Why is it that the world’s best food is cooked inside a truck or van? It is the fact that true competition at a small level produces better products? The big boys, after all, eliminate competition economically, by buying up the competition, or out-advertising them (not with facts, but with simple math: bigger boobs = greater sales).

When I’m in California I can hardly resist the urge to eat at a “taco truck”. It’s where you get real Mexican grub. The tacos can hardly be compared to the bland, one size fits all slop served by the chains.

In Florence, I can always find the fortitude to forgo the Renaissance in favor of the Lampredotto stands that dot the landscape. Yes, Lampredotto is one of the more refined stomachs of the cow, the last one, or fourth on the butcher chart. You cook it slowly. It softens to a sensuous silkiness. You spike it up with green sauce.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the Lampredotto stand in Florence’s Borgo San Frediano When Kyle Phillips of Italian Cuisine took me there for a panino which was to become the first course of a full Italian meal. Wow.

This is the internet age, and now it’s easier than ever to find these stands because of the tireless work of folks like Dan Woodford, who has mapped Florence’s lampredotto and trippa stands

Facebook remains as popular as ever here in Italy, much to the chagrin of Italy’s powers that be. Hence indirect an attempt to steer Italians away from social networking sites, such as Facebook.

Whereas here in Italy friendly editors, chat show hosts, and the odd newscaster or two can be persuaded to cast certain things in a specific light, it is darn difficult to control what goes on within the virtual corridors of Facebook.  This, for some, is a huge problem.

Many, many, Italians use Facebook, as has been noted elsewhere on BlogfromItaly, and now, Italy’s younger generations seem to be taking to it in droves.  Whilst buzzing around Milan on the bus, I often overhear groups of Italian teenagers chatting away, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Facebook will be mentioned sooner or later.

This new found communicative freedom in Italy’s young has not escaped the notice of Italy’s masters.  Oh no.  Hence a clever, and rather farsighted, swipe at everybody’s favourite social network.

Facebook is Pedophile Paradise

A recent item on the evening news in Italy; I forget which channel, but most probably either RAI 1 or RAI 2; insinuated that social networks are veritably infested with pedophiles.  Facebook was not mentioned by name, but an image of a page from a sexual predator infested social networking site had clearly been taken from Facebook.

Targeting Future Generations

Having failed to steer today’s generations away from Facebook and the like, those in ivory towers seem to be aiming at future generations.  With a little luck, the scare mongering may even convince a few parents with teenage children to tell their kids to cancel their Facebook profiles -just in case.

Pedophile Facts

I had a look at a report by Meter, an Italian association which monitors pedophile activity online.  The figures do not really indicate that Social Networks are ‘infested’.

In 2009, there were 7,240 indications from the public around the world of possible pedophile activity on the world wide web.  851 of these indications came via people registered with social networks.  Fifty one of these came from Italians registered with social networks.  Now, this is not 51 in 2009, but 51 between 2003 and 2009.  Infestation?

Or the use of rather common ploy in Italy.

A Traditional Italian Mud Slinging Tactic

Indirect, but devious, attempts to discredit people are not infrequent in Italy.  The mafia, as Roberto Saviano, knows very well, is expert at blackening names.  As with certain other powerful figures in Italy, the mafia also calls upon the services of friendly, or intimidated, local media to get its messages across.

In one fell swoop, a person of good character can be rendered a womanizing pervert or worse.  The victims of such attacks are often discredited to the extent that whatever they say cannot damage anyone any more.  It’s a devious, insidious form of attack, which some might say is a little cowardly.  Regardless of the morality, such attacks can be highly effective.

An Opposition Leader

Recent examples of covert mud slinging in Italy are an attempt to blacken the name of Italian Values party leader Antonio Di Pietro through claims that a Christmas dinner he attended at a police station was really a cover up.

Any mud which landed on Di Pietro washed quickly off – this time.  However seeds of doubt will have been planted.

The Wrong Socks

Another example, which was so blatant it looked farcical, and blew back on those behind the scheme, was an attempt to discredit a judge who presided over one of Silvio Berlusconi’s not uncommon legal wrangles.  About the only mud which could be slung at this innocent judge was the fact that he wore blue socks.

Still, there will now be a few people in Italy who will now be very suspicious of judges who wear blue socks, thanks to this albeit bungled attempt to make someone look bad.

However, as a result of this sock slinging, we have Blue Socks Against Berlusconi! In my day it was ‘better red than dead’, in contemporary Italy, it’s ‘better blue, than you know who’.

Now though, it’s Facebook’s turn.  There seems to be no great justification behind the claim that social networks in Italy are infested with people who can harm children, but justification is not required.  All you need is seed.

Plant Seeds of Doubt

Plant seeds of doubt, water them from time to time, and let them grow.  They will bear fruit eventually.

Ah, Machiavelli.

Article in Italian on Facebook: La pedofilia online viaggia su Facebook – Pedophilia Travels via Facebook – (Not true, if you take into account that only 20 cases were investigated – 39 on YouTube – see the report referenced below)

Reference:

Corriere della Sera 2 February 2010à: Di Pietro, Contrada e la cena del 1992 – Di Pietro, Contrada and the Dinner of 1992 – in Italian.

Download 803 kb - RAPPORTO ANNUALE 2009 – 2009 Report on Pedophilia & Pedo-pornography .pdf – in Italian

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This is the time I usually start thinking of equipment for my spring jaunt to Italy. By equipment I mean the electronic things one needs to get information onto the web.

You see, I’ve just gotten back from 10 days in Palm Springs, doing some research for the nascent Wandering Palm Springs, a sort of sister site for when the temperatures in Italy fall and you need a place to go with your rat pack.

Anyway, while listening to other travelers in Palm Springs, I heard a lot about all the crap the average connected tourist has to carry. The battery chargers alone will give you a hernia.

So what if you could just pull hard on a ripcord and WHAM! your electronic doodads are charged?

(Then again, what if you did this on a plane?)

Anyway, that seems like the principle behind YoGen, which sounds to me like a Star Trek character who is cute as all get out but carries some odd thoughts about sexual relations with female robots stuffed in the bowels of a spaceship heading for Uranus…

Anyway, if you’ve been out in the field and your iPad is drained and your iPod is sagging, you might want to check out YoGen. It’s got that see-through plastic thing going that’s all the rage—-and lots of gears. Tell me how it works fer ya, willya?

Guess where this place is in Italy -both the name and the location – and get an Amazon Gift Voucher or an upgrade to a Yahoo Flickr Pro account.

Yes, the first person to place the correct answer in a comment, will receive a €25 giveaway (c. $34 USD and just shy of £22 UKP, as at today’s exchange rates) Amazon Gift Voucher, a one year subscription to Flickr Pro or can ask for the money to be donated to a favourite charity.

Last week’s photograph was of Vernazza, which is one of the delightful Cinque Terre in Liguria, as correctly guessed by Candi.  Well done Candi!

OK, onto this week’s photograph. No Italians please (Niente Italiani per favore – è troppo facile per voi!).

Ready, steady, click!

Guess the Name of the Building and Say Where it can be found in Italy.

Conditions

The first correct answer via a comment will receive the giveaway. (Please note that comments made by newcomers to Blog from Italy are checked before they become published.)  It is possible that the first correct answer which is visible may not be the real first correct answer – which might have gone into the comment checking system.

Do not leave very short answers, as they may go into the junk mail bin, and might never be found again.

Once someone has been identified as having left the correct answer, they can select the item they would prefer.  The item, or its details, will then be forwarded, if necessary, via email – so a valid email address is needed too (Email addresses will not be sold or passed on to third parties).

My decision is final – Alex Roe.

Good luck!

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After allegations that Berlusconi has been in league with the mafia for many years, come investigations into corruption involving of all people, the head of Italy’s civil defence organisation, Guido Bertolaso. All on the eve of the reignition of Italy’s nuclear power program.

At first it looked as though this man, of whom Silvio Berlusconi is a big fan, was only on the sidelines.  Now though it is looking as though Guido Bertolaso, Italy’s head of civil defence, was actively involved in a sordid story of corruption involving sexual favours, a hint of nepotism and free BMWs, as well as copious backhanders right, left and centre.

To his credit, almost, and before it had been alleged that Guido Bertolaso was up to his neck in the smelly stuff, Italy’s head of civil defence had offered his resignation to Silvio Berlusconi.  Dear Silvo rejected this attempt by Bertolaso to do the decent thing, and instead Berlusconi rattled on about Italy’s judiciary interfering in the day to day activities of Italy’s administrators.

Normal Business Practice in Italy

Obviously to Silvio, the involvement of a few girls, a little partying, and the odd bribe or two, constitute normal business practice in Italy.

Not everyone is in complete agreement with Berlusconi on this, though, and the only vaguely honest political party in Italy, the Italian Values party run by Antonio Di Pietro (against whom mud slinging attempts have been recently made), has requested a no-confidence vote in Italy’s government.

Moving back to the corruption involving Italy’s head of civil defence, press reports today stated that Bertolaso and his chums pushed the boat out on the night after the earthquake in Abruzzo as they realised just how many lucrative backhanders, sorry, legitimate commissions, would be coming their way once the rebuilding efforts began.

Reading this sort of left a bad taste in my mouth, and I know that others were left feeling somewhat bitter too.

Nuke Italy Countdown

The really fun thing is though, that Italy, with its rather rife levels of corruption, is about to recommence its nuclear power program!

I can see it now, Sicily becomes reduced to uninhabitable wasteland after a shoddily built reactor, built by someone who paid a huge bribe, explodes in the world’s biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Ah, maybe that’s the big picture.  Nuke Sicily and eliminate the mafia in one fell swoop, as well as all those pesky Sicilians!

If I were French, Swiss, Austrian, or even Spanish, I would start becoming a tiny bit concerned about Italy playing with radioactive materials. It’s a bit like giving a stick of dynamite to a five year old.  Not the greatest of ideas.

What a country.

Further Reading:

Ansa.it, 11 February 2010, Bertolaso, io non c’entro Premier a pm, vergogna – Bertolaso: nothing to do with me. Berlusconi: shame on you judges – in Italian

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chernobyl_Disaster.jpg

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Copyright © blogfromitaly.com 2005 – 2010
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The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of copyright.