Italy – Comment: Local elections – all eyes on Rome

On Sunday and Monday local elections were held in Italy. It was the first big occasion to measure the political temperature since the general elections in February. In my view the two most significant developments in Rome’s voting (and maybe a sign for things to come also on the national level) were:

Margaret Wise Brown: Goodnight stars..

Margaret Wise Brown

“Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere.”

Margaret Wise Brown

May 23, 1910: Generations of children have nodded off to sleep under the spell of Margaret Wise Brown’s words in Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. She was born 103 years ago today.

Czerulf: Italy – Berlusconi, Imu and what comes next

Silvio Berlusconi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Flipping through the newspapers one could get the impression that things are going rather well in Italy. Relatively little space is attributed to the issues that mark the current crisis – a depressed economy, an unemployment rate that is rising month on month (specially among young people) and a political system that fails to address all these issues. One would expect that this mix of upsetting facts should dominate the headlines. Instead what keeps the nation moving like nothing else is the possible suspension (or abolition?) of IMU (Imposta Municipale Propria – a property tax) on family homes. Why is that?

Alexander Pope: Fools rush in..

Portrait of Alexander Pope, oil on canvas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

Alexander Pope

May 21, 1688: English poet and translator Alexander Pope was born in London, 325 years ago today. Though he made his living on popular translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, it is his satirical quips that live on today.

Video: Meet the new Google Maps

To me the most interesting Google project revealed at the I/O concerns Google Maps, because it is a web service that I actually use a lot. It will be re-designed and enhanced. Have a look!