February 02, 2004
It is already 2 weeks since I came back to Italy but I haven't had time to realize it.
I have spent the past 3 months at the Computer Science department of University of Maryland and it was a very useful and interesting period.
It was also my first time in USA. The Univ of Maryland is a wonderful place for doing research.
It is difficult to compare it with anything in Italy. I believe the Univ of Trento where I'm doing the PhD in Information and Communication Technologies is one of the best in Italy [as statistics (in Italian) confirm]. Anyway it is difficult to have a good national research if the miserabile Italian government invests only 1% of GDP in Research.
By the way, what I especially liked of UMD is:
1. Every workgroup has a weekly meeting in which one member of the group presents a paper (not necessarily one of her papers).
2. CS department offers a weekly coffee break: the idea is you go there, have a coffee and a cookie and chat with your collegues. This is very good for cross-fertilization and collaboration.
3. Usually 30 minutes before a talk there is coffee break where you can talk with the speaker and other people.
4. Sometimes after a talk there is a meeting with the speaker for everyone is interested.
Yeah, I know, it seems being a researcher is just having coffee with people...
November 06, 2003
| Alternative Economy |
alternative_economy
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| Italia |
italia
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| Maryland |
maryland
|
As I already written, Saturday night I was in New York at a party. It was an Halloween party and everyone was dressed up. I didn't have a costume but was wearing the shirt you see on the left.
I was speaking with some guy who asked me "So you're what? A communist?".
I replied "Well, kind of...".
At this moment another one came in with "So why didn't you go to study to Russia?".
It was not said with bad mood, just with simplicity. This made me wonder what this guy thinks about Russia.
We spoke a little bit about what we think communism is and capitalism is but eventually we shortly ended up drinking more beer.
So the lesson is clear: don't wear "communist costumes" at Halloween parties in US. ![[winking face]](http://moloko.itc.it/paoloblog/images/smilies/wink.gif){kind=small}
November 05, 2003
This is a funny truck I pictured in New York.
I noticed that here in US you can find US flags everywhere. Someone told me that it is so after 9/11. I guess the flag has become the symbol of "United we stand".
In Italy luckily we try to stand united behind the peace flag.
According to bandieredipace.org, in Italy 2.500.000 balconies were exposing the peace flag at 03/17/2003.
You can see some galleries of peace flags around the world here and here and here and here and here and
here.
You can even upload your picture.
There is also useful material (mainly in Italian) such as banners, images, backgrounds.
However of course not all the people in Italy agree about exposing the peace flag. Some people even claim that it is equivalent to the communist flag. And in fact there is someone that, in a book, is asking ironically "Are all of them dirty communists?"
Speaking of flags, you can see on my sidebar that I used the UN flag as the icon representing all the languages. It is both a wish and an encouragement.
I've been to New York over the weekend. [Thanks Cristina for wonderful hospitality! You are almost a NewYorker but I'm not sure this is a compliment! ]
NY was less dirty, chaotic and dangerous than I was expecting.
In 2 days I've seen Chinatown, Time Square, many skyscapers, Financial district and Wall Street, took the free ferry until Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Friday I've been to a party in a gay club until 5 am and Saturday to an Halloween party in Queens.
Saturday I almost run the NY Marathon ... it was a tour de force but I enjoyed it a lot.
Some picture can be found here. As you can see I still need to practice with my new, extracheap camera.
October 31, 2003
I just moved to the house I'll be living in during these 3 months. I found it thanks to HousingLink and many emails.
You can see more pictures. My landlord bought it just 1 week ago and so it is a mess, but I like it!
Yesterday I created my bed, bought by my landlord at Ikea.
I just realized that I'll stay in USA in a period plenty of holidays.
I'm curious about tipically USA holidays such as Halloween and Thanks Giving Day and also about how common holidays (Christmas and New Year Eve) are lived here.
I cannot wait to go to some Halloween parties and parades!
October 30, 2003
| Maryland |
maryland
|
| Peer to peer |
peer_to_peer
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| PhD |
phd
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| Recommender Systems |
recommender_systems
|
| Trust and Reputation |
trust_and_reputation
|
As part of my PhD program, I'll spend the next 3 months at the University of Maryland. I'll stay here until January 17, 2003.
I also opened up a photo gallery in which I'll post photos taken here.
