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20 marzo 2007

Linux Advert




Don't miss the Ali's tagline at the end. (links in the italian translation).

"Speak your mind. Don't back down."

Transcript of IBM ad:

Open on young boy sitting in chair, camera pans overhead.
Male Voice: I think you should see this.
Female Voice: It's just a kid.
Rock Guy: This is a G cord. (Strums his guitar)
Male Voice: He's learning. Absorbing. He's getting smarter every day.
Anthropologist: Homo habilis was the first to use tools.
Coach Wooden: A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that's teamwork.
Male Voice: It's happening fast.
Astrologer: We've always watched the stars. If you look at the sky, you can see the beginning of time.
Cut to soccer player bouncing ball on knee in front of boy.
Mr. Gates: Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community.
Poet: Poetry. There's not much glory in poetry, only achievement.
Voice: Knowledge amplification. What he learns, we all learn. What he knows, we all benefit from.
Ms. Nasar: One little thing can solve an incredibly complex problem.
Ms. Marshall: Everything's about timing kid.
Businessman: This is business. Faster. Better. Cheaper. Constant improvement.
Pilot: So, you wanna fly, huh? Wind speed, thrust, it's physics.
Latin Teacher: Res publica non dominetur.
Plumber: Plumbing, it's all about the tools.
Ali: Speak your mind. Don't back down.
Female Voice: Does he have a name?
Male Voice: His name is Linux.

Sceneggiatura della pubblicità IBM per Linux:

Apre su un ragazzo seduto su una sedia, la telecamera allarga sopra la sua testa.
Voce maschile: penso che dovresti vederlo.
Voce femminile: è solo un ragazzo.
Rocker: Questo è un Sol maggiore. (Esegue l'accordo sulla chitarra)
Voce maschile: sta imparando. Assorbendo. Diventa ogni giorno più intelligente.
Antropologo: l'Homo Habilis fu il primo ad usare utensili.
Allenatore John R. Wooden: un giocatore che rende grande una squadra val di più di un grande giocatore. Perdersi nel gruppo, per il bene del gruppo, questo è gioco di squadra.
Voce maschile: sta succedendo in fretta.
Astronomo: Abbiamo sempre guardato le stelle. Se guardi il cielo, puoi vedere l'inizio del tempo.
Inquadratura di un calciatore che fa rimbalzare la palla sulle ginocchia davanti al ragazzo.
Prof. Gates: raccogliere dati è solo il primo passo verso la saggezza. Ma condividere i dati è il primo passo verso la comunità.
Poeta: la poesia. Non c'è molta gloria nella poesia, solo il risultato.
Voce: amplificazione della conoscenza. Quello che impara, lo impariamo tutti. Di quello che sa, tutti quanti ne traiamo beneficio.
Sylvia Nasar: una piccola cosa può risolvere un problema incredibilmente complesso.
Penny Marshall: è tutta una questione di tempismo, giovane.
Uomo d'affari: Questo è il business. Più in fretta. Meglio. A minor costo. Miglioramento costante.
Pilota: e quindi vuoi volare, eh? Velocità del vento, spinta, è fisica.
Insegnante di Latino: Res Publica non dominetur (la cosa pubblica non sarà dominata da nessuno...)
Idraulico: le tubature, è tutta una questione di attrezzi.
Ali: dì la tua. Non tirarti indietro.
Voce femminile: come si chiama?
Voce maschile: il suo nome è Linux.



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13 marzo 2007

Breathtaking eclipse





Yes, the big one is the Sun, and the small black spot is the moon. You make me feel, by weight:

  • Oxygen 65%
  • Carbon 18%
  • Hydrogen 10%
  • Nitrogen 3%
  • Calcium 1.5%
  • Phosphorous 1.0%
  • Potassium 0.35%
  • Sulfur 0.25%
  • Sodium 0.15%
  • Chlorine 0.15%
  • Magnesium 0.05%
  • Iron 0.0004%
  • Iodine 0.00004%
Boing Boing: Solar eclipse viewed from spacecraft



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How many elements should have a list?

5 is good, 10 is better, 15 is bad, 20 is worst.



I don't want to read "52 ways to improve your piano playing" because if I spend the same time practicing my piano playing will improve far more than reading a lousy list ever could. I'd prefer read "5 ways to improve your piano playing", despite the semplicity. I don't want to read "52 ways to reduce stress", because your list (longer than Deuteronomy) is stressful.



You can't separate the top 5 arguments about a theme? Obviously you don't know enough about that specific argument. A Lifehacker post tells about 77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper and Better: the author should choose the top 5 or the top 10, I will read it, and then I will decide if is worth reading the remaining 70.



Lists are the mainstream for blog posts: Guy Kawasaki advice you to use them to hook your audience. He is one of the best list-maker: often he puts 12 question in a "10 questions with..." interview, knowing that if you have the guts to reach the tenth question, you wouldn't mind to read two more.



"Perhaps the best test of a man's intelligence is his capacity for making a summary".







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05 marzo 2007

Verify your source, please.

Internet is becoming every passing day more similar to TV: everyone yells the last breaking news without verify the source.



Last case: Vista brute-force cracking tool. Almost every tech site gave the news and almost every site retreated their declarations after two-three days.

Please, verify your sources: if you are an editor of a tech site, then you have a Vista Iso, and you can download the tool (don't ask me how, or I will steal your job) and try it by yourself. You have a chance to write a far better article if you find out it isn't working. At least you could write a nice howto.



But please: verify your source.



Vista hack is about as useful as a useless thing



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