Archive for July, 2008
Give your CPU cycles to a good cause
Posted by Fulvio | Filed under Blog
Most of us have in their home computers processors with loads of power, dual and sometimes quad-core monsters that most of the times are only used to render web pages, check email addresses or play the occasional videogame.
If you feel like giving your unused CPU time to a good cause, there is a nice piece of open-source software, called Boinc, that makes use of grid computing to solve complex scientific computational problems.
There are many sub-projects you can join after installing it, and you can pick the ones you want to donate your idle CPU cycles to. I have personally chosen “Help Conquer Cancer” and “FightAIDS@Home”, and I have set the Boinc program to run everyday between 2am and 7pm, when I am usually speeping or at work (and so my computer would not be used anyway).
Maybe it is useless, but I like to believe that sometimes, even something so little can make a difference.
If you want to know more about grid computing and Boinc, click here.
Enough.
Posted by Fulvio | Filed under Blog
I curse the day I decided to move back to Italy. I really do.
It is interesting to realize how, after a few years of being separated from something, you only remember the good moments and experiences, and absolutely nothing bad.
I guess this is what made me decide to pack my bags and go back, the old good memories.
But truth is, the good memories are just memories, and living in the past just doesn’t work and doesn’t feel right.
What I really think inside me at the moment, is that this country sucks.
The burocracy sucks.
The government sucks.
Nothing EVER works the way it should.
I am getting a level of malcontent and stress here that I never ever experienced while staying in the United Kingdom.
Fancy some examples? No problem:
The iPhone launch
I was really excited about the iPhone launch in Italy, until the two mobile phone operators distributing it decided to opt for packages that do not include unlimited internet traffic. 600mb/month for a phone that is MEANT to be online 24/7. Bunch of retards. Go learn from the rest of Europe, where even the cheap tariff plans include unmetered net.
ATM machines
I needed to get cash this morning. Yes, because while in England i think i used cash maybe twice in a year (even the fruit stores get cash cards there) in Italy we just LOVE to go around with our wallets full of notes and coins. The bad thing is, 50% of ATM machines is broken / not working properly, so I had to visit FOUR today before i got one that managed to give me some bills.
Salaries
lol.
Government
Berlusconi, our Prime Minister, is trying to get approval on a new law that will void 100.000 criminal trials, because he is involved in one of them. No, it’s not a joke. It’s real.
Miscellaneous
I still dont have ADSL at home. Yes, there are areas of ROME (Rome … you know, the capital) that are not yet covered by broadband because Telecom Italia doesn’t think they can make enough money from expanding the network there. Thank God for www.air2bite.net or I’d still be surfing using a 56k modem.
Calciopoli. Vallettopoli. Whatever-opoli, every year we get a new one. Whenever in italy you hear the term “Something-opoli”, it means there is a massive scandal going on that is being covered in the news and involves many well known people.
Calciopoli = our recent football scandal, where they figured out most of the matches from 2 football seasons were fixed.
Vallettopoli = another massive scandal involving several TV stars, guilty of using heavy drugs, organizing prostitution rackets and promoting girls on television in exchange for sex.
I could go on for ages, but I think I’ll stop here. (for the moment)
A friendly advice, to all of you Italian buddies out there that like me are having enough of this crap: if you feel like going somewhere else, if you feel like wanting to pack your bags and leave but you are scared to do so … don’t listen to your fears.
Just Go.
And live your life, the way it is meant to be lived.
