lack of patience

today a not really ripe orange sparked off a train of thoughts in my mind...
I really think that our society is lacking patience and is generally harvesting all kinds of things in a rush, before they could mature and reach their full ripeness. And quite often a reason for this is the hope and obsession to make more profits and the horror of the thought of missing an opportunity.
Now, for fruits that is a widely acknowleged practice. However, there are a lot more instances of this. To mention another rather obvious one: I tried buying a winter coat today and asked in the shop if there were going to be some more models. The shopwomen told me, I was late, the season would be nearly over, they were going to get the spring and summer collection soon... WHAT?? In the beginning of December?? Now that seems even one step further than moving christmas right after halloween and easter to the beginning of january...
Now, this was all a well know thing. But the tendency doesnt stop here. Take a think of the way companies start to target kinds as potential consumers, bombing them with advertising and manipulating their desires before they even had the slightest chance to remotely develop their personality. As a consequence, it will be very difficult for them to find out what their real, unmanipulated needs would be and they will be growing up thinking that consuming goods will fulfil their desires. However, as quickly as this satisfaction is gained the quickly it will be gone again, leaving people empty handed.
I wonder if this couldn't have drastic consequences when it comes down to reach for a goal in life, be it professional or in private. Especially in relationships between people it often appears that, as soon as a friend or partner doesn't just fulfill one's desires, and there would be hard work or sacrifices needed, a lot of people won't be willing to put this in, just assuming that presumably the person would not fit for them. In that way, people are seen like goods, exchangeable and substitutable, as the possibility to patiently cultivate and grow real and durable affection is not known or seems too cumbersome.
Also the worry of deciding or choosing something and then waiting if it was the right choice often seems hard. So instead of setting all energies on one thing and then being patient to see if it prooves fruitful, attention is spread on thousand tasks or people tend to switch from one to the next. I wonder what could be a cure?

geek love

"There is no truth in the rumour that I love computers, it's just what I tell them to get them to bed."

 -- Terry Pratchett

catalogue of pointless hobbies

entry 1:
collecting skiing boots:
doubtful because expensive in monetary and spatial terms, plus not very nice to look at

entry 2:
trying to have matching shoes for each outfit:
only possible way to succeed would be if the only color is black.. and even then it would be a hard task, finishing with more pairs then you could wear in a month (and a hefty overdraft on the credit card)

entry 3:
devising optimisation procedures for the food machine:
ends with regular frustration why people don't use their brains and my cookies are always crumbled when they came down from the top shelf...

what is research?

* being paid for keeping yourself busy all day by thinking about problems?
* assuming that the solution already exists (somewhere in the domain of possibilities, or somewhere else in the world) and therefore has to be re-searched in order to (hopefully) be re-found??
* other proposals?

(I presumably need your help on that one, as - according to this definition - I already missed the chance to ever become a serious researcher in my childhood... (how should I have known that a grandmother's clock should have any significance to my career path ;) )

new music - just printed and recorded..

In case anyone thinks I'm having lazy weekends... I'm not... :) In fact, I spent all Saturday and Sunday in the studio, recording a new soundtrack for a very old short film. The music was composed by Tiziano Popoli for last year's short film festival in Bolzano and we played the world first performance. Now, one year later, the resistant core of the orchestra found together again and on this weekend we finally recorded Tiziano's wonderful music. I think it went quite well, and I'm impatient to see the final result: the movie with our freshly packed soundtrack :)
If anyone is interested in having a 'good old time' cinema experience, I invite you warmly to our concert next Saturday: as there is another film festival this year (which is even dedicated to these 'rimusicazioni's) we will perform with two films, one with the mentioned soundtrack and one with music by Satie.

alternative music

Maybe some of you know about interesting modern music, for example for tape and orchestra or piano with integrated toolboxes...

So how does that sound: 'Music for one apartment and six drummers' ? If you are curious, click here!

For more on the group go here.

when in doubt..

When in doubt, tell the truth.
-- Mark Twain

on care

Perilous to all of us are the devices of an art deeper than we ourselves
possess.
-- Gandalf the Grey [J.R.R. Tolkien, "Lord of the Rings"]

on wisdom

He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
-- J.R.R. Tolkien

big brother is watching you

I seriously feel a bit paranoid on occasions.. I finally start to be able to read Russian letters... and, what happens?? I now get Russian Spam!! Jeez, wonder how they found out... especially as I'm not a frequent user of .ru domains... Spooky