2016.01.24 01:00 - Who Decides When to Shoot?

The Guardian for this meeting was Wol.

Qt Core: Good morning Wol
Wol Euler: good morning, Qt
Wol Euler: I hope all is well?
Qt Core: almost, when "all" could really be well ? ;-)
Qt Core: you ?

--BELL--


Wol Euler: pretty good, thanks
Wol Euler: tired from work
Qt Core: me too, but with the added satisfaction of having heard some praise from a client for some new software i wrote
Wol Euler: oh, well done
Wol Euler: nice to have some reaction :)
Qt Core: beside complaints that is ;-)
Wol Euler: yes :)
Wol Euler: though I tend to discount those.
Qt Core: yes, but they still slowly add to the stress levels
Wol Euler: agreed

Qt Core: we almost threw a party when one of our client, a big one, went away, it gave us more stress than money
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: I had a client like that once, when I worked for a computer company. THey thought they had bought the employees, not a machine.
Wol Euler: and the salesman encouraged them in that, to keep the orders coming in
Wol Euler: management had to drop a hammer on him in the end, and send the head of customer services with him on sales calls, to say "we COULD do that, but it would cost you X thousand pounds"

--BELL--

Qt Core: this one just ignored the "it would cost..." part even if it was told to them (i think they are used to very small suppliers that they can boss around (not that we are big)
Wol Euler: :/
Qt Core: on a funnier note, this week i had a little "fun" adventure: on thursday i discovered i lost my id card
Wol Euler: oh!
Wol Euler: do tell
Qt Core: so i went to the Carabinieri (one of the police forces in Italy, the one that is a an army) website to see how to report it
Qt Core: (you need to report it to ask for a new one)
Qt Core: and i discovered there was a "report it online" button
Wol Euler: progress!
Qt Core: ok, i'm a nerd, i will follow this route and filled the form printed it and filed for an appointment to the nearby station on the next morning (you have to manually sign it)
Qt Core: got an appointment number and a time window by email
Wol Euler listens.
Qt Core: (you have to know that it is still experimental and only available on selected stations... and the one near me is one of those)
Qt Core: ok, so i went there and showed my number (and a copy of my report just to be helpful)...
Qt Core: the guy looked it, called a colleague and said something on the line of " WTF i never seen one of those..."
Wol Euler: heheheheh, I thought that 's what was coming!
Qt Core: all in all in some 15 minutes i just signed my report and went hone
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: computer systems progressing faster than human systems
Qt Core: without having to fill another, so they were able to manage it
Qt Core: (they even added my id-card number that didn't knew

--BELL--

Qt Core: (i had an hard time not laughing at them...not a wise thing to do at a basically MP (potentially armed) officer (but still many of italian jokes are targeted at them)
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: why are there two police forces?
Qt Core: i never really understood, one is just Polizia di Stato (State Police) and is civilian the other is Carabinieri and is an army at the same level as Army, Marine, Aeronautic (on that level they are the MP for the others)
Wol Euler: which is fair enough, but why are they then policing civilians in cities?
Qt Core: as for google it seems mostly for historical reasons
Qt Core: they were an elite corp of the Savoy kingdom while the police was founded as a "federation" of the police corps of the states that were unified
Qt Core: still today they have the privilege of be the guard corp of the republic president
Wol Euler: hmmmmmmmm
Wol Euler: so basically they rule the roost because they were the King's personal guard hundreds of years ago, before "Italy" existed. that makes sense!
Qt Core: beside the jokes the italian nicknames for Carabinieri as a whole is "La benemerita" an old style form for The Meritorius (in female declination as army is a female noun)
Wol Euler smiles.

--BELL--

Qt Core: as an army they fought in wars too and they are often the soldiers italy sends on UN missions they are appreciated as even if soldier they are used to deals with civilians in non fighting situations (due to their police work i presume)
Qt Core: (and to end my adventure yesterday i got a new id card)
Wol Euler cheers!
Qt Core: sadly my municipality still issue the paper one and not the electronic credit-card like one
Wol Euler: not even a credit-card type?
Wol Euler: oh right
Wol Euler: yes
Qt Core: still in experimental state, some municipalities issue the credit card one some don't
Qt Core: some did and changed idea, i hoped for the smaller one to rationalize my wallet
Wol Euler nods.
Qt Core: and i just bought a new one as i lost the id card as the wallet compartment got broken
Wol Euler: new toys all around!
Qt Core: For more info on Carabinieri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinieri
Qt Core: for reference, still from wiki what a Carabiniere looks like in everiday uniform: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabi...pril_2006).jpg
Wol Euler: ah right, I remmeber them
Wol Euler: do the "regular" police wear green?
Qt Core: no, blue or grey
Qt Core: if you were in big city and saw man in green they may have been "regular" army in security details in a long time mission called "Citta' sicure" (Safe cities)
Wol Euler: aaaaah, that is possible

--BELL--

Qt Core: all in all it seems a sensible use of soldier if not elsewere occupied (not that i'm for a militarization of society)
Qt Core: even if looking at armed (and i'm not speaking about handguns) just walking around is a little frightening
Wol Euler: agreed
Wol Euler: it's bad enough seeing them in airports
Qt Core: you'll find them around monuments and big publi building (like tribunals)

Qt Core: on some level i favor them over security guards, i think/hope they are more trained and more screened for mental issues
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: tricky though: armies are trained to kill, but police should be trained to prevent killing
Qt Core: just found this link at the end of the wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civili...f_the_military
Qt Core: who should decide when the army will shoot ?
Qt Core: you want someone that would not shoot until told but that will shoot when told
Wol Euler: exactly
Qt Core: and then a infinite loop of who control the controllers and who to trust starts
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: Qt, my time is running out, I have to start preparig for work this afternoon
Qt Core: time to really start the day (as in start lunch)
Qt Core: ;-)
Wol Euler: :)
Wol Euler: take care, enjoy the day
Qt Core: ok, you too
Qt Core: bye
Wol Euler: bye