This site is some twenty-five years old, and it contains lots of ancient stuff, much of it utterly dated and useless.
Sorry about that.
If anything, I post very unevenly, and about whatever occupies me.
Some featured posts
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De-googling
I have tried for ages to de-google. Not just from Google itself, but all the big ones — Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon. However, de-googling is not easy.
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Koha Library Software
Setting up a library management system like Koha is not easy, but once it’s done, registering and cataloguing your books is very easy.
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Across the river, into the trees
I spent a good deal of January and February 2021 on a movie set, but it wasn’t a very positive experience
See all featured posts.
Most recent posts
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Lupercale
It was all over the news here in Italy last night. Apparently archaeologists in Rome have found the Lupercale on the Palatine hill. This is incredible news for anybody interested in ancient history. The Lupercale is legendary in more than one way. For the ancient Romans it was the cave under the Palatine hill where…
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Homeward bound
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I’m on my way north now. I left Palermo Sunday evening with the ferry to Naples, from where I went by motorbike to Rome. The crossing was eventless, the ferry mostly empty. The ferry arrived in Naples early, around 6:30, and I was on the motorway before seven, as the sun rose over the Appenines.…
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A day in Palermo
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A few days ago I went for a walk here in Palermo, and I took some photos along the way. The road was from Piazza Don Bosco towards Piazza Noce and back. A funny bending fence A nice calm sidewalk without parked cars This is where mafiosi shot down Cesare Terranova and his driver Lenin…
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Italian Commercial Neologisms
Italian shops are often called something ending in “-eria”. A bookshop is a libreria, from libro which means book. A pizzeria makes and sell pizze (plural of pizza), a gelateria sells gelato, icecream, and so on. An osteria sells hospitality, literally a “hostery” like in “host” 🙂 Since the scheme is very simple, it is…
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Mobile phones in Italy
I have understood from a previous post that Wendy travels without a mobile phone, and hence have limited internet access. Here is how you get a mobile phone with internet access in Italy. There are three mobile phone operators in Italy: TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), Wind and Vodafone. TIM has a red/blue logo, Wind is…
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Team paddling experiences
The four weeks I paddled in Sardinia is the longest kayak journey I have been on so far, and the first time I have travelled for so long with somebody I knew so little. Things went very wrong between Wendy and I, and I have quite naturally given it quite a bit of thought as…
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Pentax Optio W30
I have bought a new camera, a Pentax Optio W30. I’ve been very happy with my W10, and frankly, I’m amazed it has survived the abuse I’ve put it through for as long as it did, so I have no problem getting another Pentax Optio. Compared to the Optio W10, the Optio W30 has a…
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My Pentax Optio W10 is no more
My camera is dead. It’s been a bit flaky for a while, the flash stopped working a while ago, and after my paddle with Francesco Ravasio on Friday it wouldn’t turn on anymore. I’ve tried everything, but no go. It’s been a good friend from some 1500km paddling in the last year or so, taking…
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Leaving Sardinia
I’m in Palermo now. I spent a couple of days in Fertilia, first to make up my mind, then to figure out what to do with all the gear I had there. The first night I slept in the open near the harbour where I had the kayak in sight. At that point I hadn’t…