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- Adding insult to the injury A few weeks ago I parked my motorcycle in a street near my home. The spot was the same where I had parked it many times in the past. I didn’t notice the City of Cambridge had just decided to add a new no parking zone exactly in that spot. My fault, OK, but honestly, who check the signs on their street every time they park? In fact every time I go out, I see that that spot is occupied by some car, and every other day the helpful parking maid attach an expensive, red post-it to the lucky car of the day. Since I am the luckiest in the neighbor (or maybe the parking maid has a thing for motorcyclists), after two days, I found two lovely post-its on my motorcycle. Does this make any sense to you? I mean, it is quite obvious that I simply did not notice the new sign, making me pay twice will help me notice it or remind me about it better? If it's true that the penalty should be commensurate with the seriousness of the offense, is not noticing a new sign more serious if you do it before leaving your vehicle somewhere for two days than if you do it before leaving it for just one day? I don’t think so. That is why I am writing to the traffic committee to dispute the second fine. Here is the letter if you are curious: On the night of October 20, I parked my motorcycle on a street near home, in a spot where I had left it many times before without any problem. Two days later, when I went to take my motorcycle for a ride, I found two parking violation fines on its seat. I had not noticed that lately a no parking zone had been added right in that spot. While I have already paid the first fine, I would appeal to your understanding to ask you to dismiss the second one. I think it is clear that, as it is happening to many of my neighbors these days (see attached photos) I had not noticed the new sign, and so I do not understand why I should be fined twice for the same inattention. One ticket will be more than enough to make me notice and remind me I cannot park there anymore, a second one seems to me just an insult added to the injury. Thank you for your time. Best regards, S.B.
November 11, 201500 - On Free Market and Internet Providers One of the things that never fail to amaze me, here in U.S., is the lack of competition between the internet service providers. I mean, this country is supposed to be the homeland of free market, and still there are only two ISP where I live, and both of them offers more or less the same services for the same prices. And it's not that I am in a rural town in the middle of Nebraska, I am in Cambridge, hometown of Google, my flat is 2 miles from the M.I.T.! When I was in Italy, I lived in small town in the suburbia of Milan. Well, believe it or not, I could choose between some five or six ISP, and one also offered optic fiber connection for a pretty reasonable price - less than what I am paying here for an average ADSL in fact. And it was something like ten years ago! Anyway, don’t take this as a real complaint, at the end of the day, my ADSL is enough for me, and I wouldn’t exchange a faster internet connection with the opportunity to live in place rich of stimuli like Cambridge/Boston. It’s just that we Italians use to complain a lot, in particular when we are in a foreign country; then, when we are back home, we start to complain again about how things work so much better abroad... PIcture by: Dr. Avishai Teicher Pikiwiki Israel
November 6, 201540 - Now reading: "Purity", by J. Franzen I love reading in English, I think is one of the best ways to improve ones vocabulary, and is much more fun than studying on some textbook... The last book I have started to read is Purity, by J. Franzen. I have finished just the first chapters, and so I still don’t have a complete idea on the book, but there are a couple of things I really like and I wanted to share with my fellow "italkians". The first is the way the author is able to express the characters' thoughts and feelings. It is fascinating how, with just a couple of sentence, he can make you feel inside the head of a character. The second is the subtle irony - often border-lining with sarcasm - that permeate every page. While reading this book I always end up having an half smile on my face all the time. All the characters I have encountered so far, have some kind of weirdness that makes so fun reading about their life and actions, but in the meantime the are completely credible, they never look like a spoof. And the same thing happens with the places, the societies, the situations in which the author have put his characters. Have you read this book, how didi you find it? No spoilers, please!
November 5, 201581
