its a heatwave

[muchadoaboutnothing]

In Italy, electricity was originally distributed in houses in two circuits until the 1970s - one for appliances, and one for lighting. The reason being that the government deemed electrical lightning an important need and appliances were seen as a luxury, so the electricity for lighting was charged much cheaper than the electricity for appliances.

The result? Lots of appliances were hooked up to light fittings...

Makes sense. Why pay more?

What was the pricing difference anyways? Was it twice as much? More?

[wellington1869]

I made an air conditioner the office. I put a fan inside a refridgerator that was turned on.

if you leave the fridge door open, you can counteract global warming

[lmnop]

that was informative.

[ch_123]

Makes sense. Why pay more?

What was the pricing difference anyways? Was it twice as much? More?

I don't know the specifics. Apparently in addition to the rate being different, there was some sort of taxation which was less for lighting.

[wellington1869]

The result? Lots of appliances were hooked up to light fittings...

thats hilarious.

[wellington1869]

I regret to report there were no donuts at my meeting.

[microsoft windows]

If useless commentary warranted banning, Ripster would be long gone.

[microsoft windows]

Aww that's too bad.


There was a shindig going on though in the air-conditioned cafeteria, so I stole some cream puffs. They were good.

[wellington1869]

Aww that's too bad.


There was a shindig going on though in the air-conditioned cafeteria, so I stole some cream puffs. They were good.

I could have used some cream puffs. it was a 2 hour meeting.

[wellington1869]

I don't know the specifics. Apparently in addition to the rate being different, there was some sort of taxation which was less for lighting.

everything i know about post war italy comes from watching Bicycle Thief.

[microsoft windows]

I could have used some cream puffs. it was a 2 hour meeting.

Was there air conditioning?

[ch_123]

I learned that (IIRC) from Wikipedia's page on electrical plugs, a page that any self-respecting nerd should read before they die.

Comes in useful in the most unusual of places. In my first year of college, we had to do a course that covered the physics of electricity amongst other things. The lecturer for said course was a washed-out idiot who admitted to us that he hated his job and was stuck in it, a fact that he would take out on his with mind-numbingly boring lectures, and refusing to give us notes, so forcing us to pay attention to him.

In one lecture, he was talking about plugs for some reason or another, and said something to the effect of "Whereas we have a three-pin plug, many other countries only have two pin plugs, such as the US". Being as much of a troll in real life as I'm online, I raised my hand and pointed out to him that there are three-pin US plugs, and that their sockets are designed for them. He then went on a tirade about how he never had seen a US plug with three pins on the various occasions he had been in the US. Between all this, we were spared several minutes of him trying to teach us stuff we'd never need.

He then goes, "Well, they don't have three pin plugs in Germany". So one of my friends goes in for the finishing blow, and raises his hand to point out that Germany does in fact have three pin plugs, it's just that the third 'pin' is a contact on the top of the plug. Cues more waffle from the lecturer about how he had never seen a three pin plug in Germany.

After that, he gave up, and ended the lecture about 5-10 minutes early.

[wellington1869]

After that, he gave up, and ended the lecture about 5-10 minutes early.

so it does pay to troll
I should have raised my hand several times in this dumb ass meeting. Instead I did experiments on myself to see if I could actually sleep with my eyes open.

[wellington1869]

Was there air conditioning?

yes, thank goodness. No shindig though. I enjoy a good square dance in mid afternoon.

[wellington1869]

so i'm about to pick up my first zipcar. very exciting.
i wanted the mini convertible or the bmw, but of course they're taken. The hybrid is out too (wanted to try it out, oh well). So I got a volvo s40.  Volvos aint what they used to be, but heck I guess it beats a nissan sentra.

[microsoft windows]

yes, thank goodness. No shindig though. I enjoy a good square dance in mid afternoon.

It wasn't litterally a shindig with square dancing, but it was a party to celebrate retiring staff members.

[Nonmouse]

everything i know about post war italy comes from watching Bicycle Thief.

Sheesh, you haven't at least seen La Dolce Vita?

[wellington1869]

Sheesh, you haven't at least seen La Dolce Vita?

i actually havent! I know its supposed to be great, but i never got into fellini. Havent seen 8 1/2 either. They're in my netflix queue tho.
But I really liked bicycle thief

bicycle thief was one of those movies that i liked before i knew what it was.  They were showing it at a movie course at my old college and i was walking by.  Poked my head in the auditorium to see whats going on.  I was hooked in 30 seconds and stayed till the end and left the place seriously impressed with 1940's european cinema.

It was only later that I found out what it was called (and then found out that, geez, everyone and their grandmother liked bicycle thief).  Its like coming across central park and going home and reporting that you've discovered a really neat huge park in new york. Sheesh.

[wellington1869]

It wasn't litterally a shindig with square dancing

i figured  Thats too bad

[wellington1869]

volvo s40: thumbs up, tho truth be told its like an accord with leather seats.

zipcar: thumbs up, cheaper than a cab but i'll prolly only use it rarely (i've only used cabs rarely).

new AC unit: Rock On!!!! I might actually get some sleep tonight

[Nonmouse]

i actually havent! I know its supposed to be great, but i never got into fellini. Havent seen 8 1/2 either. They're in my netflix queue tho.
But I really liked bicycle thief

La Dolce Vita is enormously more accessible than 8 1/2- though it's been um... decades... <.< >.> since I've watched either of them (just Netflix queued them).  

La Dolce Vita is about late postwar Italy, a very, very different world from just postwar italy that The Bicycle Thief portrays.   LDV is not particularly, or at least necessarily about Italy- it could have been set in New York or London or even (West) Berlin of the same era.  That being said, it does illuminate 1950s Italy and Italian attitudes of the time.

[wellington1869]

La Dolce Vita is enormously more accessible than 8 1/2- though it's been um... decades... <.< >.> since I've watched either of them (just Netflix queued them).  

La Dolce Vita is about late postwar Italy, a very, very different world from just postwar italy that The Bicycle Thief portrays.   LDV is not particularly, or at least necessarily about Italy- it could have been set in New York or London or even (West) Berlin of the same era.  That being said, it does illuminate 1950s Italy and Italian attitudes of the time.

ok, ok, i'll bump it up the netflix queue  Now i'm intrigued. yea, 8 1/2 seemed totally non-accessible. Its like i'd have to borrow a joint from voixdelion just to get thru it.

[wellington1869]

they're doing amazing things with ACs these days. First off I thought my old unit was small and light. It was a really tiny 4500 btu old panasonic model. The new one is literally half the weight. I didnt realize that until I hauled the old one out the window and i was like holy ****.
second, the new one is half the noise, too.

and best of all -- i'm using the new one full blast and the lights havent even dimmed! It truly is low current compared to the old one (three cheers for 'energy star'! Damn, maybe "big guv'ment" is useful after all).  Will be a relief to not have to keep resetting that fuse. So far so good. Slept like a baby last night.

still dont believe it'll last longer than 2 years, but my friend who buys $900 ac units said his last 10 years or more, so maybe next time i'll spring for a pricier one. Apparently it does make a difference as far as longevity goes. My friend thinks the freon leaks out of the cheaper ones and is more securely sealed in the pricey ones. who knows.

[gr1m]

I have something similar for my bedroom. It reaches my knees and is about as thick and wide as a water fountain; in other words, nice and compact. 10k BTUs. I had to remove one of my windows and improvise a ghetto cardboard+nylon replacement to feed the air duct out, but it does the job.

[wellington1869]

Sheesh, you haven't at least seen La Dolce Vita?

ok, just watched it last night.  It was good, for sure, but i'm still not sure what it was about, lol.

but visually its excellent, very striking, right from the very arresting opening sequence.

3 hour movie.

yea i can see how it would have been considered shocking in its time (1960-ish), tho of course tame by today's standards.

not quite neo-realist stuff, apparently with this movie fellini moved from his neo realist roots to more psychological/fantasy stuff. I guess it prepares me to watch 8 1/2 soon.

What was the movie about? clearly its ambiguous and apparently people have made whole careers out of interpreting dolce vita.
There are gestures towards modern alienation and rejecting bourgeoise ordered society and embracing nihilism instead. Again, for 1960's, this might have been a welcome message, today its not good enough (for me anyway) as a liberatory or moral gesture (since i cannot be a nihilist no matter the criticisms about bourgeoise society or modern alienation, all of which are valid, but the alternative needs to do better than nihilism).

that said, was it entertaining? hell yea. Thought provoking? yes. Can I see why its so influential? Yea, I can.  I can also see that woody allen (a confirmed fellini fan) stole so much from this movie (and probably 8 1/2) as he freely admits. (Probably as much fellini in woody allen as there is swedish existentialism and ingmar bergman.) Whole scenes here reminded me of whole scenes in various woody allen movies. The overlapping dialogues, the themes and juxtapositions and comedy of manners type stuff, etc.


Next in my queue, staying with the italy theme: Rossellini's "Rome, Open City". After that, L'avventura.  8 1/2 after that.