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Archive for the ‘cool thing’ Category:
Al Gore in Rome: a success for the launch of italian Current_TV
I’m just back from Rome, where I witnessed the launch of the italian Current_TV, the first non-english-speaking version of it.
I was invited at Jovinelli theatre together with about four hundred of other bloggers, technologists, journalists, students and such. It was a great idea (thank to friendly and hyper-energic Marco Montemagno and others), and a great occasion to meet some bloggers that I read, but never met in real life (Paolo Valdemarin, Massimo Mantellini…).
Al Gore, founder of Current_TV, was the main guest.
Enjoy some pictures I’ve taken with my modest Canon EOS 400D (you find these, and other, creative commons Attribution-only photos on my flickr account) :-)
Outside Jovinelli Theatre in Rome, just before the event.
Inside the theatre.
Luca Conti, a.k.a. Pandemìa, a famous italian blogger and latin lover.
Me (Simone Brunozzi) with Daniela Cerrato (Virgilio.it).
Marco Montemagno, italian technologist and journalist for SKY.
Who’s this guy? Can’t remember his name… hmmm…
Well, if he dyes his hair with black, he could resemble Al Gore… :-)
Luca Conti and Marco Montemagno, while Luca is asking a question to Al Gore.
People.
The thing that everybody loved about Al Gore? His boots!
Final word: a great event, and I wish Good Luck to the italian Current_TV!
Current_TV: Rome, Italy, with Al Gore
Today I’ll be in Rome, for the presentation of the italian branch of Current_TV; Al Gore (founder, together with Joel Hyatt) will be there, and I will ask him this question.
Lifehacks
I always read Lifehacker.com, a very useful website with tons of interesting tricks.
Today I’ve found Steve Rubel’s LifeHacks on del.icio.us… a treasure I want to share with you.
Happy reading, and happy Life-Hacking.
The world simulation, with Twitter
Watch this video: it’s the world simulation game, twitter-aided. Interesting event, interesting conclusions.
Of course, discovered via Twitter.
The group that created this is:
“a working group of Kansas State University students and faculty dedicated to exploring and extending the possibilities of digital ethnography”.
Cool, guys. Make the world a better place :-)
Coldplay
I love the Coldplay.com homepage, clear, essential, minimalistic, “zen”, elegant:
And I also love their music.
Today, thank to Luca’s twittering (again!), I visited their website after years of absence.
They offer free download of their new song, Violet Hill.
An important side note, from wikipedia’s Coldplay page:
Despite Coldplay’s worldwide popularity, the band have remained protective of how their music is used in the media, refusing its use for product endorsements. In the past, Coldplay turned down multi-million dollar contracts from Gatorade, Diet Coke, and Gap, who wanted to use the songs “Yellow“, “Trouble“, and “Don’t Panic” respectively. According to vocalist/pianist Martin, “We wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves if we sold the songs’ meanings like that.”
And again:
In the band’s early years, Coldplay were also widely noted in the media for their claim to give 10% of the band’s profits to charity.
Curious, uh?
Love ‘em.
Why guys buy sport cars
While I was writing my previous post, I found a Gazelle picture, but I had to look for an Antelope instead… and while doing it, I discovered that, sooner or later, I HAVE TO VISIT ANTELOPE CANYON IN ARIZONA, USA! :-)
Enjoy this pic of Antelope Canyon, before reading the post!
Cars are a big passion for italians, and for “first world” guys in general (poors cannot afford cars), since they’re kids.
I, for example, have a huge passion for Lotuses, and the recent Lotus Elise drives me quite crazy!
Only very recently, though, I really understood WHY GUYS BUY SPORT CARS, or expensive cars in general.
Bear with me.
Amotz Zahavi, a now retired jewish professor and biologist, is quite famous for his (hypothesis of the) Handicap Principle, proposed in 1975.
I’ll explain it with an example (antelopes and gazelles are interchangeable here).
An antelope, name is John, sees a Lion, rapidly approaching to eat him: he decides to jump two or three times in the air before starting to run (it is called stotting). The lion understands that John has very good fitness, and decides to save energy for a slower antelope.
Another antelope, name is Fred, sees a Lion, rapidly approaching to eat him: he jump a couple of times, like John, but the Lion decides to pursue him anyway. Fred is not well fit, and the lion catches him, and then eats him.
Fred, therefore, can’t reproduce, and that’s why “cheaters” like Fred quite doesn’t exist in nature, because their behavior would be too fatal.
This brings an interesting concept, summarized in the Handicap Principle: well fit individuals can “stot” to show predators their “braveness” and energy, in an attempt to avoid an energy-consuming chase (for both).
Remember this sentence: animals stot to show they’re superior to other peers (dear lion, chase someone else).
Remember the second sentence: animals are not likely to cheat, because in many cases, cheating means a very low chance of survival.
Remove the “… means a very low chance of survival”, substitute antelopes with humans, and you have… Tah-Dah: the reason WHY GUYS BUY SPORT CARS.
So, why? They’re simply stotting to chicks.
They’re trying to say: “I can afford a sport car (not only expensive to buy, but expensive to mantain), so it means that I have money to waste; I can therefore take care of you and our future babies”. Bingo. Bed. :-)
This can extend, in general, to luxury items.
They’re all stots (this word doesn’t quite exist… yet!), performed by humans.
Of course, luxuries and sport cars are also a way to show other male peers that “we’re cool”, “we’re good”. But that’s another story.
Potlatch can be a variation on the theme, another way to show people that “you can afford that”.
Aposematism (and Unkenreflex) are somewhat related to the Handicap Principle.
Well, next time you see an antelope like this one below, think about it.
You may also enjoy reading this article on Discover Magazine about Zahavi.
What do you think?
Agree?
Disagree?
