Well, call me idealistic, but surely the building of the bridge itself will bring jobs to the area in the short term, and allow greater communication/commuting possibilities for Sicilian residents when completed?
yes you're right. But the sicilian bridge (and the south of italy) isn't enough for helping the local economy...the highway linking sicily with naples (and thus with the rest of the world) must be totally renewed (anyone who drove on that thing can confirm this).
However, the decision to fund this project through the use of tolls may impact on its success, at least from the Sicilian side.
Sure? Remember that sicilian people has always paid a toll for passing the street via ferry. If the bridge toll is a bit cheaper than the ferry one, economy will surely improve.
1) Sicily isn't a small island it has a population of about 4,9 millions (like finland) with a density per kmq of 189,3 (more than finland) and is the largest island of the mediterranean sea together with sardinia.
2) The bridge is going to be built using the project financing method: private businesses will give all (or at least 3/4 of) the money needed for construction, and in exchange they will be given the right to collect fees from cars and train passing on that bridge for a period of about 30 years.
The European Commission financed a study about speech-to-text automated translation in cooperation with the major european broadcast companies and some small software houses. This project aimed to solve the problem of subtitling TV live performances (such as soccer matches or news) for hearing impaired people.
That study produced even a freely available software (not really open source, but the project coordinator is open minded enough to discuss that subject, I think) the software may be compiled on *nix, with the needed tweaks.
The commercial version - used in some Italian and German school - other than enabling the hearing impaired children to learn effectively makes the lecture a truly multimedial and entertaining experience for the entire classroom:)
i think deaf are the only disabled people without problems regarding accessibility. Except one thing: videogames. Currently videogames are very k00l as a multimedial experience, but they lack a very important feature: SUBTITLES!!
I remember an hard of hearing friend of mine lover of Betrayal of Krondor (subtitled) who bought the sequel: he was very disappointed due to the total absence of the "textile" version of the dialogues.:(
One of the documents, 'Specimen 42A/6', after translation from the ancient cunieform, reads
Funny posting, but there was a very very bad mistake. Cuneiform was used only in Middle East, while a primitive alphabet was used in Greece and Italy:)
Do Italians, etc. feel a sense of connection with their ancestors and their environment in the way that Native American people do?
I'm Italian and I don't feel any connection with them at all because I live in Milan, an area without ancient traces of the past. It's a very lucky city, because it can expand and/or transform itself according to their inhabitants' needs, like the american cities.
that was the reason Rome built its underground railroad system in 40 years rather than the 15 planned. Milan builts its system in 10 years mainly because there aren't ruins underneath it
well, your thought is right. The Vesuvium area is property of the italian government (I think they're planning to make it a national park), so those archaeologist cannot sell nothing, since they're working for the government.:)
in the western tradition, 13 is considered unlucky because the partecipants at the Last Supper were 13 (Jesus included), and it was on Friday the Christ died. And 17, in countries once dominated by Roman Empire for a long time, is unlucky because that number ("vixit") sounds similar to "victis" which means "loser".
Those (especially the latter) aren't echo of a disturbed past...
well..it's a common mistake made by who uses English as a foreign language and that aren't very skilled...
Spelling mistakes made by american people - everybody knows that the US School System isn't very good at teaching English:) - are worse because they usually pretend to push them as the right way of writing English
Well, as an Italian, if I know my chicken, I strongly suspect the FT branch in the US is a "fake" one. At least, on their web site is said as "under setup".
Italian government never guarantees salaries for companies with less than 15 employees - I don't think FT has more than 15 employees (at least it may have two or three), because here we usually employ people on a freelance basis in the ICT field (as "consultants"), to save on social contributions.
However, there's an international convention who obliges the signing countries to execute sentences (made by another signing country) about persons based in there. AFAIK Italy and Finland have signed that convention. US probably not, and I would not be surprised of this, it's their style:)
better you read their white paper about FTOSX . instead of hysterically laughing at their tentative to make some money in this crazy world...maybe you even want to try it...:)
There's another problem...Mosfet and FT are based in two different countries. FT, in particular, is based in an EU country.
An international lawsuit. wow! :)
In these cases, all juridical matters are usually resolved in the employer country, AFAIK. And that country doesn't consider valid a contract made by email (at least without a certified digital signature) because it seems, from mosfet's site, that they've arranged a contract via e-mail.
However it's possible that FT sent him the contract via snail mail, sent back complete with mosfet's hand signature. Mosfet should public his copy of the contract on his site...
Mosfet lives in the US. FT is located in an EU country.
Two very different law systems.
As a result, an international lawsuit would be very very expensive for both of them - AFAIK, FT doesn't have any office in the States (and isn't easily prosecutable): often the courts take the side of the person living in their jurisdiction (so, the US court would give reason to Mosfet and the european one to FT) with a (quite expensive) stalemate as a result.
However, in the country where FT resides, contracts by email, without a certified digital signature are like toilet paper, not usable in any lawsuit. And I don't think an european firm, without business in the States (AFAIK) would obey to an US court decision.
Sorry, Mosfet isn't likely to have any euro from them...at least he will have the satisfaction of revelating a bad business behaviour, because programmers of that country are getting wary of FT...
Why whine? If a new competitor enters in your market with a product that is better than yours for some factor (price, performance, stability etc. etc.), you should change your strategy. Add to your product something that the free software developer couldn't add. Or, if you believe that this isn't a competition on equal term, look for a job and dump your prices, too:)
This is the market babe. Everyone loves it.
Didn't ever thought if someone asks you "why do you want to do that?" is because he may wants to focus better your situation/needs and so giving good arguments and useful information to share with you?
Slashdot Mirror
yes you're right. But the sicilian bridge (and the south of italy) isn't enough for helping the local economy...the highway linking sicily with naples (and thus with the rest of the world) must be totally renewed (anyone who drove on that thing can confirm this).
However, the decision to fund this project through the use of tolls may impact on its success, at least from the Sicilian side.
Sure? Remember that sicilian people has always paid a toll for passing the street via ferry. If the bridge toll is a bit cheaper than the ferry one, economy will surely improve.
1) Sicily isn't a small island it has a population of about 4,9 millions (like finland) with a density per kmq of 189,3 (more than finland) and is the largest island of the mediterranean sea together with sardinia.
2) The bridge is going to be built using the project financing method: private businesses will give all (or at least 3/4 of) the money needed for construction, and in exchange they will be given the right to collect fees from cars and train passing on that bridge for a period of about 30 years.
That study produced even a freely available software (not really open source, but the project coordinator is open minded enough to discuss that subject, I think) the software may be compiled on *nix, with the needed tweaks.
The commercial version - used in some Italian and German school - other than enabling the hearing impaired children to learn effectively makes the lecture a truly multimedial and entertaining experience for the entire classroom
i think deaf are the only disabled people without problems regarding accessibility. Except one thing: videogames. Currently videogames are very k00l as a multimedial experience, but they lack a very important feature: SUBTITLES!!
:(
I remember an hard of hearing friend of mine lover of Betrayal of Krondor (subtitled) who bought the sequel: he was very disappointed due to the total absence of the "textile" version of the dialogues.
One of the documents, 'Specimen 42A/6', after translation from the ancient cunieform, reads
:)
Funny posting, but there was a very very bad mistake. Cuneiform was used only in Middle East, while a primitive alphabet was used in Greece and Italy
Do Italians, etc. feel a sense of connection with their ancestors and their environment in the way that Native American people do?
I'm Italian and I don't feel any connection with them at all because I live in Milan, an area without ancient traces of the past. It's a very lucky city, because it can expand and/or transform itself according to their inhabitants' needs, like the american cities.
that was the reason Rome built its underground railroad system in 40 years rather than the 15 planned. Milan builts its system in 10 years mainly because there aren't ruins underneath it
well, your thought is right. The Vesuvium area is property of the italian government (I think they're planning to make it a national park), so those archaeologist cannot sell nothing, since they're working for the government. :)
in the western tradition, 13 is considered unlucky because the partecipants at the Last Supper were 13 (Jesus included), and it was on Friday the Christ died. And 17, in countries once dominated by Roman Empire for a long time, is unlucky because that number ("vixit") sounds similar to "victis" which means "loser".
Those (especially the latter) aren't echo of a disturbed past...
well..it's a common mistake made by who uses English as a foreign language and that aren't very skilled...
:) - are worse because they usually pretend to push them as the right way of writing English
Spelling mistakes made by american people - everybody knows that the US School System isn't very good at teaching English
Well, as an Italian, if I know my chicken, I strongly suspect the FT branch in the US is a "fake" one. At least, on their web site is said as "under setup".
:)
Italian government never guarantees salaries for companies with less than 15 employees - I don't think FT has more than 15 employees (at least it may have two or three), because here we usually employ people on a freelance basis in the ICT field (as "consultants"), to save on social contributions.
However, there's an international convention who obliges the signing countries to execute sentences (made by another signing country) about persons based in there. AFAIK Italy and Finland have signed that convention. US probably not, and I would not be surprised of this, it's their style
In italy the first priority in a bankruptcy case is given to the creditors. The employers are the last in the queue.
better you read their white paper about FTOSX . instead of hysterically laughing at their tentative to make some money in this crazy world...maybe you even want to try it... :)
There's another problem...Mosfet and FT are based in two different countries. FT, in particular, is based in an EU country.
:)
An international lawsuit. wow!
In these cases, all juridical matters are usually resolved in the employer country, AFAIK. And that country doesn't consider valid a contract made by email (at least without a certified digital signature) because it seems, from mosfet's site, that they've arranged a contract via e-mail.
However it's possible that FT sent him the contract via snail mail, sent back complete with mosfet's hand signature. Mosfet should public his copy of the contract on his site...
Mosfet lives in the US. FT is located in an EU country.
;-)
Two very different law systems.
As a result, an international lawsuit would be very very expensive for both of them - AFAIK, FT doesn't have any office in the States (and isn't easily prosecutable): often the courts take the side of the person living in their jurisdiction (so, the US court would give reason to Mosfet and the european one to FT) with a (quite expensive) stalemate as a result.
However, in the country where FT resides, contracts by email, without a certified digital signature are like toilet paper, not usable in any lawsuit. And I don't think an european firm, without business in the States (AFAIK) would obey to an US court decision.
Sorry, Mosfet isn't likely to have any euro from them...at least he will have the satisfaction of revelating a bad business behaviour, because programmers of that country are getting wary of FT...
I love whistle blowers!
Why whine? If a new competitor enters in your market with a product that is better than yours for some factor (price, performance, stability etc. etc.), you should change your strategy. Add to your product something that the free software developer couldn't add. Or, if you believe that this isn't a competition on equal term, look for a job and dump your prices, too :)
This is the market babe. Everyone loves it.
Didn't ever thought if someone asks you "why do you want to do that?" is because he may wants to focus better your situation/needs and so giving good arguments and useful information to share with you?