compito protettivo nei tuoi confronti e nei confronti di chi ti circonda è assolto. Non ti vieto di fumare perchè nuocere a te stesso è una libera scelta, io devo solo renderti più consapevole. Ma sei tu il solo responsabile delle tue azioni. Quindi, se fumi, sono affari tuoi.
Dall’altra parte invece alimenta la mia dipendenza prendendosi lui la responsabilità di limitare in ogni modo la mia presunta libertà di fumare e quella altrui di non stare nei miei pressi mentre lo faccio. Ma soprattutto giustifica eticamente le spropositate tasse che impone sul fumo.
A questo punto le scritte servono allo stato (non a me fumatore) per far finta di aver svolto i suoi compiti , di aver preso una decisione, di essersi schierato a favore della mia salute e di essere desideroso di guidare un popolo di non-fumatori. Scelte condivisibili, se fossero reali.
Purtroppo non è tutto qui, magari.
Lo stato, con le sigarette ci guadagna. Ma quanto guadagna?
Facciamo due conti. Per difetto. In Italia siamo circa 60 milioni. Diciamo che fuma 1 su 6 (sono di più). Diciamo che quell’uno fuma mediamente un pacchetto al giorno (è di più). Diciamo che lo stato intasca 1 euro a pacchetto (è MOLTO di più).
Fanno 10.000.000 di euro. AL GIORNO. Fanno 3.650.000.000 di euro all’anno. 7.000 miliardi di Lire. Soldi che servono per finanziare varie cose, tra le quali quel Servizio Sanitario Nazionale ipotetico erogatore di certificati.
Io dico che lo stato non può permettersi un popolo di non-fumatori.
Quindi lo stato impone le scritte, promulga divieti e vessa in ogni modo i fumatori consapevole del fatto che ha bisogno di loro. Quindi speranzoso che essi seguitino a fumare? Io dico di più: sicuro che essi seguitino a fumare. Consapevole dell’inadeguatezza dei mezzi messi a disposizione per ottenere un popolo di non-fumatori, ma buoni per millantare detta intenzione.
Vi pare assurdo? Più o meno assurdo della storia del certificato?
Secondo me ci stanno prendendo per il culo. Ricambio il fastidio con questa pigna e invito chiunque a partecipare alla discussione.
VideoRicette
Out of my insterest for cooking and for video sharing sites, I have created videoricette.net
I know, its not the first of its kind, but its main target is the italian internet where none of the existing sites on the subject really gathers it all.
Feel free to contribute even if you’re not italian, international cuisine is very welcome.
WebTV
I thought I would add my personal webtv on this site where to show various stuff I find around the internet.
If you have a special interest in something you’d like to see in this webtv add your requests in the comments and I’ll see if it can be added.
Key ocean mission goes into orbit
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
A space mission that will be critical to our understanding of climate change has launched from California.
The Jason-2 satellite will become the primary means of measuring the shape of the world’s oceans, taking readings with an accuracy of better than 4cm.
Its data will track not only sea level rise but reveal how the great mass of waters are moving around the globe.
This information will be fundamental in helping weather and climate agencies make better forecasts.
The satellite left Earth at 0746 GMT atop a Delta-2 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The spacecraft, built by Thales Alenia Space, represents the joint efforts of the US and French space agencies (Nasa and CNES), and the US and European organisations dedicated to studying weather and climate from orbit (Noaa and Eumetsat).
Down below
Jason-2 will provide a topographic map of 95% of the Earth’s ice-free oceans every 10 days.Although we think of our seas as being flat, they are actually marked by “hills” and “valleys”, where the highs and lows may be as much as two metres apart.
Elevation is a key parameter for oceanographers.Just as surface air pressure reveals what the atmosphere is doing above, so ocean height will betray details about the behaviour of water down below.
The data gives clues to temperature and salinity.When combined with gravity information, it will also indicate current direction and speed.
The oceans store vast amounts of heat from the Sun; and how they move that energy around the globe and interact with the atmosphere are what drive our climate system.
“The ocean constitutes the long-term memory of the climate system; the time-scales over which the ocean is changing are the climatic timescales,” explained Mikael Rattenborg, the director of operations at Eumetsat.
“In order to understand climate, in order to be able to predict the evolution of the atmosphere over months, years, and decades even, you need to understand the ocean.”
Number one
Jason-2 is a continuation of a programme that started in 1992 with the Topex/Poseidon mission and is currently maintained by the Jason-1 satellite launched in 2001.
JASON-2 SPACECRAFT
- 1. Advance Microwave Radiometer – measures signal delay caused by water vapour
- 2. GPS antennas – ensures knowledge of precise orbit path
- 3. Poseidon-3 altimeter- measures sea level
- 4. Doris antenna – tracking and positioning control
- 5. Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) – tracks and calibrates measurements
- Satellite mass: 525kg (1,155lb) Power generation: 511 watts
- Satellite height: 3m (9ft 8in) Orbit: 1,338km (831 miles)
(Source: Eumetsat, Cnes, Nasa)
The project provides the global reference data for satellite-measured ocean height.
Although other spacecraft in service today can acquire similar data sets, none can match the precision achieved by Jason-1; and Jason-2, when in service, will be the benchmark against which all other spacecraft will be judged and calibrated.
At the heart of the latest mission is the Poseidon 3 solid-state altimeter.The instrument constantly bounces microwave pulses off the sea surface.By timing how long the signal takes to make the return trip, it can determine sea surface height.
Additionally, the signal can indicate the height of waves and wind speed.
“It is not a revolution between Jasion-1 and Jason-2; it is an evolution, because the main objective is to ensure continuity,” explains Francois Parisot, the Jason-2 project chief at Eumetsat.
“Nevertheless, there are some improvements in the instruments.We hope to make better measurements closer to the coast [and over inland waters and rivers]; and also, we will deliver near-realtime products – products that will be available within three hours of the measurements.”
Whale watching
The latter will be particularly useful in storm prediction.Jason will see the surface waters rise as warm eddies fuel hurricanes.The data will tell meteorologists how a storm is likely to intensify and allow them to issue better, more timely warnings.
Jason-2 data will have many other uses that may not be immediately obvious.Industry will take the information to make decisions about when conditions are most suitable for undersea drilling or cable laying.
Jason can help identify where wreckage or pollution will drift; and the satellite will assist marine biologists as they track whales by pinpointing waters with the potential to be prime feeding and breeding grounds.
One very important use will be in maritime navigation.
“Now that the fuel price is going up, saving fuel for the companies that run ships has become very sensitive; and knowing the currents, you can select your route so that you go faster and save fuel,” said Philippe Escudier, a space oceanography at CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites), Toulouse, France.
“You can save up to 5% on fuel consumption by making best use of the currents.”
Formation flying
Jason-2 will spend its first few months flying a “tandem mission” with Jason-1.
The two spacecraft will be positioned so that they sweep around the Earth, one following the other, with a separation of just 60 seconds.
This will enable, essentially, the two satellites to measure the same patch of ocean surface at very nearly the same time.
Scientists will use this opportunity to cross-calibrate the instruments so that when Jason-1 is retired (or fails), the future data collected by its successor will be directly comparable with past records.
This continuity of information will be critical in recognising long-term trends in ocean behaviour.It is the data which underpins the observation that global sea level is rising by about three millimetres per year.
Once the tandem phase is completed, Jason-1 will be moved to the side, doubling the return of data.The importance of the Jason programme means both spacecraft will almost certainly be run for as long as they are serviceable.
Discussions are already in progress on a Jason-3 satellite.Given Europe’s role in the project, there is a compelling case for the next mission to be included in the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme.This would attract significant EU money.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
‘Al-Qaeda’ members killed in Iraq
The US military in Iraq has said four militants have been killed during operations against bombing networks run by al-Qaeda in Iraq.
One of those killed in a clash just north of Baghdad, is said to have been involved in weapons smuggling.
Earlier, the US military said 12 al-Qaeda members were arrested in continuing operations in Mosul.
One of those held is accused of overseeing attacks in Mosul itself and in the western Anbar province.
Another is said to have been involved in planning car bombings in Mosul.
Iraqi and American forces say Mosul is the last major urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Meanwhile, American-backed Iraqi security forces are continuing a big operation they say is targeting Shia militiamen and criminal groups in the southern city of Amara.
Operations in the city involve US and Iraqi forces going house to house in search of weapons.
Reports say five provincial council officials representing the movement led by Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have been arrested for aiding militias.
This follows the arrest on Thursday of Amara’s mayor, Rafi Abdul Jabbar, among others. He is also a supporter ofMoqtada Sadr.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
LSD inventor Albert Hofmann dies
Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the hallucinogenic drug LSD, has died of a heart attack at his home in Basel at the age of 102.
Mr Hofmann first produced LSD in 1938 while researching the medicinal uses of a crop fungus.
He accidentally ingested some of the drug and said later: “Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror”.
He hoped LSD could be used to treat mental illness, but it became a popular street drug in the 1960s.
‘Turn on, tune in, drop out’
While working with the drug in the Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratory a few years after first producing it, Mr Hofmann ingested some of the drug through his fingertips.
He went home and experienced what he described as visions of “fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours”.
The drug was popularised by Harvard professor Timothy Leary who suggested that people “turn on, tune in, drop out”.
Rock stars and the counter-culture of the 1960s picked up LSD as a wonder drug but horror stories began to emerge of users suffering permanent psychological damage.
LSD was made illegal in many countries beginning in the late 1960s
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
Boston Dynamics Unveil BigDog Progress
Boston Dynamics released a new video of BigDog the other day. The improvements since last year’s demo are absolutely incredible. BigDog can now maneuver up and down rugged hills, balance on ice and jump. I’m not an avid fan of exclamation marks, but wow! In my honest opinion this quadruped is the most life-like robot made to date. Must-see video after the jump.
The New BigDog Video
Loving the Machine
It’s so interesting how most people I’ve talked to (and me myself) feel an emotional response when BigDog is slipping or being kicked. I felt like giving it a hand to balance on the ice — although on second thought I’m sure he’d crush me with his frantic maneuvers. The version of BigDog in the video weighs 106Kg (235 lbs).
The speed and agility of the feet give the fellow such natural (â€messy instinctsâ€) appearance that it’s hard to keep in mind it’s a machine. Unbelievable.
The control system depends heavily on internal state, awareness of joint positions, acceleration et cetera — which enables intelligent, real-time control. I hope the technologies spread to consumer markets, rather than being exclusively used for military purposes (this is what the AIBO should’ve looked like).
BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others. [BostonDynamics]
Boston Dynamics are also the creators of RiSE — an insect-like hexapod robot that climbs; and whose video demo ranked 10th in the most popular robot videos. A hat tip to the Boston Dynamics team for their achievements.
Links & References
- Boston Dynamics’ official site
- Hat tip for infosharing to Think Artificial reader Alebotta.
Absolut Adopts Machines & Artificial Creativity
By all likelihood you’ve heard of the vodka company’s Absolut campaigns. Recently they launched Absolut Machines, a new campaign that’ll be running for a year and centers around two artificial creativity projects; AI systems that compose music on accompanying mechanical instruments and can be watched & interacted with via live video feeds.
The Absolut Machines
By visiting Absolut Machines you’ll eventually find yourself on a page with two live videofeeds, presented in an old-school, gray window system. One of the machines is placed in Stockholm, Sweden and the other in New York City. The machines at these locations are music-composing AI systems you can interact with to augment the music they generate.
The interaction sessions are recorded and you can get a compressed quicktime video of your visit sent via email or download it from the “Gallery†tab which lists all recent videos.
Think Artificial VIP Access
Dearly devoted Think Artificial readers have been allotted VIP codes that allow cutting to the front of the line to interact with the machines. Leave a comment on this entry and I’ll mail it to the address you enter in the comment form. Alternatively you can contact me directly. Note that there’s a limited supply of codes and they’ll be distributed on a first come first served basis.
Obligatory disclaimer: To participate in this giveaway you must be at least 21 years of age.
Absolut Choir
The Absolut Choir is a system composed of speech synthesizers implemented in the physical form of 10 robotic characters. Each of the machines, or choir members, has a unique voice ranging from women, to tenors and sopranos. A “mother character†virtually conducts by synchronizing and distributing sounds to the other members, each of which contains a Linux box for processing and a speaker.
As the Choir starts singing, the user may input words to the machine. As the machine receives the words, it immediately uses them to generate a musical composition and lyrics. The robotic choir follows the lead of its human partner, and with the help of generative algorithms, the machine engenders a melody, tempo, dynamics, timbre and lyrics inspired by the user-generated input. The composition is also infused with the machine’s current mood and from the most recently analyzed words input by previous users. A lot of short words with many consonants may result in a fast arpeggio-like song, while softer words may result in a slower composition. [Absolut Press Kit]
The sound feed was suffering from some technical difficulties when I tried the choir. But the video worked, and the choir was receiving my lyrics glorifying Think Artificial (I figured I’d attempt to create a themesong for us).
The video compilation I received afterwards was okay. But I discovered that the lyrics were (intentionally) rendered hieroglyphic by the choir, so it sadly doesn’t make the cut as our themesong.
Absolut Quartet
The Quartet is quite different from the Choir. The machines are three; the main one is a marimba which the system plays by shooting rubber balls into the air, aimed at the marimba keys it wants to hit — or multiple balls if the objective is to play a chord. It’s quite fun to look at.
The marimba rubber ball blaster implementation and design.
Overview of the Quartet under construction.
The second machine is a series of glasses which basically replicate the “finger on a wine glass trickâ€. The glasses are spun, each tuned to a various pitches, and small robotic fingers touch them to produce sounds. The third part of the installation is an automated percussion instrument.
And then there’s the fourth part, us – the users. At the beginning of a session the human user plays notes on a miniature piano. The melody played dictates what kind of music the Quartet will produce, or in other words, your input is the machines inspiration for a following 3 minute song.
The machines are brainchilds of Dan Paluska and Jeff Lieberman. Both of which attend at MIT and have many cool projects in their backpack that combine aesthetics, artificial intelligence, kinetic sculpting and robotics.
Looking Closer at Robotics in the Media
This project is not an academic foray into the realms of creative AI, but rather a project intended to be looked at in terms of aesthetics. That being said: The artificial creativity of the machines is very primitive. If we take for example how the Quartet works; the software takes the melody played by a human user and compares it to a pre-existing collection of songs. Once a similar match has been found the machine mixes the two together producing the ultimate outcome. What interested me more than the software implementation of creativity was the overall aesthetic appeal of the project. In addition to Jeff and Dan’s artwork, the media related to this campaign was superb (partly handled by Noise Marketing, creators of the Appleseed website).
When exploring how we are creating our world; augmenting our environment — it’s intriguing to zoom out of AI context: How we (humans) advertise and perceive products is environmental augmentation. The ultimate sentiment is to be aware of the augmentations. To study them. Be aware of their effect and purpose; and to adapt and further develop whatever it is we want to achieve.
When I saw AI-colored advertisements from a major company (a company that essentially has nothing to do with machines) I immediately wondered whether it gave an indication of the public appeal of robots in Western societies. Certainly, machines in general play a larger role in everyone’s lives than ever before; and the same can be said about robotics even though we’re still in very early stages of that development. When we note that Puma has been sporting robotic-prosthetic cyberpunk campaigns as well, I think we can at least safely venture that robotics are on the rise in terms of public interest.
To the Passing of a Hero: Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was born on the 16th of December 1917 in Minehead, England. Perhaps best known for his contributions to science fiction, and his inventions, his achievements will certainly not be forgotten anytime soon.
Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor from 1941-1946. It was there where he invented & proposed the idea of communications satellites in 1945 — an idea that materialized quickly and we now know, use and depend on to sustain our societies. His proposal won him the Franklin Institute Gold Medal and in 1994 he was nominated for a Nobel Prize. Consequently he became the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society.
He collaborated with Stanley Kubrick to create, in my and many others’ opinion, one of the greatest films of all time — and concurrently developed what later became a novel of the same name: 2001: A Space Odyssey shook the world and continues to inspire and provoke thought.
Moved to Sri Lanka in 1956. Knighted in 1998.
A Hero Passed Away on March 19th, 2008.
Arthur Charles Clarke will be missed.
