Il Tempo della Svastica di Luciano & Simonetta Garibaldi

 

Pubblicato il 28 Giugno 2014 da Dino Messina sul blog del Corriere della Sera, intitolato  La nostra storia

 

La copertina del libro di Luciano e Simonetta Garibaldi pubblicato dalla De Agostini

Luciano Garibaldi e sua figlia Simonetta hanno scritto una biografia di Adolf Hitler, uscita presso l’editore De Agostini di Novara. Il titolo del libro è: “Il Tempo della Svastica” ed è stato pubblicato contemporaneamente in lingua inglese, sotto al titolo di “Evolution of a Dictator” presso la White Star Publishers, facente sempre parte del gruppo De Agostini.
Casualmente l’ho scoperto a Hong Kong, presso alla libreria Swindon di Pacific Place, nella sua versione in lingua inglese e l’ho acquistato. La globalizzazione per quanto riguarda la distribuzione dei libri sta funzionando a meraviglia
Conosco bene Luciano Garibaldi ma non mi aveva segnalato questa sua ultima opera. Gli ho subito mandato una mail, congratulandomi e dicendogli che avrei subito cominciato a leggerlo. Mi ha risposto ringraziandomi e ha poi aggiunto che lo stesso libro sta per essere pubblicato anche in Francia e in Romania.
Luciano Garibaldi non è quello che si dice un topo d’archivio, perché ha lavorato come giornalista investigativo per tutta la sua vita (è nato nel 1937). Molti sono i suoi libri di alta caratura pubblicati, alcuni sono già stati sceneggiati per la televisione, basti ricordare “Nella prigione delle Brigate Rosse” scritto con Mario Sossi e “Mio Marito il Commissario Calabresi” scritto con la vedova del protagonista.
Per quanto riguarda il secondo conflitto mondiale ha intervistato a più riprese vari personaggi che vi hanno partecipato da protagonisti, come Karl Wolff, l’ex comandante delle Waffen SS in Italia e che, dietro lauto compenso, non mancava mai di tirar fuori qualche telegramma originale o qualche intercettazione telefonica fatta a Benito Mussolini a Gargnano. Documenti con i quali ci si poteva costruire uno scoop che moltiplicava le tirature di una rivista o di un quotidiano. Garibaldi lo ricorda come una miniera inesauribile di documenti inediti, come del resto inesauribile era la sua sete di denaro. Intervistò Eugen Gerstenmier, ex presidente del Bundenstag e fra i pochi superstiti della congiura del 20 luglio 1944 contro Hitler; Inge Scholl, la sorella di Sophie Scholl, l’eroina della Rosa Bianca, finita ghigliottinata assieme a suoi giovani compagni per aver fatto propaganda pacifista e poi vari ufficiali nazisti che erano stati in contatto con il dittatore nazista.
La cosa che esteticamente attrae maggiormente in questo libro è il fatto che ha una copertina rigida con la sovraccoperta, un fatto ormai raro per opere storiche pubblicate in Italia e, tutto sommato, un indicatore indiretto del degrado morale attraversato dal nostro Paese. I nostri libri sono ormai oggetti usa e getta, prodotti con carta acida ed economica, subito ingialliti e sbriciolati, con copertine cartacee e leggerissime, libri fatti per massimizzare il profitto a discapito della qualità e della permanenza.
Il secondo punto esteticamente pregevole di questo libro è la qualità delle foto, molto nitide, tirate su carta pesante e opaca, che ne esaltano l’intrinseca profondità. Alcune, poi, non le avevo mai viste prima d’ora e credo siano inedite. Qui si vede indubbiamente la mano della De Agostini che in fatto a qualità delle immagini non prende lezioni da nessuno. Quasi incredibile a dirsi, eppure il libro è fornito d’un indice e di un sommario con i nomi dei maggiori studiosi del nazismo, con le loro opinioni espresse in pillole.
Garibaldi inizia con uno studio sugli anni giovanili di Adolf Hitler, sia come artista mancato che come combattente nella prima guerra mondiale. L’immagine di Hitler eroico soldato portaordini è stata recentemente incrinata dalla storiografia tedesca. Pare che egli sia stato in realtà un piccolo imboscato. Li chiamavano ‘topi’ i soldati tedeschi di prima linea. Prima sfuggì alla chiamata di leva in Austria, arrestato in Germania e rispedito indietro, fu scartato, tornò in Germania e fu arruolato come portaordini nell’esercito tedesco. Riuscì poi a farsi dare una croce di guerra di prima classe (dopo una di seconda classe) che non gli sarebbe spettata, blandendo e corteggiando il proprio ufficiale superiore, Ugo Gutman (un ebreo che morirà nel 1962 negli Stati Uniti) e inventandosi di aver fatto da solo prigioniero ben 16 soldati francesi. Raccontò questa storia appunto per coprire il fatto che a un portaordini non si poteva dare una croce di guerra di prima classe. Viene analizzato il suo ‘Mein Kampf’ e la storia dell’Olocausto, e quest’ultima parte, a mio giudizio, è la migliore di tutta l’opera. Quella del razzismo viscerale di Adolf Hitler è una questione dolorosa da spiegare, difficile e spinosa, ma che gli autori di questo libro riescono a trattare con obiettività, con una grande umanità e dimostrando che tutto il suo programma di sterminio era già scritto nel suo delirante memoriale, il ‘Mein Kampf’.
La lettura è scorrevole, punteggiata di dettagli curiosi e poco conosciuti al grande pubblico, come un Adolf Hitler che prima di inghiottire la fiala di cianuro nel suo bunker, sotto a un quadro di Federico il Grande, tira fuori una foto di sua madre e gli dà un ultimo sguardo prima di suicidarsi. Questi sono piccoli fatti che ci danno la misura di come un orrendo personaggio come Hitler sia ancora in grado di attrarre e repellere allo stesso tempo, come un grosso serpente che lentamente si srotola in una radura e poi ci fissa.
Si tratta di un libro onesto, breve, essenziale, pur nella precisione dei richiami e delle fonti, fatto per essere letto velocemente. Lo vedo come un’opera da offrire ai nostri giovani, per via della sua obiettività e della sua scorrevolezza, che li potrà avvicinare allo studio della storia contemporanea.

Angelo Paratico

One the greatest book about WW1 – A Year on the High-Plateau.

 

A Year on the High Plateau – Un Anno Sull’Altipiano –  by Emilio Lussu  (Cagliari 1890 – Rome 1975)  in my opinion is one of the greatest books which came out of WWI but it is virtually unknown in Great Britain and the USA. It is a violent and crude work showing the stupidity of fighting wars, more or less on the same tune of Remarque’s Nothing New On the Western Front.

The main reason of not being so well known is probably that – like for many people having been through that traumatic event that had been the Great War – Lussu was not willing to write about it. Finally he was convinced, while in exile in Paris, by Gaetano Salvemini to put down his story. The book was published in 1938 in Paris, in a limited edition which is virtually non existent anymore (I saw a copy of it in ebay a couple of years ago being offered at 10.000 euro).

Lussu was an officer of the Sassari Brigade and was decorated several times for bravery. He had been one of those Italian intellectuals clamouring for entering the war against Germany and Austria, tragically their wish was finally granted and Italy in 1915 entered the war.  The actions recalled in this book were happening on the Asiago plateau.

In 1970 an impressive movie was shot by film director Francesco Rosi Uomini Contro that is ‘Men Against’.

 

 

 

 

 

Two days ago was the anniversary of Sarajevo’s shooting of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, the fuse which ignited WW1 and several novels and movie were presented but Un anno sull’Altipiano was sorely missing.

 

Here you may watch a part of the movie:

 

 

 

Farewell Party at the old office of Dante Alighieri on 27 June, 7 PM.

 

We are moving to a new location. At 1/F Honest Building, 9-11 Leighton Road Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

 

 

 

 

Let’s celebrate together with Italian Karaoke, Music, Lucky draw of gifts sponsored by Italian companies and last but not least delicious Italian food and wine.

 

Date: Friday, 27 June 2014

 

Time: From 19:00

 

Venue: Dante Alighieri society in Hong Kong

 

For registration: www.ladante.cc/event_registration.html

Two powerful nuclear plants starting soon in Taishan.

 

 

China is moving fast to become the first country to operate two of the the world’s most powerful atomic reactors in existence, even if France’s nuclear regulator says communication and cooperation on safety measures with its Chinese counterparts are lacking.

In the coastal city of Taishan – 60km from Hong Kong – mainland builders are entering the final stages for 2 state-of-the-art European Pressurised Reactors (EPR). Each will produce about twice as much electricity as an average reactor worldwide.

French authorities have gone public with their concern, due to lack of openess by their Chinese counterpart, which is somehow unprecedented…but it gives away the level of their frustration.

 

 

From Bloomberg

It’s not always easy to know what is happening at the Taishan site

STEPHANE PAILLER, FRENCH NUCLEAR SAFETY REGULATOR

“It’s not always easy to know what is happening at the Taishan site,” Stephane Pailler, head of international relations at France’s Autorite de Surete Nucleaire regulator, said in an interview. “We don’t have a regular relationship with the Chinese on EPR control like we have with the Finnish,” said Pailler, referring to another EPR plant under construction in Finland.

Calls and faxes to China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration regulator seeking comment went unanswered. China General Nuclear Power Corporation, the operator that is building the reactor with the French, didn’t respond to queries.

The first indications of French unease came when Philippe Jamet, one of the French regulator’s five governing commissioners, testified before the French parliament in February.

“Unfortunately, collaboration isn’t at a level we would wish it to be” with China, Jamet said. “One of the explanations for the difficulties in our relations is that the Chinese safety authorities lack means. They are overwhelmed.”

In March, EDF’s internal safety inspector Jean Tandonnet published his annual report to the utility’s chief executive that detailed a mid-2013 visit to the Taishan building site.

He wrote that “the state of conservation” of large components like pumps and steam generators at Taishan “was not at an adequate level” and was “far” from the standards of the two other EPR plants – the one in Finland and the other in Flamanville, France.

Tandonnet urged corrective measures and wrote that studies “are under way on tsunami and flooding risks”.

Tandonnet’s report notwithstanding, Herve Machenaud, EDF senior executive vice-president in charge of generation, said EDF was satisfied with China’s safety procedures. In China, “there is real, independent control that works at least as well as in most countries”, Machenaud said.

At Areva, chief operating officer Philippe Knoche said China’s regulator “is extremely demanding”.

The French regulatory agency has published hundreds of letters, reports and references on its own website about the Flamanville EPR, in Normandy.

By contrast, the Chinese regulator’s website contains relatively little information about safety issues. The most recent post on Taishan is a 2009 report on the start of cement work at the reactor referring to “problems left over from early stage construction”.

A Great Day for Mankind: Malaria could be soon a thing of the past.

 
 
ANDREA CRISANTI, Professor of Molecular Parasitology at the Imperial College of London may have found a solution to the problems of Malaria, which is killing 1 million of people every year. Prof.essor Crisanti is the leader of a team of researchers, mostly Italians . Indeed this is worth much more than a win at the soccer world cup in Brazil!
  
Italy was one of the leading nations – before the last war – in research on tropical diseases, but after the war, because of lack of founding, our best minds had to emigrate to continue their work. This discovery by a team of scientists, headed by Prof. Crisanti (born 1954) can make a huge difference, especially for children in poor rural areas.   
 
Here is an article on the GUARDIAN, hailing the discovery: 

Scientists have hailed the genetic modification of mosquitoes that could crash the insect’s populations as a “quantum leap” that will make a substantial and important contribution to eradicating malaria.

Previous efforts to tackle the disease, which kills more than a million people each year – most of whom are African children – have included bed nets to protect people and insecticides to kill the mosquito species most responsible for the transmission of malaria ( Anopheles gambiae).

The technique by a team at Imperial College London involves injecting mosquitoes with a gene that causes the vast majority of their offspring to be male, leading to a dramatic decline in population within six generations as females disappear.

“You have a short-term benefit because males don’t bite humans [or transmit malaria],” said Professor Andrea Crisanti, one of the authors of the new research, which was published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday.

“But in the long term you will eventually eradicate or substantially reduce mosquitoes. This could make a substantial contribution to eradicating malaria, combined with other tools such as insecticides.”

The scientists injected mosquitoes with a gene from slime mould – a homing endonuclease or enzyme called I-PpoI – which attached itself to their X chromosome during the male’s sperm-making process and effectively shredded part of the chromosome’s DNA. The result was that more than 95 per cent of the mosquitoes’ offspring were males. The researchers found that the modified mosquitoes mated with wild mosquitoes, creating fertile mosquitoes which then overwhelmingly produced male offspring, passing on the gene.

“Under field conditions the accumulation of X chromosome damage would significantly contribute to the demise of target populations,” the scientists say in their paper.

“The engineering is a quantum leap in terms of what has been done before,” said Crisanti, who worked on previous research in 2008, which took a similar approach but unintentionally resulted in sterile mosquitoes, meaning the gene’s ability to spread was limited.

Imperial College London also published work in 2011 on a distinctly different approach to impair the fertility of mosquitoes generally, rather than distorting the make-up of their sex.

Dr Luke Alphey, group leader of the vector-borne viral diseases programme at the Pirbright Institute, who was not involved in the latest research, called it a “big step forward” and said field trials could be conducted after further testing. “The overall goal of this research programme is even more ambitious – to develop a version of this genetic system that will spread itself through the target species, removing females and causing population crash or extinction as it goes,” he said.

Dr Michael Bonsall, reader in zoology at the University of Oxford, described the research as “super cool work”and said: “This has important implications for limiting the spread of malaria.”

Dr Thomas Walker, lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that the work was “very good science” and “very promising”, but said any uncertainty was in how the GM mosquitoes would fare out of the laboratory and in the field.

Dr Helen Williams, director of GeneWatch UK, a not-for-profit group that has been critical of previous GM mosquito research, warned of the unintended consequences of crashing mosquitoes’ populations. “We would want to ensure that the risks are properly considered before GM mosquitoes are released into the environment. For example, reducing the population of one mosquito species can increase the population of other mosquitoes, so you can potentially make it worse. If you change an ecosystem and remove a species, another species often moves into that niche.”

And here is the abstract of Professor Crisanti study:

Regulation of Anopheles gambiae male accessory gland genes influences postmating response in female
Tania Dottorini*,‡, Tania Persampieri*, Pietro Palladino*, Dean A. Baker§, Roberta Spaccapelo*, Nicola Senin† and Andrea Crisanti*,‡,1

+ Author Affiliations

*Department of Experimental Medicine and
†Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy;
‡Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK; and
§Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
↵1Correspondence: Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SAF, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. E-mail: acrs@imperial.ac.uk
Abstract

In Drosophila, the accessory gland proteins (Acps) secreted from the male accessory glands (MAGs) and transferred along with sperm into the female reproductive tract have been implicated in triggering postmating behavioral changes, including refractoriness to subsequent mating and propensity to egg laying. Recently, Acps have been found also in Anopheles, suggesting similar functions. Understanding the mechanisms underlying transcriptional regulation of Acps and their functional role in modulating Anopheles postmating behavior may lead to the identification of novel vector control strategies to reduce mosquito populations. We identified heat-shock factor (HSF) binding sites within the Acp promoters of male Anopheles gambiae and discovered three distinct Hsf isoforms; one being significantly up-regulated in the MAGs after mating. Through genome-wide transcription analysis of Hsf-silenced males, we observed significant down-regulation in 50% of the Acp genes if compared to control males treated with a construct directed against an unrelated bacterial sequence. Treated males retained normal life span and reproductive behavior compared to control males. However, mated wild-type females showed a ∼46% reduction of egg deposition rate and a ∼23% reduction of hatching rate (∼58% combined reduction of progeny). Our results highlight an unsuspected role of HSF in regulating Acp transcription in A. gambiae and provide evidence that Acp down-regulation in males leads a significant reduction of progeny, thus opening new avenues toward the development of novel vector control strategies.—Dottorini, T., Persampieri, T., Palladino, P., Baker, D. A., Spaccapelo, R., Senin, N., Crisanti, A. Regulation of Anopheles gambiae male accessory gland genes influences postmating response in female.

 

 
 

 

Orsoni & C. colpevoli fin quando non si dimostreranno innocenti.

 

VENEZIA – 30 giugno 2017. Due anni e tre mesi di reclusione e un milione di multa per l’ex sindaco di Venezia, Giorgio Orsoni, accusato di finanziamento illecito in relazione ai contributi che l’allora presidente del Consorzio Venezia Nuova, Giovanni Mazzacurati, ha confessato di avergli versato nel corso della campagna elettorale 2010. Sei anni di reclusione per l’ex ministro dell’Ambiente e delle Insfrastrutture, Altero Matteoli, imputato di corruzione per presunte somme e favori che avrebbe ricevuto in relazione ai fondi assegnati al Cvn per il disinquinamento della laguna di Venezia.

14 giugno 2014. “Corruzione, concussione, riciclaggio. Il sindaco di Venezia Giorgio Orsoni (eletto nel 2010 nella coalizione di centro sinistra) è stato arrestato nell’inchiesta della Procura di Venezia nell’ambito delle indagini sull’ex ad della Mantovani Giorgio Baita e gli appalti per il Mose, il sistema di dighe mobili progettato per difendere Venezia dall’acqua alta. La Procura avrebbe chiesto l’arresto anche dell’ex governatore e ministro Giancarlo Galan, attualmente parlamentare, per il quale è necessario il via libera dell’apposita commissione.’

Complimenti alle Fiamme Gialle!

Si dice che uno sia innocente sino a che non si dimostra la sua colpevolezza ma trattandosi di uomini politici – accusati di aver lucrato su un’opera che dovrebbe assicurare la salvezza di una citta’-capolavoro come Venezia – possiamo dire colpevoli fin quando non avranno dimostrato la loro innocenza.

Ripubblico un articolo del giugno 2012 l’avevo scritto prima di incontrare una delegazione di sprovveduti mandati avanti a spese del contribuente dal sindaco Orsoni, che aveva ben altre faccende da seguire a Venezia e che dunque, dopo aver assicurato la sua presenza, ce l’aveva mandata buca.

Per quanto riguarda Galan, da quanto si dice in Veneto, egli era il dominus per gli appalti pubblici soprattutto nel settore sanita’ e vedremo come andra’ a finire.

Pubblicato nel giugno del 2012 su ‘l’Italiano’.

Qui a Hong Kong esiste una lunga tradizione di uomini politici italiani che fissano incontri con le autorità locali e poi, di solito, accadono due cose.
La più comune è che, dopo l’atterraggio all’aeroporto di Chep Lap Kok, cancellano i propri appuntamenti e si danno allo shopping.
La seconda variante è questa: cancellano la propria visita del tutto, di solito uno o due giorni prima di partire, giustificandosi in vari modi. O un incontro importante e improragabile. Oppure gravi motivi di salute. Come ultima ratio  tirano fuori una malattia della nonna. Quest’ultima possibilità è però un’arma impegnativa, giacché  i cinesi son meno stupidi di quanto credono i nostri rappresentanti: sanno far di conto e, conoscendo l’età del soggetto, pensano che un’anziana signora di 120 o di 130 anni, insomma, come dire, è anche giusto che lasci spazio alle nuove generazioni.
La scusa degli impegni era molto di moda ai tempi della vecchia DC, del PSI e del PCI, quando i nostri uomini politici s’illudevano, nella loro arroganza senza limiti, di contare molto anche all’estero.
Oggi gode di maggior favore la seconda possibilità, perché se uno sta male, sta male.
Per il 20 e 21 giugno 2012 avevo cancellato tutti i miei impegni di lavoro per tenermi libero. Era previsto un ricevimento ufficiale al Consolato d’Italia, e degli incontri con degli imprenditori locali con il sindaco di Venezia, Giorgio Orsoni.
Nel pomeriggio del 21, in particolare, era previsto presso allo showroom della Ferrari una intervista del sindaco con la televisione cinese.
Io non possiedo una Ferrari, ma conosco il titolare dell’agenzia, Richard Lee, che ha finanziariato la nostra società culturale Dante Alighieri, con la quale collaboro. È un cavaliere della Stella d’Italia, ed è sempre disponibile a spendersi per il nostro Paese. Ogni suo desiderio è per me un ordine e, quando mi aveva telefonato, cinque giorni fa, perché gli trovassi un interprete d’italiano e di cinese mandarino (non il cantonese parlato a Hong Kong)  per l’intervista con il sindaco Orsoni, avevo chiamato un nostro ex insegnate. Si chiama Sandro, è un veneziano e parla il mandarino meglio di un letterato cinese. Sandro mi disse subito che non poteva esserci. Quello sarebbe stato l’anniversario del suo matrimonio e, inoltre, avevano fissato un incontro per l’adozione di un orfano. Non mi sono dato per vinto e dopo mezz’ora d’insistenza, esausto, Sandro aveva dato la propria disponibilità.
Oggi, il giorno prima del nostro incontro, apprendiamo  che il sig. sindaco ha dei seri problemi di salute, e ha dunque cancellato la propria visita. Ostrega, uomini con il fisico di Marco Polo, la Serenissima non ne produce più!
Noi gli facciamo tanti auguri di riprendersi velocemente. Ci fa comunque piacere sapere che manderà i propri collaboratori, l’ex ambasciatore d’Italia a New Delhi Antonio Armellini e l’on. Laura Fincato (ah, il vezzo italico di farsi chiamare onorevole anche quando non lo si è più!) una signora dall’aria sciupata, che fu in parlamento illo tempore con De Michelis e che si presenta con l’impressionante titolo di Delegato del Sindaco per i “Grandi Eventi”. Ci hanno spiegato senza avere un biglietto da visita o un diagramma che vorrebbero offrire l’aerea di Porto Marghera, dichiarata bonificata nell’aprile 2012 dal ministro Corrado Clini (in galera pure lui! 05/06/14) a investitori stranieri. Chissa’ che ressa!
Dopo Hong Kong partiranno per Shanghai e staremo a vedere se i seri problemi di salute del sindaco Orsoni si scioglieranno, e gli consentiranno di raggiungerli colà.
Ci era stato detto che il sindaco Orsoni teneva moltissimo all’incontro con una rappresentanza del locale mondo imprenditoriale, con le istituzioni e con le associazioni italiane qui presenti. Gliene siamo grati, ma pensiamo che sarebbe stato comunque un incontro di cortesia, infatti un sindaco con una ex onorevole e un ex ambasciatore, senza alcun contorno di tecnici con le loro carte, diagrammi e documentazione,  a che serve? Di che ci voleva parlare? Di quanto è bella Venezia? Ma lo sappiamo già, signor sindaco!

Are the giants of Mount Prama Odyssey’s Laestrygonians?

  In Homer’s Odyssey – composed around the XI century BC – we encounter in the X chapter the Laestrygonians, horrendous flesh heating giants who, by throwing stones from a cliff, destroy Odysseus’s fleet. According to the calculations made by Victor Bérard (1864 – 1931)  the Laestrygonians were living in Northern Sardinia or Southern Corsica. I am here for the first time putting forward the hypothesis that instead of Northern Sardinia, Odysseus might have landed in Western Sardinia – in today’s province of Oristano, around Marina di Torre Grande – an area inhabited since neolithic times and rich in cliffs and coves, similar to that described in the Odyssey.

Here is the Translation of part of the X chapter of the Odyssey by Samuel Butler. “Thence we sailed sadly on till the men were worn out with long and fruitless rowing, for there was no longer any wind to help them. Six days, night and day did we toil, and on the seventh day we reached the rocky stronghold of Lamus- Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygonians, where the shepherd who is driving in his sheep and goats [to be milked] salutes him who is driving out his flock [to feed] and this last answers the salute. In that country a man who could do without sleep might earn double wages, one as a herdsman of cattle, and another as a shepherd, for they work much the same by night as they do by day. “When we reached the harbour we found it land-locked under steep cliffs, with a narrow entrance between two headlands. My captains took all their ships inside, and made them fast close to one another, for there was never so much as a breath of wind inside, but it was always dead calm. I kept my own ship outside, and moored it to a rock at the very end of the point; then I climbed a high rock to reconnoitre, but could see no sign neither of man nor cattle, only some smoke rising from the ground. So I sent two of my company with an attendant to find out what sort of people the inhabitants were. The men when they got on shore followed a level road by which the people draw their firewood from the mountains into the town, till presently they met a young woman who had come outside to fetch water, and who was daughter to a Laestrygonian named Antiphates. She was going to the fountain Artacia from which the people bring in their water, and when my men had come close up to her, they asked her who the king of that country might be, and over what kind of people he ruled; so she directed them to her father’s house, but when they got there they found his wife to be a giantess as huge as a mountain, and they were horrified at the sight of her. She at once called her husband Antiphates from the place of assembly, and forthwith he set about killing my men. He snatched up one of them, and began to make his dinner off him then and there, whereon the other two ran back to the ships as fast as ever they could. But Antiphates raised a hue and cry after them, and thousands of sturdy Laestrygonians sprang up from every quarter- ogres, not men. They threw vast rocks at us from the cliffs as though they had been mere stones, and I heard the horrid sound of the ships crunching up against one another, and the death cries of my men, as the Laestrygonians speared them like fishes and took them home to eat them. While they were thus killing my men within the harbour I drew my sword, cut the cable of my own ship, and told my men to row with alf their might if they too would not fare like the rest; so they laid out for their lives, and we were thankful enough when we got into open water out of reach of the rocks they hurled at us. As for the others there was not one of them left. I am basing my assumption on a great find made in March 1974 by a farmer at Mount Prama. He had his plough’s blade damaged by a fragment of a large stone surfacing in his field. The stone showed mysterious carvings and archeologists called on the spot discovered under the ground more than 450 similar large fragments. The news was briefly reported on the Sardinian press but no national newspaper or agency reported it. Those fragments were then transported to a museum in Cagliari and were left there for 29 years, almost forgotten. Only in 2003 – because of pressure put by archeologists – the fragments were sent to a laboratory in Sassari where restoration work begun. Once the pieces were put together appeared giants human figure of a kind never seen before. Archeologists are now back on the spot at Mount Prama with sophisticated instruments which seem to have revealed a sort of  buried city underground. These impressive sculptures are between two hundred and two hundred-sixty centimetres tall, carved in sandstone and with a distinctive oriental look.  They represent archers, boxers, athletes and they were placed on raised platforms lining up the road which was leading from the Campidan to the old port. Their exact dating has not been yet established but there is an agreement that they do belong to the Nuragic period, dating from 3000 to 4000 years ago and, as such, they are the oldest statues of the Western Mediterranean. They may have be so impressively arraigned in order to awe visitors coming from the Etruscan confederation in central Italy, from North Africa and Greece. According to Roberto Narni, the archaeologist who managed to reassemble thousand of fragments and shreds, the giants of Mount Prama were systematically smashed around the IX – VIII century BC possibly by an invading army. It is possible that the impression made by these fierce-looking stone giants on Greek sailors may have inspired the legend of the Laestrygonians, a story which might have been inserted into the Odyssey.      

Is there a link between ancient Sardis and Sardinia?

 

History is made with clues, facts may follow later. Here I am proposing that the ancient city of Sardis ‘rich in gold’ of king Croesus (ruled 561 – 547 BC) – the archetypal tycoon of antiquity – may be connected in some way with the Island of Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and not only because of the similar name.

I presented my thesis last night, the 30 of May 2014 at a packed conference at the Museum of Medical Science of Hong Kong, while introducing Sardinia and the books of Grazia Deledda together with Ciriaco Offeddu and some professors coming from Sardinia.

 

 

 

 

First of all we should mention that not much is known about ancient Sardis  (today in Turkey, a small town called Sard)  the capital of Lydia. We know something a bit detailed about Sardis only because of Erodotus (V century BC). According to legends the god Dionysus was born there and the descendants of Eracles ruled it.  Erodotus tells us something but not much and, by the way, we cannot call him  a very trustable historian. We know that coinage with precious metals was first used there and that Sardians were great horsemen. The city was conquered by Cyrus the Great in the VI century and by Athenians in the V century. Then by Alexander the Great. It is mentioned in St. John’ Book of Revelation.

 

Sardinia’s original name (dating from 1500BC) was Ichnusa. This comes from combining the word “island” (“nusa”) with “Hyskos” perhpas after the tribe who rose to power in the 17th century BC and ruled areas of Egypt before invading Sardinia. The Hyksos formed a  dynasty in Egypt but were later expelled. There is a tradition that some of them settled in Sardinia, indeed not a so far fetched possibility, after all the great island of Sardinia lays just a week’s sailing from Egypt.

 

The bronzes of Alaca Huyuk, visible on the right, are 5.000 years old, those from Sardinia are 3500 years old. The same civilization of Alaca Huyuk was shared by old Sardis, of which in that time nothing is known. It may well be that the mysterious Hyskos, always called ‘Asians’ in Egyptian hieroglyphs may be Sardians. Excavations were carried out in Sardis starting in  1930 by Harvard University, and perhaps we’ll know more about its past in the future.

 

 

 

 

The Hyksos are credited to have passed the war chariot to the Egyptian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tacitus describes the expulsion of the Jews under Claudius, and he speaks of “four thousand of the freed-men, or Libertine class,” as banished to Sardinia. I quote this only as a proof that Sardinia absorbed a great deal of foreign blood and they were integrated without leaving a trace of their arrival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new technique to save the life of newborn babies. First on B39 now on the BBC.

 

The article below was offered to the South China Morning Post more than one year ago, but it was not deemed worth of publication. Last week the same news was broadcasted by the BBC and the Italian National Television RAI. Then it was picked by France Press and run by all the major newspapers around the world, including the SCMP. The circularity of truth…

 

Carpe Diem is a common Latin expression meaning ‘seize the day.’ Soon it will be also known as the acronym of a revolutionary equipment called CARPEDIEM (Cardio Renal Pediatric Dialysis Emergency machine) built by Professor Claudio Ronco, Director of the Department of Nephrology at the San Bortolo Hospital of Vicenza, Italy. This represents the first available treatment in the world for multiple organ failure in a neonate already successfully in operation. Professor Stuart Goldstein of the Cincinnati Children Hospital and professor Zaccaria Ricci from Rome Hospital of Bambin Gesù – two world famous experts in the field – have declared that this is a true miracle and very likely this machine will change the way of practicing medicine and managing the neonate in the years to come.

Professor Ronco has been visiting professors in several prestigious American university, Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC, The University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

 

Acute kidney injury may occur in neonates due to several causes, the most common one being an hemorrhagic shock due to a complicated delivery.

For many years the only treatment available was peritoneal dialysis, a therapy based on infusion and drainage of a sterile fluid into and from the abdominal cavity. The fluid is progressively loaded with the solutes not cleared by the failing kidney and then replaced with another batch of fresh fluid.

However, peritoneal dialysis has many complications and a very limited efficiency, especially in removing the excess of fluid that tend to accumulate in the infant that does not have adequate urine output.

In 1984, professor Ronco – a pioneer in the area of dialysis technology – developed a new technique called continuous arterio-venous hemofiltration for the neonate. He published a series of studies on four infants treated on a extracorporeal circuit in which blood was circulated through a permeable filter by the pressure gradient generated by their hearts. Already an expert in the adult technique and in bioengineering of hollow fiber hemodialyzers (filters for blood cleansing), professor Ronco became worldwide known in the field of pediatric hemofiltration thanks to his ingenious development of minifilters: a scaled down version of adult filters used for the artificial kidney technology. In the newborn it was fundamental to develop a tool with dimensions and volumes of priming extremely low: the neonate has approximately 300 ml of blood in his body. Even small shifts of this volume into the extra-corporeal circulation would create major hemodynamic derangements.

As a consequence of this pioneering experience arterio-venous hemofiltration in neonates has become a reality all over the world for the following years. Subsequently the technique in the adult was modified and specific machines with blood pumps were utilized to optimize the extracorporeal circuit. These machines however were proven inadequate for pediatric use, even in presence of customized circuits. In fact current equipment are mostly used off-label in patients with less than 15 Kg of body weight and are often useless in neonates or premature child. One of the major obstacles in fact is the small size of the catheter utilized on a tiny patient and the low accuracy of flow control in the blood circuit and fluid balance control of the dialysate circuit.

With this in mind, professor Ronco in 2008 undertook a new journey into this new field of infant medicine; a branch sorely lacking dedicated technology. The low incidence of the syndrome in neonates and the consequent low expected return of investment make this technology a low priority for the industry. Thus professor Ronco and a non-profit organization Called ‘Friends of the Kidney of Vicenza’ started a fund raising campaign to engage a team of experts capable of developing a miniaturized device for renal support in the neonate. Professor Ronco and his dedicated team created a prototype in a record time of 12 months. The machine was then manufactured by Medica Company, and placed on the market by Bellco (Mirandola-Italy). CARPEDIEM received the CE mark in 2012 and after a thorough testing in the International Renal Research Institute of Vicenza; the machine was on the market starting from June 2013.

Two pilot treatment have been carried out as a field test but finally on September 2013 the first complete extracorporeal support was started in the San Bortolo Hospital of Vicenza Italy on a neonate with a severe multiple organ dysfunction and oliguric kidney failure. 24-hour hemofiltration has been carried out for 15 days with stabilization of vital parameters and removal of fluid overload. Blood flow is 13 ml/min with a 4 French bilumen catheter and daily clearance is 2.2 liters (a volume exchange close to patient’s total body water). The baby developed a severe hiperbilirubinemia due to combined liver dysfunction and the hemofiltration treatment was then alternated with plasmapheresis with a modified CARPEDIEM circuit. The extracorporeal priming volume of the circuit is less than 20 ml, allowing maximal hemodynamic tolerance.

Today a newborn baby is under treatment with vital and metabolic parameters improving together with an increased diuresis, increasing volume of enteral nutrition and has been finally extubated. It is still unknown what will be the mid-long term outcome due to the many comorbid variables but before the CARPEDIEM, an inevitable deadly outcome would have occurred within a few days after birth. This is likely to be a new milestone in pediatric medicine.

 

 

 

The Chinese who created the first desktop computer

Unsung Chinese engineer behind first desktop

PUBLISHED On the South China Morning Post on Sunday, 14 August, 2011,

Exactly 50 years ago, Mario Tchou, a brilliant Chinese electronic engineer and the head of Olivetti’s research centre in Italy, died in a tragic car crash.

In the English-speaking world, he is virtually unknown. Books on the history of the computer rarely mention him. Yet he was one of the great computer pioneers of the 20th century. In Italy, his name is remembered and revered to this day. At a time when China is experiencing a cultural and scientific renaissance, it is all the more important his legacy be preserved.

A Chinese-Italian, Tchou pioneered the use of transistors and built one of the world’s first mainframe computers with them. He also led a team that created the world’s first desktop.

His father was Tchou Yin, a Chinese diplomat in Rome, whose wife, Evelyn Wang, joined him in 1921. Mario Tchou was born in 1924. His mother was a liberated woman who campaigned for women’s rights, especially in China.

Tchou was a brilliant and popular student. His parents’ house in Rome was open to the children of prominent Romans, and some still remember the courtyard of the Chinese embassy as an ideal place to play football. Having graduated in engineering in 1945 and won a scholarship, Tchou was sent to the United States.

While there, he met Mariangela Siracusa, an Italian student at Columbia University, and soon married her. By 1952 he was already an assistant professor at Columbia in electrical engineering and a director of the prestigious Marcellus Hartley Laboratory. He was working under John R.Ragazzini, who during the second world war contributed to the development of analogue calculators and control systems.

In 1954, Tchou had a fateful encounter with Adriano Olivetti, the owner of the Olivetti Company, a visionary industrialist and intellectual. The two were similar in personality and it was love at first sight. The industrialist convinced Mario to return to Italy, where he was put in charge of a team creating a commercial computer and provided with funds.

The crack team of engineers was all Italian, except for Martin Friedman, a Canadian. Sandro Sartor was part of the group of 50 engineers and still remembers Tchou

‘He was the most intelligent man I have ever met in my life, and he was so good to keep together that bunch of eccentric young boys.’

In September 1957, the team created the first prototype, called the Zero, a name later changed to Elea 9001. It used valves, or vacuum tubes. At that time, Tchou decided an important change of direction: their next computer would have no valves. One of his engineers, Giorgio Sacerdoti, remembers that day: ‘The decision was taken during an urgent meeting called by Tchou on a Sunday afternoon in 1957.

‘The transistors at that time were something seen only in laboratories, and their use was extremely risky. The switch could mean a delay of one year. All of this was clearly spelled out by Tchou during his introduction, when he told us that he had decided to go for it. His decision shows that he could see far and wide into the future.’

Transistors were not easily available on the market, and they could not find enough of them in Europe. Because of this, Olivetti founded a new company to produce them. It is still operating under the name STMicroelectronics.

It was at this time that his first marriage ended in a separation. He had entered into a new relationship with a young painter, Elisa Montessori, and she would give him two daughters. The new computer was nearly ready when they decided to move to a new location, at Borgo Lombardo, near Milan. From 50 people, Tchou now had to manage 500 engineers.

The new computer was called Elea 9003. Its memory storage was as large as a tennis court and its console had the dimensions of a Coca Cola vending machine. In spite of its great size, the design was very attractive and built following a modular plan. It was the work of a young and then not-very-well known industrial designer, Ettore Sotsass. The computer beat IBM’s first fully transistorised mainframe computer by several months.

In spite of the high cost, the performance of the machine was impressive for the time, and about 35 large companies placed orders. One of those units is still working today at a technical institute in Italy: students can physically enter its memory, like in the movie Tron. In 1960 they were working on a new computer, less powerful but cheaper; the result would be the Elea 6001. Between 1961 and 1965 more than 100 units were sold to universities and laboratories.

At the beginning of 1960, Olivetti had a fatal stroke in a train compartment. He was 59 years old. Tchou died in 1961, before the presentation of the Elea 6001. But his team of engineers – led by Tchou’s right-hand man, Piergiorgio Perotto – went on to produce a smaller, more powerful model. It would prove to be the first real desktop computer.

It was called Programma 101, and when it was presented at an exhibition in New York in 1965, it caused a sensation, with The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal giving it front-page coverage.

Hewlett-Packard bought 100 units, and soon after it went on the market with a similar model. The Olivetti firm sued and won, but without Tchou and Olivetti, they had lost the edge. Bankers made it a condition for new loans that their electronics division be sold to General Electric. That was the end of Tchou’s dream.

Angelo Paratico