2015.11.08 01:00 - Sand on Glass

The Guardian for this meeting was Wol.

Wol Euler: buongiorno, Qt
Qt Core: Hi Wol

--BELL--

Wol Euler: so the exhibition is now finished?
Qt Core: Yes :-(
Wol Euler nods
Wol Euler: I think you said that some of the buildings will remain?
Qt Core: i spent there the last two days of it trying ti see what litte i missed
Wol Euler nods.
Qt Core: yes, surely the Tree of Life (it would cost too much to move it elsewhere), Palazzo Italia (the main italian pavillion) and Padiglione Zero the one depicting some kind of history of alimentation
Qt Core: there are voice that the Net of the brazillian pavillion will stay there in some form too
Wol Euler: interesting
Qt Core: and most of the green areas will stay in whatever thing the Expo area will became
Wol Euler nods.

Qt Core: just on the last day i was able to visit the German pavillion and i may say that it won the content cathegory with reason, maybe even too much "educational" but surely great
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: too educational is very German-sounding
Qt Core: laughing about german stereotypes i was amazed when security was discussing on the radio about being more elastic in managing the priority queue (how many family member admit with a disabled person, in this case his little sister and his parent)
Qt Core: kids age about 12 and 10
Wol Euler listens.
Qt Core: strangely enough the stricter pavillion in managing the queue were Swiss, Germany and Japan
Qt Core: just one of the security guy asking something like "should we be more elastic, like yesterday" muttering elastic in an almost disgusted tone
Qt Core: the answer was yes as all the four of them entered at once
Wol Euler: Germans can be very fussy, preferring a rigid system of "fairness" to a commonsense approach which would benefit all.

Qt Core: the regular queue (where i was while seeing this) was 1:40 hours
Wol Euler: O.O
Qt Core: (quite short for the last weeks of Expo standards)
Wol Euler: wow
Wol Euler: I don'Ät know whether I would actually bother queueing that long, no matter how good the exhibit
Qt Core: the records are shared by Japan and Kazakhstan with numbers varying between 8 and 10 hours

--BELL--

Wol Euler: WHAT
Wol Euler: impossible
Wol Euler: so your entire experience of a day at the expo is of standing in a line?
Wol Euler: no.
Qt Core: that is due mostly by having a fixed tour/experience so people could enter only at regular (long) intervals
Qt Core: yes, that is why in the end i haven't visited the Japan pavillion (for Kazakhstan i take advantage of my disabled sister and did only a 20 minute queue when the regular one was at 5 hours
Wol Euler smiles.
Qt Core: we tried japan too,,, but the priority queue was 2 hours...
Wol Euler: oh, so you got assigned a time to return at?
Wol Euler: you didn*
Wol Euler: didn'T have to stand in the sun for eight hours ...

Qt Core: yes only the swiss pavillion and only for part of its pavillion gave out appointments
Wol Euler: so people who wanted to see Afghanis would really hvae to stand in line for eight hours?
Qt Core: yes, but that Kazakhstan offered most of the queue under shades and with some seating tooi
Qt Core: and the extra long queue started after mid august when the sun wasn't so strong anymore
Wol Euler: still ... what a crazy idea.
Wol Euler: doesn't every government office in the world have a "take a ticket, come to the desk when your number is called" systeM?
Qt Core: yes, but strangely enough was one of the best thing of Expo, a rare time when italians were civil in queues
Wol Euler: ah :)
Qt Core: (even if there were cases of people faking injures, faking pregnancies or taking dolls in strollers to get priority access)
Wol Euler smiles.
Qt Core: i really liked in my visits the relaxed feeling in the last two there was a little smell of nervousness due to several tens of thousands of visitors around)
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: did you actually get to see the Japanese and/or Afghanis?
Qt Core: Japan no, Kazakhstan yes, Afghanistan neither

--BELL--

Wol Euler: Kazakhstan, sorry
Wol Euler: what was so great about their pavilion?
Qt Core: Kazakhstan had a great pavillion the big hit was the movie part where the full theatre room moved around so you felt like flying in their country, ending up in the rendering of the international (not universal) expo they will have in Astana in 2017
Qt Core: at the beginning there is a show of an "sand on glass" artist that "paint" an history of the country
Qt Core: here there is a video of that initial show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJFSRhDusLo
Qt Core: Oh, and for the flying video in the moving theatre you had to wear 3d glasses too
Wol Euler: cool
Wol Euler: wow, the sand on glass is amazing
Qt Core: between the two show some more "regular" exhibition about alimentation history (and you get a little taste of fermented horse milk, a common drink in most of asia nomadic areas)
Qt Core: i love milk but i am quite picky about it (so it was an horrible experience ;-)
Wol Euler: I shudder to imagine
Qt Core: just imagine a fresh cheese went sour in liquid form
Wol Euler: ewwwww
Qt Core: on a cultural level it has to be tasted... once
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: but like the Oktoberfest, having done it once there's no need to go back
Qt Core: strange, i hear about many going back to the Oktoberfest often ;-)

--BELL--

Wol Euler: well, many do
Wol Euler: depends what you want out of life, and what you think is fun
Qt Core: between the content, the nice looking pavillion and airy upper area and the choice in restaurant menu Germany was able to give out an image quite different from potatoes wurstel and beer one would imagine at first
Wol Euler smiles.
Qt Core: at most an image of being a little obsessed about apples and the many kind of them you have
Wol Euler: heheheh
Wol Euler: "artisanal apples"
Wol Euler: and potatoes, that is true
Wol Euler: different varieties for different purposes
Qt Core: and then potatoes and apples are quite tied together, at least for me as in my dialect apples are "pomm" and potatoes are "pomm de terr" (something like "earth pomm")
Wol Euler: ha, same as in French
Wol Euler: how funny
Wol Euler: earth apples
Wol Euler: actually the Germans call horse turds "pferdeäpfel", horse apples :)
Wol Euler: and a saying about genetics "the apple doesn't fall far from the horse"
Qt Core: ;-) and tomatoes are pomidori, something like "golden pomm) but that is valid for italian too, pomo is usable for apples and tomatoe are pomodoro (golden pomo)
Wol Euler: how strange that name is
Wol Euler: what kind of tomato is yellow?
Wol Euler: clearly not "golden" in the sense of colour
Qt Core: wondering about the first ones, were they really red ?
Wol Euler: perhaps not ...
Qt Core: like with carrots, the original ones being darker, almost purple
Wol Euler: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_lycopersicum
Wol Euler: pomo d'amore
Wol Euler: aaaah
Qt Core: but a little after it say also that they changed their golden volor to a redder one
Wol Euler: Arriva in Italia nel 1596 ma solo più tardi, trovando condizioni climatiche favorevoli nel sud del paese, si ha il viraggio del suo colore dall'originario e caratteristico colore oro
Wol Euler: yes, quite right

--BELL--

Wol Euler: golden apples indeed
Qt Core: there is a quite famous (at least here in italy( movie speaking about farm life in northern italy in the beginning of XX century where pomidori have a couple scenes (or at least scenes that i remember): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077138/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1a
Wol Euler: oh I'
Wol Euler: I've heard of that, I know the title, but I never saw it
Qt Core: as it was in dialect even many italian would like subtitles for it (basically anyone born south of the Po river)
Wol Euler: I like films like that
Qt Core: time to go cooking some pork ;-)
Wol Euler: and I have to work, this afternoon
Wol Euler: enjoy the day, dear Qt
Qt Core: i'll try, you too
Qt Core: bye Wol