2016.01.30 01:00 - White Blackbirds

The Guardian for this meeting was Wol.

Wol Euler: buongiorno Qt
Qt Core: Good morning Wol
Wol Euler: how was your week?
Qt Core: very busy but good (as most of the new program i wrote worked ;-) )
Qt Core: your ?
Wol Euler: ah! hehehhe

--BELL--

Wol Euler: pretty quiet actually, after a hectic Monday
Qt Core: now i just have to complete a program that was asked on thursday for wednesday (the day before that is) ;-)
Qt Core: nothing bad i hope on monday
Wol Euler: easy! just invent a time machine first.
Wol Euler: no, just the last frantic bit of preparation for a presentation on Tuesdays
Wol Euler: that didnt actually happen :) postponed to yesterday because of sickness
Qt Core: exercise left for the reader...
Qt Core: quite a standard approach to demos
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: "I've known about this for two weeks, but I haven'
Wol Euler: haven'T told you until now. Do it in five hours."

Qt Core: i once had a commercial colleagues like it, but he usually did that not on demos but on thing he sold... he told us when it was time to plan the visit on the client to install the "new" software
Wol Euler: ha
Qt Core: otherwise it was a good commercial and a good person (bar his italian cigar smoking)
Qt Core: when he retired it was several years before that awful smell left his office (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toscano_(cigar))
Qt Core: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toscano_(cigar) (to leave out the ')' i added
Wol Euler: they look very handmade, irregularly shaped. Perhaps it's just the moody photo
Wol Euler: ah "Typically, the Toscano cigar has an uneven, sometimes lumpy, surface, with noticeable ribs of the wrapping leaves. By the absence of a sub-band, and its processing not requiring shaping, these irregularities in structure are more evident in hand-rolled cigars and are not seen as defects, but characteristics of the Toscano cigar."
Qt Core: Toscano are strong, intense cigars with a high nicotine proportion. Typically, the aromas and scents released when smoked are full, intense and savory
Qt Core: I was surprised as i always saw them way shorter, but then wikipedia come to the rescue: "Traditionally, they are not smoked as a whole, but cut in the middle."
Wol Euler: saving money, I guess :) or perhaps it's just faster
Qt Core: so, as i never smoked anything in my life as i really dislike the weaker cigarette smoke i really hate those
Wol Euler: deciding to smoke a 20cm long cigar is a significant investment of time

--BELL--

Qt Core: on a side notes i always related old stale cigarettes with politics
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: it seems an old guy habit
Qt Core: when i was a child(and evem more i was born) both my parents were involved in politics and worker unions and sometimes i was with them on some meeting or just passing at the party office for errands and wow, how much of that smell was there
Qt Core: +before
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: there used to be the cliché of the "smoke-filled room" where the secret decisions were taken
Qt Core: my mother i was told smoked mostly mint cigarettes (and stopped for her (mine) first pregnancy)
Wol Euler: when I moved to Germany I would often be the only non-smoker at the table in bars and restaurants. Thank god that's different now.
Qt Core: funnily enough (or not ;-) my father stopped for my sister... just extinguished the one he was smoking while feeding my sister (he was reprimanded by my mother for it) and never lighted another
Wol Euler smiles.
Qt Core: yes, the smoking ban in restaurant and bars and every public closed places (if not heavily air conditioned and filtered) is great for my soclai life, still almost inexistent but way better
Wol Euler: more enjoyable :) same here
Qt Core: (even only considering i mostly eat out for lunch)

Qt Core: the new hell is the smoke cloud just outside the doors ;-)
Wol Euler: Canada solved that one by making the smokers stand at least 5 metres away from the door. So now there's a gauntlet of smoke to walk through before you get to the smoke-free door :)
Qt Core: and maybe they just end up in the middle of the street and end up ran over by cars ;-)
Wol Euler: hehehehe

--BELL--

Qt Core: fo a phone call i just got i can say that all the trawls of christmas just ended and life will be in a more normal state from monday ;-)
Qt Core: now if i can just be not lazy enough to put away a couple decorations i still have hanging around...
Wol Euler laughs.
Wol Euler: it's time.
Wol Euler: all the snow and ice has gone here, 16°C the other day
Qt Core: the christmas ice ring in then nearby square is being dismantled this weekend too
Qt Core: no ice or rain but 17/18C here at midday too
Qt Core: but the are speaking of snow for next week
Wol Euler: O..O
Qt Core: Funnily enough tradition mandate that this days should be the coldest of winter: http://www.italyheritage.com/traditi...merla-days.htm

Qt Core: the days of the blackbirds:
Qt Core: According to the many different legends, in ancient times all blackbirds were white. To find shelter from the extreme cold, a hen blackbird was with her chicks in search of a refuge. She saw a wisp of smoke out of a chimney and got in with her little ones. They emerged on 1 February, all black because of the soot. Since then, as a sign of gratitude, white blackbirds accepted to be black
Wol Euler: :)

Wol Euler: white blackbirds, you say?

--BELL--

Qt Core: yes, before this they were whitebirds ;-)
Wol Euler: I wonder whether they were called "blackbirds" when they were white
Wol Euler: black meaning "thievery" or something
Qt Core: and the italian name for them "corvo" has nothing to dowith black, even if there is an adjective (corvino) meaning being black
Wol Euler: aha
Wol Euler: that makes more sense
Wol Euler: "white crows are accepted as crows"
Qt Core: (usually used for black hair)
Wol Euler: Italo Corvino, one of my favourite authors
Qt Core: Calvino
Qt Core: while he had corvino hair
Wol Euler: oh right, sorry
Wol Euler: had a brain fart
Wol Euler: Mira Corvino
Qt Core: np
Wol Euler: Sorvino
Wol Euler: damn and blast, can't get anything right today
Wol Euler: I think I should go back to bed
Qt Core: many world problem could be solved going to bed ;-)
Wol Euler nods.
Qt Core: just send to bed all soldiers
Qt Core: how much idiotic italy comes out in germany for the covered statues story ?
Wol Euler: never heard of it
Qt Core: brb
Qt Core: back
Qt Core: ok the thing went like this:
Qt Core: a few days ago Rohani, the Iran president came to Rome
Qt Core: the meeting was scheduled in Campidoglio, where there are (at least) two naked statues
Qt Core: someone decided that as a muslim he would find them impure/offensive
Qt Core: so some wooden boxes were used to cover them
Wol Euler frowns.
Qt Core: now several authorities are blaming each other for the decision
Wol Euler snorts.
Qt Core: http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...g-nude-statues
Qt Core: on another note in France not to ban wine from the table at the official dinner they just arranged his visit to not have time/occasion for a dinner
Wol Euler: or do what any sane person would do and offer him a choice of beverages.
Wol Euler: *offer everyone
Wol Euler: anyway
Qt Core: he asked for an halal menu (and that could be easily arranged), but it seems that it does not allow for wine on the table, not just in his mouth

--BELL--

Wol Euler: hmmmm
Qt Core: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6838181.html
Qt Core: on a side note... http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013...n_3067344.html
Wol Euler: lol
Qt Core: we can be so imaginatively crazy for whatever reason (and at least he isn't asking anyone else to wear that)
Wol Euler: though they do apparently demand that women sitting next to their assigned seat be moved away
Wol Euler: not that *they* be allowed to move, mind you
Qt Core: i remember reading about someone making such a complait and the hostess sayng to the woman, i'm sorry you have to sit near this guy, please, come to first class ;-)
Wol Euler: hehehehhe
Qt Core: sadly i best start the first (of the two) shopping expedition of the day... under a very light (even sadder) rain
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: enjoy the day nonetheless, Qt
Wol Euler: and the weekend
Qt Core: :-) have fun!
Qt Core: bye
Wol Euler: bye