April 24, 2005 Archives

How do comment spammers KNOW

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posted by tom / April 24, 2005 / 4 comments /

How do comment spammers KNOW WE ARE ON VACATION AND THEREFORE UNABLE TO
DELETE THEIR SORRY ASSES? I have 72 new comment spam emails! VA FANCULO
suckers!
Anyway I will have to make do with my glass of wine and travel journal.
Yes, I have rediscovered these things called "pen" and "paper." And Ilm
writing a fair amount, with the intention of typing up the notes when I
get back. So blogging might be a little light. Especially considering I
cannot take lovely pictures to send to flickr :( this breaks my heart.
The only reasons I come to italy anymore are to eat and take pictures!
Oh well, I'll just have to double my eating then. Sigh. Care for some
food porn? Dinner last nite was pici alla contadina, little swirls of
pasta in a hearty duck sauce, and buttery rabbit for a secondi. Followed
by copious amounts of gelato and wine when we returned. Tonight just had
a quick slice of truffle pizza and a slice of spinach and ricotta piazza
before, um, more gelato, and, um, more wine (not tomention the two wine
bars we visited earlier in the day). Now I'm off to drink EVEN more and
perhaps do some reading. Ciao ciao.
-catherine

il duce

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posted by tom / April 24, 2005 / leave a comment /
il duce

So, no to nukes (although a big Yes to importing lots of energy from
nuke-happy France). But maybe you're a fan of a different kind of
lethal-yet-undeniably-effective force: Benito Mussolini. If so, get
yourself on down here for a seemingly unabashed celebration of his life
and times.

The Italians seem to have pretty mixed feelings about Il Duce (a name
that I can only assume to be a reference to John Wayne). Sure, he
picked some bad friends, did some bad things, and in general is pretty
well-represented in applicable categories with "bad" in their title. But
I guess it's tough to deny that he was among the most productive heads
of state Italy has had since togas went out of fashion. As far as I can
tell, most Italians have never actually experienced a government capable
of accomplishing much of anything, so I suppose it's understandable that
they romanticize the idea a bit.

Note: along with other mainstream political posters (forza italia!),
this poster shared a wall with a message from your friends at the party
for the reestablishment of communism. Good times.

programming note

[blog]
posted by tom / April 24, 2005 / leave a comment /

I should probably point out that, while we're over here, every post will
show up under my name. We'll go through and change them when we get
back, but I was too strapped for time to set things up properly for
Catherine, too. So, for example, the forgotten-battery post was hers.
I'll try to get Catherine to identify herself when she posts under my
name, but for now you'll have to do your best to figure it out on your
own.

Some helpful hints: posts about nuclear power or approving ruminations
on Roman techniques for slaughtering one another -- probably Tom.
Discussions of objects/people's relative levels of charmingness, or
recountings of difficulties related to personal grooming -- probably
Catherine. Posts measuring wine consumption in liters can be considered
to speak for both of us.

il forno nucleario

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posted by tom / April 24, 2005 / leave a comment /
il forno nucleario

If you're anything like me, the first thing you think upon seeing a
picturesque hillside town like Cortona is the following: "Gosh, between
the decaying infrastructure, 3m-wide roads, inaccessibility and hordes
of tourists, this would be a perfect place for a nuclear
reactor!"

Well, sorry friend, but the city elders have beaten us to the punch.
Cortona is officially nuke-free!

idiota

[travel]
posted by catherine / April 24, 2005 / 2 comments /

In wine bar. Love wine. Forgot camera battery at home. Hate entire
world. (Charles, can you unplug it and maybe express mail it to me, eh?)

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