It takes a fool to remain sane

Whatever happened to the funky race?
A generation lost in pace.
Wasn’t life supposed to be more than this?
In this kiss, I’ll change your bore for my bliss.
Let go of my hand and it will slip out
in the sand if you don’t give me the chance
to break down the walls of attitude.
I ask nothing of you,
not even your gratitude.

And if you think I’m corny
then it will not make me sorry.
It’s your right to laugh at me
and in turn, that’s my opportunity
to feel brave.

‘Cause it takes a fool to remain sane,
oh it takes a fool to remain sane,
oh it takes a fool to remain sane.
Oh in this world all covered up in shame.

Every morning I would see her getting off the bus.
The picture never drops it’s like a multicoloured snapshot,
stuck in my brain it kept me sane
for a couple of years as it drenched my fears
of becoming like the others
who become unhappy mothers
and fathers of unhappy kids.
And why is that?
‘Cause they’ve forgotten how to play
or maybe they’re afraid to feel ashamed,
to seem strange, to seem insane,
to gain weight, to seem gay.
I tell you this:

That it takes a fool to remain sane,
oh it takes a fool to remain sane,
oh it takes a fool to remain sane.
Oh in this world all covered up in shame.
Oh, take it to the stage!

So, take it to the stage in a multicoloured jacket,
take it jackpot, crackpot, strutting like a peacock.
Nail varnish, arkansas, shimmy-shammy feather boa,
crackpot haircut dye your hair in glowing red and blue.

Do, do, do, what you wanna do.
Don’t think twice, do, what you have to do.
Do, do, do, do, let your heart decide
what you have to do, that’s all there is to find.

‘Cause it takes a fool to remain sane,
Oo, it takes a fool to remain sane.
Oh, in this world all covered up in shame.

The Ark

I think that this lyrics should make us reflect.
What is normal and what is not? Who decided it? The government? The majority? The Pope?
Who are we to establish how others have to dress, how they have to cut their hair? Who are we to decide who they have to love?
Everybody should have the same rights. Everybody should have the same possibilities. Everybody should be able to stay near the one they love, whoever he or she is.
So, stop thinking that if someone is different so then he has to feel ashamed. He should be just happy as everyone else.
Others should feel ashamed.

Tolerance, understanding, peace and love.
And also: live and let live (or let die).

The Little Prince

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is one of the first books I’ve read. The first time I was about 9 years old and after some pages I left it: I got bored! The second time and the third time: the same! Maybe the fourth time too! I remember I thought: what is that? It’s stupid! It’s a stupid history with a stupid boy! I was just too young. All mothers do the same mistake: think that this is a book for children. I think that this is not a book for children; maybe some of them could like it for his plot, but no one of them can understand this book. Not at 10 years old. So I read this book when I was a little bit older and I loved it. It describes humans with such a simplicity! It shows how stupid humans are. And – the thing I prefer – it’s like the author knows all your defects and attributes them to his characters; so you can find a bit of yourself in all of them if you understand the metaphors.
I read it again last night (it takes just an hour, maybe two) and I think it is a discover every time!

Chapter twelve
*[…] “I am drinking” answered the drunkard lugubriously. “Why are you drinking?” the little prince asked. “In order to forget”, replied the drunkard. “To forget what?” enquired the little prince, who was already feeling sorry for him. “To forget that I am ashamed” the drunkard confessed, hanging his head. “Ashamed of what?” asked the little prince who wanted to help him. “Ashamed of drinking!” concluded the drunkard, withdrawing into total silence.*

This is my English version, bought in London in 2011 (with Jerome’s books, for the same reason -.-)

This is my Italian version, given to me by my best friend to replace the one that never came back to me (an ancient and wonderful version).

Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome Klapka Jerome was born in Walsall in 1859 and he died in Northampton in 1927. He was an English humorous writer, famous for his book “Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)”.
I read Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel and I found them wonderful!
When I was 10 years old my italian teacher said to me and my classmates that English people had a different sense of humor: finer and that arouses just a smile, while here in Italy we used to laugh out loud. I thought that English people weren’t as funny as us and I was really sorry for them!
After some years I read Three Men in a Boat, an English humor book.
I swear that I’ve never laughed so much reading a book!
So I asked myself: was my teacher wrong or the British mention just a smile reading this book while I’m laughing out loud?
I was younger but I found this book too much funny and also today I remember it as the most humorous book I ever read.
(I’m going to read it again to see if I find it as funny as before.)
I suggest everyone to read it to spend time having fun.

Three Men in a Boat is about three man (obviously!) and Montmorency the dog that, between laments and pain, decided to take a boat trip along the Thames. Even the simplest situations become incredible adventures of the four travelers (the dog is definitely my favourite!).

Three Men on a Bummel is the sequel of the first. The three man, a little bit older, decided to do travel for men only and the idea is a biking tour in Germany.

Beginning of Three Men in a Boat

“THERE WERE FOUR OF US – George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency. We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were – bad from a medical point of view I mean, of course.
We were all feeling seedy, and we were getting quite nervous about it. Harris said he felt such extraordinary fits of giddiness come over him at time, that he hardly knew what he was doing; and then George said the he had fits of giddiness too, and hardly knew what he was doing. With me, it was my liver that was out of order. I knew it was my liver that was out of order, because I had just been reading a patent liver-pill circular, in which were detailed various symptoms by which a man could tell when his liver was out of order. I had them all.
It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.”

This is my English version, bought in London in 2011.
(I lent my Italian version and it never returned to me! So I suggest: never lend books)

The Most Beautiful Magnet

What do you think when I say magnet?
Maybe something like this:

So what do you think If I tell you that this is a magnet?

Our Earth behaves as a big magnet. It is like there is a magnetic bar inside, with two poles.
The hypothesis that there is a magnetic bar inside the Earth is inconceivable because at the Curie temperature (768 °C for the iron) the magnetic field destroys, at the centre of the Earth the temperature is much bigger! (around 5000 °C).  So the magnetic field could not conserve.It was discovered that the magnetic field is generated by the convection of the outer nucleus. So why the convection of the mantle doesn’t generate the magnetic field? First of all because the material in the mantle is viscous while in the nucleus it is very fluid, secondly because in the nucleus there is the presence of iron that is a good electrical conductor. Rapid movements in the outer nucleus can produce electrical currents in the iron, generating a geodynamo with a big magnetic field.

The rocks record the field magnetic orientation, in fact studying the ocean floor it was discovered that the magnetic field was reversed many times! When the lava comes out from the oceanic ridges some of her crystals orient according to the current magnetic field and when the lava cools and forms rocks they maintain the magnetic field orientation.

The chrons (normal of inverse epochs) last about a half million years. The chrons are interrupted by some subchrons that are short.

The black bars indicates normal polarity; the white bars indicates inverse polarity.

My Muse

I’ve exposed your lies, baby.
The underneath is no big surprise,
now it’s time for changing
and cleansing everything
to forget your love.

My plug in baby,
crucifies my enemies,
when I’m tired of giving.
My plug in baby,
in unbroken virgin realities
is tired of living.
Don’t confuse,
baby you’re gonna lose
your own game.
Change me,
replace the envying
to forget your love.

My plug in baby,
crucifies my enemies.
When I’m tired of giving.
My plug in baby,
in unbroken virgin realities
I’m tired of living.

And I’ve seen your loving
but mine is gone,
and I’ve been in trouble.

Muse are an English alternative rock band that was formed in 1994. The members are: Matthew Bellamy (lead vocal and guitar) , Christopher Wolstenholme  (bass) and Dominic Howard (drum).
They won a lot of awards, especially as the best alternative artists and the best live act.
Some of their songs have been used as soundtracks of movies, for advertising and for games.

Discography:
Showbiz – 1999
Origin of Symmetry – 2001
Absolution – 2003
Black Holes and Revelations – 2006
The Resistance – 2009
The 2nd Law – 2012

In 2009 Muse were invited in “Quelli che il Calcio”, an italian program conducted by Simona Ventura. Here Matthew, Christopher and Dominic exchanged roles, so Matthew “played” the drum, Christopher the guitar and Dominic “sang”. After the show, Simona Ventura didn’t notice the exchanges and asked questions to the fake singer!

Here the video!

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Earth is divided by its composition in crust, mantle and nucleus and by its physical characteristics in lithosphere, asthenosphere and mesosphere. The crust is the most exterior part of the Earth, it is formed mostly of rocks (70% basalts), thus it has a solid behaviour.
We can distinguish two kind of crust: oceanic crust and continental crust. The oceanic crust has a thickness between 3 and 8 km, it is dense 2,9 mg/cc and his composition is mainly granitic. The continental crus has an average thickness of 30 km (but it can get to 70 km!), it is dense 2,7 mg/cc and his composed mostly by basalts and gabbros.
Between the crust and the mantle there is the Mohorovičić discontinuity (called Moho), discovered thanks to the waves study.
The mantle is divided in: superior mantle and inferior mantle. The superior mantle has a solid behaviour, while the inferior has a plastic behaviour. The convection occurs in the mantle and it regulates the theory of plates. According to some geologists there is a different convection in the superior and in the inferior mantle. According to someone else geologists there is an only convection that interests both superior and inferior mantle.
Between the inferior mantle and the nucleus there is the Gutenberg discontinuity (2.900 km).
The nucleus is the inner part of the Earth and it is divided in: exterior nucleus and interior nucleus. The first one has a plastic behaviour and the second one has a solid behaviour. The convection occurs also in the exterior nucleus and this convection generates the Earth’s magnetic field. The Earth behaves as a dynamo that feeds thanks to the presence of iron that has a high electrical conductivity. In fact, thanks to the rapid movements of the exterior mantle electrical currents are generated.
Between the exterior and the interior nucleus there is the Lehmann discontinuity (5.100 km).

The lithosphere is formed by the crust and the superior mantle and it has a solid behaviour; the asthenosphere is formed by the rest of the superior mantle and it has a plastic behaviour; the mesosphere is formed by the intermediate and the inferior mantle and it has a solid behaviour.
The interior of the Earth has been studied thanks to the waves. The primary waves, in fact, after the Mohorovičić discontinuity accelerate from 7 km/sec to 8 km/sec probably because the mantle is composed of peridotites and ultramafic rocks. After that the primary waves slow down and the secondary waves don’t propagate anymore, probably because of the plastic behaviour. So that there is a shadow from 105° to 142° where primary waves don’t propagate and a shadow from to 105° onwards where the secondary waves don’t propagate.