Today we celebrate

April 25, 2025

Today Italy celebrates 80 years since the Nazi occupation and their fellows, the local fascists, were kicked out of Milan and Turin, the last two major cities still being held in their blood-soaked grip. The civil war would carry on for another week, but today’s the official holiday. Our local government (a far-right one, in case you missed this detail) invited the country to celebrate “with sobriety” and many cities cancelled the decennial tradition of public gatherings and commemorative parades, which is troubling to say the least. So here’s my invitation to celebrate with enthusiasm. Freedom doesn’t come cheap. Freedom doesn’t come for free.

In the header, a detail of a painting by Renato Guttuso, our local Picasso, who painted against fascism and joined the resistance in 1940.

movies and tv

Unveil: Jadewind

Well, I did something unusual: I watched a Chinese TV series that has no English dubbing, just subtitles. Which makes it hard to do it while I work because I have to pay more attention to the subtitles, but I guess it’s useful to hone

April 12, 2026 6:24 pm

books and literature

Fox Friday: The Fox by D.H. Lawrence

The two girls were usually known by their surnames, Banford and March. They had taken the farm together, intending to work it all by themselves: that is, they were going to rear chickens, make a living by poultry, and add to this by keeping a

April 10, 2026 9:00 am

architecture, engineering and construction

Who EIRs the EIR?

There’s a game I’d like to play (queue The Cranberries): take two EIRs from the last month, any project really, and delete project name and phase. Then place them in front of somebody else and ask them to guess. Which kind of project? Is it

April 8, 2026 9:00 am