2015.03.15 01:00 - he, not the glass

The Guardian for this meeting was Wol.

Wol Euler: buongiorno, qt
Qt Core: Hi Wol
Qt Core: it seems that spring forgot something and went back home to get it :-(
Wol Euler: oh boo!
Qt Core: (hoping not too many trees get their flowers killed by that
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: at least you have flowering trees already. Only the goldenrod is out in Germany so far
Qt Core: wondering how this place in Torino would be with flowers: http://www.boredpanda.com/urban-tree...a-turin-italy/
Wol Euler: wow
Wol Euler: pity about that awful blank wall all the way around at street level ...
Qt Core: or this one just (or almost) finished in Milan in the newwly rebuilt area: http://www.dezeen.com/2014/05/15/ste...n-skyscrapers/

--BELL--

Qt Core: i plan to visit that area and take a few pictures in the near future (i went there last summer, but it was after a few hours of walking around/visiting museums so i just went to the nearest subway station and got home ;-)
Wol Euler: I'll have to make anohter trip to northern Italy to have a look
Qt Core: the struggle of urban easy/comfortable life and beauty/health of rural life
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: the Bosco Verticale seems more realistic for an urban setting
Qt Core: the other one still has some fortress feeling
Wol Euler: mmhmm, that awful stone wall ...
Wol Euler: "let's protect ourselves from the awful place where we have to live"
Wol Euler: I think this is the wrong attitude for life in a city in the 21st century
Wol Euler: but then I am an architect so in effect I am paid to think that :)
Qt Core: every time i think about it i'm amazed by how much more green/parks/trees are in my town compared to 20/30 years ago even if we surely aren't a garden city
Qt Core: you would be useless if others would be right ;-)
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: this is generally true in the rich world, Qt, and it's a good thing
Wol Euler: even if we continue to cut down forests to make toothpicks while planting trees in the citites
Qt Core: i'm especially amazed when i go to the nearby park where i do most of my walking/cycling and look at the woods there and remind the less than a couple inches wide trees i were seeing when passing it to go school some 25 years ago
Qt Core: and we cut three or three hundred of species of trees and plant only two
Wol Euler: yep
Wol Euler: the Bosco Verticale seems to be getting that right. There must be at least three species of tree there :) if htey will have large, medium and small

--BELL--

Qt Core: it somewhat remind me of the millefoglie dessert: https://www.google.it/search?q=mille...ed=0CAYQ_AUoAQ
Qt Core: (one of my all time favourite)
Wol Euler: stacks of life, yes :)
Qt Core: for the first time (i think) sice living here i'm wondering about the tree species of my wood ceilings (i don't know it)
Wol Euler: wb
Qt Core: ty
Qt Core: i got a little shocked at how much wood surrounds me at the moment , in ceiling, floor, furniture and paper form! (don't thing that was the crash reason, btw)
Wol Euler: heheheheh
Wol Euler: I became very uncomfortable in Japan at the amount of wood (and plastic wrapping) thrown away daily with single-use chopsticks, but you are right: that is only the tip of the iceberg

--BELL--

Qt Core: this make me remind a little short story about a man bringing everywhere with him a glass, his favourite glass and making barmen using it for his drinks, ANd this make me ask why (if) japanese and chinese people don't bring their own/favourite chopsticks with them (a lot easier that fork/knives)
Wol Euler: especially since there are dozens of stores selling fancy chopsticks, and carrying cases for them. It would be very simple to bring your own. So why don't they?
Wol Euler: I assume because it would imply a criticism of your host.
Wol Euler: suggesting they got it wrong
Qt Core: found the short story, but is in italian: http://www.smemoranda.it/agenda/racc...ere-napoletano (it was published on my school-diary in 1987)
Wol Euler: and a huge amount of japanese culture is about never suggesting anything like that
Qt Core: (horrible formatting too)
Qt Core: always found funny (and probably that was the marketing idea) about a school-diary/agenda called "smemoranda" (could be read "[something] tobeforgotten"
Wol Euler: "He awoke - he, not the glass - at dawn. A long arm, dry and venous grabbed the glass, poured - you do not water - and drank. He put the glass on the table. He got up - he, not the glass -. He dressed. Things winter. Still poured himself a shot. He went out. He went downstairs floor. Scrutinizing the steps very carefully. The winter sun shine the narrowed his eyes to slits watery. " Google translation makes me think that human translators don't have to worry about their jobs just yet.
Qt Core: the problem it is when it spit out a phrase that make sense but that is traslation-wise wrong
Wol Euler nods.
Qt Core: like "you do not water", translation of "fate voi, non acqua" literally is "you [plural] do, not water", but the meaning is "your choice, but not water"

--BELL--

Wol Euler: it'll be a long time before any machine has a hope of understanding that
Qt Core: maybe it will be luckier with tech writings
Qt Core: before translating fiction/poetry it would need to understand art, something even men sometimes can;t
Wol Euler: less ambiguous (by design and necessity)
Wol Euler nods.
Qt Core: (i smile everytime i do a lazy apostrophe, ie a comme instead of it ;-)
Wol Euler: back in a sec, RL calling
Qt Core: (or a semicolon)
--BELL--
Qt Core: I just read the list of the short stories/little pieces that were published on the 1987 Smemoranda and i don't remind at all any of them but this one about this men his glass and his muslin handkerchief and i sometimes wonder if it is tied to a (somewhat not so hidde)n desire to have a ... how to say it ... totemic (?) object
Wol Euler smiles.
Qt Core: sometimes i think i've found something that could do, but i stop before buying it (or get dsillusioned about it after buying it) as i feel that it should be something gifted
Wol Euler: interesting :) do people know to buy that for you?
Wol Euler: do you have a birthday wish list`
Wol Euler: ?
Qt Core: no and no
Wol Euler: that will make it harder to receive ......
Qt Core: ;-)
Qt Core: (it would probably end up being a huge book list, something that has little use in this "totemic" category as it should be something you could carry with you all the time, let say jewelry, pens and such
Wol Euler: oh indeed, all such lists must be heavily filtered :)
Qt Core: and the idea of a (detailed) birthday wish list doesn't appeal me, it would spoil (some) of the surprise factor in getting a gift
Qt Core: (while it works in a wedding list)
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: but if you do have a particular thing in mind, it greatly increases your chances of getting that
Qt Core: yes, but if i want that so much i would probably have talked about it or something like that to the people that could gift me something
Qt Core: that is if it isn't something wanted by my dark side ;-)
--BELL--
Wol Euler: those you pretty much have to buy yourself :)
Qt Core: or send my minions to steal it
Wol Euler: or that
Wol Euler grins.
Qt Core: even considering the hour that SL dst gifted us i need to go now
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: take care, Qt
Wol Euler: enjoy your sunday
Qt Core: you too, and have fun