There's a very popular smartphone made by Samsung called the Galaxy S II, Epic 4G Touch.  That's not a joke.  How do you know when your product is poorly named?  When there's a comma in the middle. #technology

First the recap, now the review of the places we visited: 

Rome.  Rome was an awesome city.  I couldn't get over the fact that you step out of a subway station, and there's the Colosseum, where they used to make prisoners fight wild animals to the death.  Or you walk past a few restaurants and coffee shops, turn a corner, and there's the Pantheon, where people have been worshiping one of various gods for 2000 years.  The mixture of ancient and modern was amazing.  An interesting thing I learned though was that many of the relics, statues, and especially obelisks were actually stolen from conquered enemies (like Egyptians).  I guess that's what you did back then. 

Cinque Terre.  This collection of five fishing and farming villages was full of hikers and backpackers, and for good reason.  The hiking took us up really steep hills, through vineyards and terraced farms, all overlooking the ocean.  And they had nice fresh seafood, which was great after a long, sweaty hike.  The best part about Riomaggiore, the town we stayed in, was their rocky little port which made for a great swimming spot. 

Venice.  I expected Venice to stink, since its streets are made of water and their plumbing systems were created hundreds of years ago.  Turns out Venice had no smell at all, not even a salty water or marsh smell.  The only thing I smelled in Venice were the German tourists.  This city was probably our favorite of the trip, maybe because of its uniqueness, or maybe because we spent a good amount of time sitting around in shady spots.  An interesting thing I learned was that many of the buildings along the main canal are deteriorating due to rising water levels and sinking foundations, but the Venetian government has a lot of restrictions on development and renovation in order to preserve history, so the number of vacant buildings is increasing, and the city's population is shrinking.  The entire city is essentially one large museum. 

Florence.  There was a lot of art to see in Florence, and we saw pretty much none of it, which was fine.  The Duomo was interesting because you could see it no matter where you were.  The view from the top was even better.  We had two separate meals of memorable pizza, one of which had rosemary and olive oil, which was unique. 

Tuscany.  The guided van tour to some wineries in the countryside was quite nice.  Our tour guide was entertaining, and the scenery was excellent.  The wines we sampled were mostly reds, and they were mostly great. 

Siena.  We saw this city at the end of the trip, and we just weren't really feeling into it.  It was similar in style to Florence, which we had just toured around the previous day.  But it had a unique feel because of the contrade, which were different regions of the town that compete in horse races and have their own crests. #travel

Here is a collection of 34 pictures of former Russian president Vladimir Putin doing manly things.  Kottke explains in words: 

Watch as Vladimir Putin rides a horse, drives a race car, tags a tiger, does judo, goes on archeological dives, looks at leopards, stands on a boat, arm wrestles, attempts to bend a frying pan, rides a snowmobile, flies a plane, hugs a dog, rides a motorcycle, looks at a bear, swims the butterfly, signs autographs, shoots a whale with a crossbow, plays the piano, feeds a moose, talks with a biker gang, steers a boat, walks through brush with a gun, sits in a tank, blacksmiths, plays hockey, hugs a horse, dives almost a mile in a submersible, and adjusts sunglasses.

I like how several of his activities are done unnecessarily shirtless.  I don't know much about this guy's politics or whatever, but I have a feeling I would vote for him. #politics

Sterquilinus was the ancient Roman god of the fertilization of farming fields, a.k.a. the god of poop. #religion

Just got back from a long vacation in Italy, where we visited Rome, Venice, Florence, a few small coastal towns, and a Tuscan wine village.  All in all, it was pretty excellent.  Great weather the whole time, amazing sights both historic and modern, good food and wine, and impeccable planning by Wendy.  Here's a daily rundown, more for my records than anything else: 

1. Long flight through Lisbon with lots of talkative Portuguese people.  Didn't sleep at all.  Came close to missing our connecting flight because of a long line for immigration and customs.  Short flight to Rome with kids kicking my seat, then a long bus ride to the train station, which was within walking distance of our hotel.  Would've been quicker if we didn't walk the wrong way at first.  Walked around Rome a little and saw some history, then stopped at a little pizza place where we got overcharged and lied to about portion sizes.  Back to the hotel room before 6pm for an early bedtime because we were both walking zombies.
2. Got woken up early by the smell of fresh bread baking after sleeping for almost 13 hours, then had one of the best breakfasts of our lives, with ham and mozzarella on fresh bread and a cappuccino.  Took the subway to the Colosseum and walked around the surrounding area for several hours.  Stopped for lunch at a pizza place with natural vine covering, and had our first Italian table wine.  Took another subway to the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon.  Stopped off for a nice slow sidewalk dinner and polished off a liter of wine.
3. The Rome transit workers went on strike, so we had to buy a ticket on a tour bus in order to get to Vatican city.  We had a scheduled time and were quite late, but oddly enough the ticket checker didn't care.  We walked around the Sistine Chapel but avoided St. Peter's Basilica because of the line.  Hopped the tour bus to the Pantheon (again) and walked over to Piazza Navona.  Had trouble but eventually got the tour bus back home before going to the Spanish Steps and grabbing a quick bite to eat.
4. Took the train to Riomaggiore after stopping at our favorite breakfast joint one last time.  Walked around town while waiting for our hotel room to be ready.  Turns out it was on the third floor up quite a few sets of stairs.  Walked down to the "beach" which had rocks of various sizes, before eventually just jumping off some big rocks into the marina, which felt quite nice.  Looked into taking a ferry ride but were told they weren't selling any more round trip tickets because the boat might not come back due to rough weather.  Finished the night with some fresh seafood and local wine, before saying hi to some cats on the way back to our room.
5. Had some breakfast before hiking uphill to the next town over.  Walked through vineyards and family farms growing figs and olives.  Decided to keep walking through the woods to the following town, passing by a helicopter rescue along the way.  Silly tourists and their inadequate footwear.  Hopped a train to the following town, where we had a huge early dinner after about 4-5 miles of hiking.  Finally took the ferry back to our hotel's town, which dangerously docked near some rocks in choppy water.  Loading and unloading was worth the price of the ferry.  Ended the night with some gelato and a sunset.
6. Almost missed our train to Venice but caught it after a little uphill running in sandals.  The four hour train ride really wasn't all that bad, since it was broken up by stops.  Arrived in Venice, where we sweated our way on the ferry and to our hotel room.  After cleaning up, rode the ferry around while listening to an audio tour.  Stopped at Piazza San Marco and interacted with some pigeons.  Ate dinner at a wine bar before navigating the maze-like streets back to our hotel.
7. Toured around Piazza San Marco, walking through Basilico San Marco and going to the top of the Campanile.  Continued using our unlimited ferry ticket and stopped off at several places, including Rialto (where we had really expensive pizza), Santa Maria della Salute (which had nice, cool marble steps that were great for lounging on), and Arsenale.  Made an impromptu stop at a street market before getting some dinner at a nice little place where we bought our first bottle of wine for the trek home.
8. Caught an early train to Florence, where we dropped our bags at our hotel and then walked around town a little.  Went back to our hotel to get picked up for a wine tour, which stopped at Tenuta Torciano and Fattoria Sant'Appiano in Tuscany before an impromptu stop at a local wine festival.
9. Walked around Florence some more.  Climbed the steps to the top of the Duomo, walked through several street markets, crossed the river on Monte Vecchio to see Palazzo Pitti, saw some statues in the Piazza della Signoria, and ate lunch in the Piazza della Repubblica.  Ended the day with some gelato in front of the Santa Maria Novella.
10. Took a morning train to Siena, where we walked to the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo.  We were feeling tired from a week and a half of touring and traveling, so we took the train back to Florence and then to Rome, where we checked into our nice hotel and had dinner.
11. Flew back home through Lisbon and greeted our house full of pets.

Pictures:


#travel

Running on a track has never appealed to me because it feels like I never make any progress.  "Ugh, I'm at the starting block again?"  Same with a soccer field or anything that must be looped many times to gain any amount of distance.  And I'm not really a fan covering the same route twice, like a there-and-back type of thing.  It makes me think about how much more area I could've covered if I didn't have to end where I started.  I like running in large loops, preferably with a few turns and some terrain variation.  I like the scenery change, and it makes it feel like more of a race, albeit one that takes place entirely in my own little world while my headphones fill my head with old school rap. #sports

From a review of the book Liquid Gold: 

Logically, we should recycle our urine to capture its many nutrients for growing new food.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.  First, I don't personally believe that's a logical thought.  Or at least it doesn't flow (pardon the expression) naturally from my logic.  Second, I honestly wasn't aware urine contained nutrients.  Third, I've definitely never considered using urine to grow food.  So pretty much that whole statement was mind-blowing. #entertainment

As a practicing engineer and frequent user of mathematics, I do hereby proclaim:  Temperature units are stupid.  With all other units of measurement (time, distance, velocity, mass, angle, pressure, density, etc.), zero is zero, regardless of which system you use.  Zero inches is zero centimeters.  Zero mph is zero m/s.  Zero lb is zero kg.  But with temperature, zero degrees C is 32 degrees F.  And don't even get me started with Kelvin and Rankine.  Why there are four different units for one stupid measurement is beyond the scale of my angry comprehension. #math

I wonder if anything more positively impacts the economy than natural disasters.  For example: 

1. Food.  People always rush out to buy milk and bread.  Wendy bought milk and bread before the hurricane, but only because we literally just ran out of milk and bread and needed a routine resupply.
2. Supplies.  People always rush out to buy flashlights and batteries.  At this point in the history of mankind, you'd think everyone would have enough of those left over from the previous natural disaster.
3. Safety.  Declaring a state of emergency and activing the National Guard just sound like expensive propositions.
4. Cleanup.  Chainsaws and sump pumps aren't free, nor do emergency workers work pro bono.
5. Rebuilding.  When stuff breaks, you have to fix it.  Somehow this transcends whether or not people can actually afford it.  If a tree falls on your house, you need a new roof.  If your basement is flooded, you need it unflooded.

And the government, with its FEMA and its states of emergency, is just asking for targets to throw money at.  If anything can fix the global economy, it's a global natural disaster. #money

For as long as I've been sentient, ice cream cakes have been made with chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  You either like them or you don't.  No one says, "The ones from X are better than the ones from Y."  They're all the same.  But just recently, I've discovered the wonder of ordering cakes with custom flavors.  I just got one with vanilla chocolate chip and cookies and cream.  I had one with cookie dough last year.  I'm not sure if we ice cream cake consumers have been fleeced into eating plain chocolate and vanilla for years, or if the technology has always existed to make more creative ice cream cakes, but either way it's fairly life-changing for me. #food