Short attention span

It was just a few years back when the oil industry was worried about a lack of trained engineers. Schools were facing declining enrollment in petroleum engineering, geology and related subjects. Some programs even shutdown all together.

I guess we shouldn't have worried. The gulf oil spill has brought out engineering talent that we never knew existed. Everyone from Rush Limbaugh, Kevin Costner, James Carville, Colin Powell, and well, just about everyone is on TV explaining what went wrong and why it's still going wrong and how it should be fixed. And why hasn't Obama done anything? And what happened to "drill baby drill" baby Sarah Palin? Maybe she has some ideas, she's usually got plenty.

The internet has risen to the occasion too. This clown offers iPhone apps and other important ways the you can help. That "clown" has a pretty big ax to grind in this situation, he is trying to launch a "cap and trade" greenhouse gas market and is using the publicity for all it's worth.

Our old friends from CrisisCommons (CC) are also trying to get in on the action. Remember them? Can you remember all the way back to January? After the Haiti earthquake the CC geeks swarmed into action, reveling in coding camps to create applications for things like hospital scheduling and infrastructure repair coordination. It's an amazing disconnect between the reality on the ground and the "reality" in the heads of these folks. Check out the "Oil Reporter" app as advertised on CC's front page. It will allow for "virtual volunteers to adopt a span of beach" and do, uh something. Well, not anything physical, like actually clean it up.

It's like watching a school of fish, each with a 5 second attention span. Like the goldfish. "Nice rock, nice castle, nice bubbles, nice rock, nice castle..."

Christianity

Traveling to Italy started me thinking about the fall of the Roman Empire. A multitude of reasons have been put forth as factors in causing this calamity. It's always seemed to me that people pick their favorite reason based on how well it fits as an allegory for modern times. Lead pipes is a favorite with environmentalists, unrestrained immigration fits well for white supremacists, decline in military capability suits hawks, too much reliance on slave labor warms the heart of a trade unionist, moral decay is a perfect fit for evangelical Christians, falling behind in technology is a favorite for engineers, even high taxation has been posited as a reason for the decline which I'm sure is a favorite for Reaganites.

The Roman ruins are impressive when you consider that you are viewing only the leftovers of the imperial capital. One thing really struck me though, there are churches everywhere. Some were built right amongst the earlier ruins, others are scattered throughout the city. There are supposedly 900 churches in the city of Rome having been built from the earliest Christian times right up through modern times.

Here's a brief timeline of the rise and fall of the Roman empire. Things got under way under the rule of Julius Caesar, he was assassinated in 44BC. The empire reached it's peak under Trajan who died in 117AD. At that time Roman rule stretched from England to Iran. The emperor Constantine ruled until 337AD. He had established an eastern capital at Constantinople (Istanbul) and the empire was split in 364AD. Roman was sacked by the Visigoths in 410AD.

So what happened? How did it get so bad so fast and for so long? After all the fall of Rome ushered in the Dark Ages that lasted until the Renaissance got going in the 14th century. Almost a thousand years lost. There was a very significant event that happened just in the middle of the Roman might. His name was Jesus. He taught the worth of the individual. A person has intrinsic value, can have a personal relationship with God and most importantly should follow a moral code of living as handed down from that God.

This guide for living really wasn't going to work very well in an empire. Empires need masses of obedient soldiers, workers, farmers, slaves, and entertainers. The inevitable clash is well documented. I had wondered while looking at miles of paintings and sculpture just where all those martyrs came from? It was so easy, just say the wrong thing, something a missionary had taught you and bang you're another martyr. They turned them out by the hundreds.

In 312AD Constantine converted to Christianity and a year later made it legal throughout the empire. It was a recognition of the inevitability of the appeal of the new religion. And the death sentence for the empire.

Looking at the art from this period the change is striking. At the height of the empire the images are of heroic glory, natural beauty, and architectural wonders, displaying an ambitious optimistic view of the world. What images did Christianity bring? Martyrdom, crucifixion, angels, and tortures of hell. The stolid barrel vaulted Basilica replaced the sophisticated Roman forms.

The organizations that the Christians created were definitely not suitable for an Empire. St. Benedict laid down the rules for a christian monastery in around 500AD. It dictated an aesthetic life with few belongings and fewer pleasures, the focus of all activity was to be achieving an inner purity of soul. Others at around that time were promoting other forms of living totally dedicated to God. Life turned inward. Roman (and Greek) achievements were fossilized and at best kept as unquestionable truths or more often discarded as heretic and forgotten. Any new thoughts were simply ignored or quashed as offering no progress towards the goal of salvation.

There was no room for an empire in this environment. It simply evaporated because no one cared anymore. There were lots of martyrs, no fun, no science, but plenty of death and war. The new religion had destroyed the empire. A thousand years later some light peeked in and maybe by that time the Christians were tired out so the light got a foothold and then bloomed into the Renaissance. After a last burst of artistic agony mankind was released to try to build a new world.

Venice

OK, I admit, I really didn't enjoy my visit to Venice. It was too hurried, too expensive and I think Disney could do it better. Today I was talking to my daughter in Las Vegas, and since she missed out on our Italy trip I suggested she go over to the Venetian hotel and ride a gondola.

Her response, "It's just a boat ride through a shopping mall".

Well, I bet the water's cleaner, but other than that she nailed it, the real Venice is a shopping mall and many of the stores and brands you will recognize from your favorite local mall, wherever you live. Coach, Guess, Bvulgari, Camper, Annie, David Tate, Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger, Gucci and on and on. Both real and fakes are available. All these names might mean something to someone but to me they just mean standing around killing time. By the way, there are fines for possessing fake merchandise so keep that $50 Gucci bag in the shopping bag until later.

Besides fashion, there is pottery for sale, not just in Venice but all throughout Italy. The amazing thing is that it's made locally, wherever you are, and it all looks pretty much the same. Let me pass along a tip, next time you are in Santa Barbara stop in at the Pottery outlet. Wide selection, good prices and no worries about shipping or carrying it in your suitcase.

Then there's glass. In the lagoon there's the island of Murano. Touts and flyers are everywhere in Venice inviting you to a free boat ride to see the glass factorys. Also the shops that sell glass will gladly arrange for a boat to their factory. Once at the factory expect to be subjected to sales tactics that would make a used car dealer cringe. You're kind of stuck since only their boat goes to their dock so you'll just have to deal with it. Prices are astronomical and bargaining can be very rewarding. I suppose the good news is if you buy it there you know it's not fake and they are efficient and safe shippers. Or go to the glass museum next time you're in Tacoma and get every bit as good quality glassware.

And yes, there is a Disney store in Venice too, right near the Rialto bridge. Sigh.

Wayne's not dead

My neighbor Wayne is a quiet sort, I occasionally hear the bandsaw from his shop or see him over the fence. But I hadn't seen him for a while and then the last few days there has been a lot of activity over there. Cars coming and going, cars that I didn't recognize. Unfamiliar people and conversations in the driveway that I couldn't hear. Gates left open that never were before.

I began to think that Wayne was dead. Maybe these were his relatives, children coming around to close up the house, distribute his things. This was my speculations, like the dog who howls when new people come into house and his master is not to be seen.

It's been quiet on our side of the fence too. After months of rumors and weeks of evaluation, the company announced the layoffs. 620 from the local office, more in other locations. Some of them are people we've known for years and some are strangers. Still, the strain of wondering and then knowing and not telling has been hard on my wife. She's one of those making the decisions and it's made her withdrawn and moody.

But Wayne is alive! I just saw him over the fence puttering around as usual. I daren't tell him what I was thinking, I hope a "how you doing?" will suffice to express my relief.

Venezia

After tagging along after my shopping spouse the next morning we were off to Venice. Thankfully the car was just where we left it, it was supposed to be a safe place but who could know? Back on the A1 to Bologna then eastward to Venezia. For the last few hundred years Venice has had no reason to exist except as a tourist trap. First problem, where to park the car? No problem, they built an island for that, Tronchetto, complete with multi-level garage. From there the Vaporetto runs frequently into town. We bought our tickets and then the lady in the booth closed up and left. A nice gentleman commuting home from the mainland made sure we got on the right boat.

At the boat stop at St. Marks, this is what we saw. The Doge's palace had been completely wrapped in a Bulgari advertisement. Not too classy to my way of thinking but I suppose they have to pay the bills somehow.

Since we had gotten there so late we didn't have a lot of choice on restaurants and we didn't make a very good one, but the hotel seemed nice enough although another 4th floor room with no lift. The next morning we went to check out the Doge's palace. What's there now was built after a disastrous fire in 1574, I wish those old guys had kept their buildings more carefully. Amongst all the gilded ceilings and massive paintings I was pleased to see one of my favorites by Hieronymus Bosch, his vision of life is so true even to this day. We sat in St. Mark's for a drink and then off to the main event, shopping.

I am not a great shopper so I just tagged along. It seemed to me that the center of Venice was just like any modern mall, the same chain stores, just in older buildings. Before I knew it I was on the island of Murano looking at glass. We already have a Murano chandelier and a mirror so I didn't really see the point but there you are. Spouse bought another mirror with a fancy glass frame around it, to be shipped, and before I knew it we were back at the car.

On the Autostrada

At the train station in Rome, we picked up our Punto. Well, not exactly at the station, a couple blocks down in the garage where the rental companies keep their cars. We had a map with instructions on getting out of Rome, marked by the agent and a bigger map of the country that we had bought at the bookstore in the station.

The car was not impressive. It certainly didn't look like much. I turned the key and it didn't start. My wife exclaimed "See the thing won't even start!". Patience dear, it's a diesel and takes a bit longer. Then it did start, we threw the suitcases in the trunk and back seat and headed out. Seemed simple enough, turn right, and right and right and straight and right. Time, about 10:00 am. Enough time to be on the Grande Raccordo Anulare (GRA) and out of town in good time.

Missed the last right and made a questionable U-turn and then got to it. Next stop Firenze (Florence) and then Venezia (Venice). Despite what you may have seen in the movies, driving was pretty easy. The autostradas were mostly two lanes, sometimes three. On the two lane sections you should only be in the left lane if you are passing and I don't mean just cruising along. If you dawdle in the left lane for sure an Alfa will be on your tail in seconds with lights flashing. So stay on the right and when you need to pass just do it and get back to the right. Stay alert and it all works pretty well.

The A1 (Firenze) was the sign we were looking out for and we kept watching for it. Some of these turns don't have any warning so it's good to keep track of your progress on the map. Coming up to Florence I suppose we could have followed the guide books directions and gone immediately to the most convenient parking, but what's the fun of that? We had to make our own way and ended up in the same place maybe an hour later. The place is Piazzale Michelangelo where free parking is readily available. It's across the river on a hill looking down at the town with an excellent view.

Taking just our day packs we headed for town. A bus came but the driver said he didn't have any tickets so we took a taxi. We were booked into the Hotel La Gioconda and found it a pleasant enough place to stay. Just outside the center of town and and with the usual lack of elevator we enjoyed our room on the fourth floor. (which to us would be the fifth floor, another good reason to leave the big bags in the car).

What about Florence? It's all about Michelangelo, after all his David stood outside in the main square for 300 years before being moved into the Accademia. There's still a copy outside but you must go into the Accademia, book a reservation online and it's quite convenient, we actually bought a reserved ticket from an American couple who had just had enough for one day. BTW, when queuing up in these crowded tourist locations, don't be afraid to use Italian rules. Act like you are going up to the front to just ask a question and then go right in. No one will say anything and if you are a bit confident it can save hours of waiting. Especially good is to cut in front of a tourist group that is milling around waiting for some direction, they won't even notice as you go past.

The other necessity in Florence is the Uffizi. Amazing and long and row after row of marbles gets kind of old but the paintings are the real treat. And some rooms have benches so you can rest your feet and contemplate the art.

Be sure to ditch the crowds and enter the Doumo museum, right across from the back of the church. Modern, well lit, uncrowded, with good bathrooms, it's a real pleasure. The statue of John the Baptist in the ground floor courtyard is probably the best thing I saw in Italy. His fear yet acceptance of the sword is revealed in magnificent emotion. Michelangelo's last Pieta is here too. Unfinished and dissatisfied he supposedly took a hammer to it before being stopped.

Eat gelato, watch the hordes of tourists and shop if you must. I think Florence would be fun on a bicycle, it's flat and the drivers are amazingly polite with regard to cyclists. I even saw taxis yielding to bikes. The biggest hazard looked to be lines of tourists snaking across the square. Something for next time maybe.

The Vatican

We arranged for a Vatican tour the following day. They supposedly have like 9 miles of art galleries or is it 90 different galleries or some absurd amount? Perhaps an intervention is in order? Our tour was to be the basics, take the bus over to Vatican City, get the orientation, see the Sistine Chapel and other heavy duty art.

Since the tour was in the afternoon we were able to walk around the local neighborhood. This included the Pantheon and environs. Highly recommended, the Pantheon is totally impressive and it's free. Guides will tell you that the hole in the roof doesn't allow any rain to come in due to mysterious and scientific reasons. I was amused to see the obvious drainage system in the floor but that might be just for non believers. Note the handy directional sign above provided by McDonalds. Like many things in Rome the Pantheon was built for Roman gods and later repurposed to Christianity. This saved the expense of a whole new building as well as made a definite statement about who's in charge now.

We took the hop-on bus from there to the train station to check out rental cars. Since the tour company office is right near we decided to go over there to catch the bus rather than going back to our hotel. After some amusing English/Italian misunderstandings this was all worked out. We had lunch and then got onto the tour bus. Vatican City was just a quick trip across the river and we off boarded at the museum entrance. Inside we were issued radios with earbuds so we could listen to the guide. I must admit I didn't listen much, so much guide speak just sounds the same. Also the guide was giving descriptions in English and French, so why is French 10 times as long to describe the same thing? It was like: "Here we enter the Vatican Museum" and then in French: "Ici on entreviez the gloriosez and magnificat muse de la grand pres important religion du monde. Attende le..." you get the idea.

The Sistine chapel is probably magnificent but suffers from presentation problems. First of all the art is on the ceiling, so far away you can't really see it. And the crowd filling the floor mostly consists of tourists who have lost their groups or others who are trying to sneak a photo or others who can't figure out where the exit is. The echo factor is tremendous so when someone steps on a kid's toe, the howl reverberates for minutes.

Not to worry about the problems with seeing the art, the exit, when you find it, takes you right into a gift shop with plenty of expensive coffee table books that you can study when you return home. In fact this is only one of the six total gift shops we passed through on our basic museum tour. By my estimations the Vatican as a whole must have approximately 54 (or 540?) gift shops in total. These days everyone needs to earn a buck but this seemed pretty tacky. Maybe the Vatican can sell some art back to the original owners if they need some money.

After the tour we were invited to visit an "approved" gift shop. I declined although my wife was intrigued by the statues and jewelry, all blessed by the pope. Well, not the actual pope but someone he assigned to the job so that's almost as good, isn't it? I have been told by a friend that on Sunday when the pope blesses the crowd in St. Peters square, enterprising vendors have piled up boxes full of trinkets so they can receive the real thing direct.

Since Vatican City is a company town, it's interesting to see the various uniforms worn by the employees. A handy pocket guide would be fun to be able to look up the outfits to see what they mean. It could be sort of like bird watching, with rewards for quantity and rarity of spottings. There would be no prize for noticing the silliest of them all, the Swiss Guards. I am assured they really are Swiss and I believe they can only serve in Rome for a limited period due to the stress of the ridiculous outfits. Supposedly designed by Michelangelo this proves again his perverse sense of humor as described by our guide while I wasn't listening.

Enough of that. We lined up a Fiat Punto for tomorrow, the agent assures me it's "a fine car, a Fiat". I don't really believe that "fine car" and "Fiat" belong in the same sentence but that might just be my prejudice, we shall find out tomorrow.

The eternal city

Arriving in Rome is pretty simple, the baggage claim is slow and the air conditioning wasn't working but otherwise a normal airport. I had to wait a few hours for my wife and I was disappointed by the lack of a place to sit and eat or drink to wait. There was a "bar" which I learned more about as the days went by. A bar means a coffee place with few seats, if any, and a counter to lean up against to drink whatever coffee concoction your prefer. So I had a cappuccino and found another place to sit.

Wife arrived and we went to town. For E60 we took a taxi to the wrong hotel and then after a short hike to a nearby taxi stand and another ride we arrived at the correct hotel, Hotel 939. It's not named that anymore, which was part of our original problem, but it still does feature the narrow hallways and cramped rooms as seen on their website. The site was right on on some things however, the location is excellent, right in the heart of Rome and those "charmingly cobbled streets" did feature a late night yelling match in the charming alley outside our window.

The next morning we were ready to see the sights. We had purchased a ticket for one of the many "hop on - hop off" buses that circle the city so we just had to find the nearby stop. Our first bit of luck was noticing the bar just kitty corner from the hotel. With a small table to spread out our map and a couple coffees and pastries we were armed for the day. It was great fun to watch the locals come in to be greeted with a hearty "Bon Journo" from the espresso puller and take a couple minutes for their morning drink and a bit of local news. When we realized we'd been there longer than anyone else we took off toward the bus stop.

After a brief ride we arrived at the Colosseum. It is impressive and all but the statistics on the shear number of humans and animals that were killed here made it not very appealing, at least to me. Of more interest is the nearby Palatine hill where the emperors palaces were. Although now stripped of their fine marble and other art the area reeks of the power and glory that was Rome. From the hilltop one can go down to stroll through the Forum which was the center of the ancient city. Monuments have been built on monuments over the centuries so it's hard to get a feel for how it originally looked but it is the place where everything happened.

We walked over those three attractions in one day, I suggest you don't. The footing is rough from the rubble and cobblestones and there are plenty of steps to go up and down. Do half of it one day and the other the next. I think there is a two day pass that allows for this.

To top it off, we climbed up the Victor Emmanuel Monument and enjoyed the view back towards the Colosseum and the Forum. Quite possibly the most out of scale monument commemorating a pretty ordinary event, the unification of Italy, it does have a pretty nice cafe where you can sit and look down at the ancient city. It's also the seat of the city government but maybe you don't need to go poking around in the Mayor's offices like my spouse did. Pay more euros and take the elevator to the very top, we didn't. I was exhausted and my feet hurt. FWIW my few pictures can be found on my Italy picasa album.

Italy 2010

I went to Italy. I actually got back two weeks ago but haven't written anything about my trip so now I'll try after Sarah gave me a prod over the weekend. The problem with Italy is that I don't know enough about it. Sure there were Romans and all that but who, why and when did they do what is not clear to me. Actually since I've been back I've researched some things so now I understand better the things we saw.

My wife was going on a business trip and had to return through Europe so she suggested we meet in Rome. Well, Rome sounds like a place to meet so off I went. SFO to YYZ, that's San Francisco to Toronto, I see TOR was already taken by an airport in Wyoming so maybe all that was left was YYZ. Air Canada flight, nothing special except maybe the Molson on board.

I must say I wasn't too happy with the Toronto airport, the immigration guy told me that since my layover was more that 6 hours (by 10 minutes) that I would have to do the full entry to the country thing. It wasn't a real issue, after all Canada and the U.S. haven't fought any wars lately, but the problem was that it meant walking from the arrival gate the length of the terminal to the front curb and then all the way back to my departure gate. When I was waiting there I realized I had ended up just one gate away from where I arrived after a mile walk. Maybe the 6 hours is enough to qualify for citizenship? I should have had some health care while I was there.

In the airport I sure knew I was in Canada. The newspapers were full of hockey news and the TV monitors were all showing hockey news. Eh? Another thing about Canada is that everything is written in English and French. That includes all the signs and package labels and everything. It must be expensive to do all that, but I guess they have to to keep everybody happy. So I was off on AC 890 on a Boeing 767 just like the picture above. Next stop Leonardo daVinci airport Rome (FCO). Except as we found out nobody uses that name, it's know as Fiumicino after the small town that's nearby.