Guilty
After more than one year of trial the verdict finally came out. Katya was held to be guilty of an attempted murder. She was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Under the Russian criminal law, the minimum prison term for this offense is 6 years. However, the judge was merciful and took one year out, given that Katya has two minor children. Of course, Katya and her lawyers will appeal. But finally I can talk about it. You can read the whole story on this article. My honest and truthful deposition was an important testimony in the case. But they key factor in the trial was Katya’s son ~ Anthony. The judge put both Katya and her husband in separate rooms so that Anthony couldn’t see them during questioning. This was to ensure that none of them would put him under undue pressure or duress. Anthony understood that they were in a separate room, but went through the testimony all right. Interestingly, after the testimony the judge asked him whether he wanted to see his mom briefly – she asked him 3 times. And 3 times he said no. He said he did not want to see her ever again for what she did to the family.
If I look back into my life I am lucky to be still alive… It could be me in place of Katya’s husband…
Cosa sarà
Questa mattina non riuscivo a tirarmi su dal letto. Era come se mi sentissi un grosso macigno addosso. Pensavo a quante volte mi sono sentito così… e credo di aver iniziato molto presto. Ho cercato di farmi coraggio da solo: “Dai Davide! Vedrai ce la farai anche stavolta” – che non è poi così facile. Il mio cuore e’ stanco. Anche il cardiologo mi ha detto che soffro di complessi atriali prematuri, una forma leggera di aritmia che pare non desti preoccupazione. Ma insomma è stanchezza quella che provo anche se le ragioni sono tente. Non devo desistere, il mio viaggio continua e non tutti i mali vengono per nuocere, come dice il buon detto. “Non cadere nelle trappole Davide… Non ne vale la pena, non almeno a questo punto e mai per una donna bassina e perduta”….
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
Heart Broken
When a heart is broken you can glue it back together. But the heart is not the same anymore…. You can still see the cracks, and it can easily break again…
Malala speaks at the United Nations
Malala Yousafzai is my hero. She has a beautiful mind and an amazing courage. I have a deep respect and admiration for her. You can listen to her full speech here at the United Nations
Love
Love is not a feeling. Love is an action, an activity … Genuine love implies commitment and the exercise of wisdom … love as the will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth … true love is an act of will that often transcends ephemeral feelings of love or cathexis, it is correct to say, ‘Love is as love does’.”
— M Scott Peck
I Cinesi sequestrano il datore di lavoro
Un giorno Grillo disse che per fermare la Cina avremmo dovuto mandargli i nostri sindacati. Si sbagliava, leggete questo articolo. Questo diventerà un problema serio in Cina nei prossimo anni.
Fonte dell articolo ItaliaOggi.it
Un imprenditore americano è stato sequestrato e tenuto in ostaggio per sei giorni dai propri dipendenti. È accaduto alla periferia di Pechino, dove l’uomo dirige Specialty Medical Supplies, società che ha la sede centrale negli Stati Uniti, in Florida. I lavoratori chiedevano, in cambio del rilascio che poi è avvenuto, una buonuscita, una rappresentante sindacale e un direttore generale in loco.
Il proprietario dell’azienda si chiama Chip Starnes, ha 42 anni e ha dichiarato di avere raggiunto un accordo con i suoi dipendenti, senza tuttavia fornire ulteriori dettagli.
Starnes ha detto di voler continuare a fabbricare tamponi di alcol nell’impianto cinese. L’anno scorso, inoltre, si sono poste le basi per trasferire in India le attività di produzione del kit per il test del diabete.
La goccia che ha fatto traboccare il vaso, tuttavia, è il fatto che i lavoratori sospettassero che l’imprenditore volesse chiudere la fabbrica senza predisporre alcun accordo con loro. Starnes ha cercato di rassicurarli, sostenendo che nel corso dell’ultimo anno più di cento lavoratori sono stati licenziati e che a tutti è stata versata la liquidazione.
Questo episodio va inquadrato nel clima generale di contrapposizione crescente, in Cina, tra imprenditoria e forza lavoro. La crescita economica sta rallentando rispetto alle mirabolanti performance a doppia cifra degli anni passati. Il China Labour Bulletin ha reso noto che tra gennaio e aprile si sono verificati 201 casi di controversia, comprese iniziative di sciopero: un numero doppio rispetto a dodici mesi prima. La conflittualità aumenta sempre più.
Non è frequente che imprenditori e dirigenti vengano sequestrati, anche se quello di Starnes non è il primo caso del genere. In gennaio un migliaio di lavoratori del gruppo Shanghai Shinmei Electric ha tenuti in ostaggio i manager giapponesi e cinesi, denunciando l’eccesso nelle regole riguardanti pause e punizioni. Secondo alcuni avvocati, i dipendenti cinesi hanno capito che possono ottenere di più con soluzioni di questo tipo, ricorrendo al fai da te, piuttosto che rivolgendosi alla magistratura. Non soltanto l’imprenditore deve vedersela con una situazione di pericolo, ma la risonanza mediatica obbliga la proprietà a fare davvero i conti con le richieste dei lavoratori. Nel caso in questione, Starnes ha precisato che d’ora in avanti, all’interno dei contratti, saranno specificate meglio le regole sulla buonuscita e sullo stipendio.
Dedicato a Margherita Hack
D’accordo con Margherita Hack quando dice che il paradiso non è un condomino dove ritrovare parenti, amici e conoscenti. D’accordo poi che gli animali sono simili a noi. D’accordo anche che quando la morte arriva non serve più aver paura. Ma la scienza e’ una dottrina umana, quindi di per se limitata. Come la scienza non ha mai saputo spiegare Dio, nemmeno la fisica o la matematica saranno mai in grado di inventarsi una funzione che rappresenti l’intelligenza o l’intuito. Chi cerca trova, anche se pure questo non è mai scientificamente provato.
Detto da un ateo.
Michael Patterson, Eroe nel vento
Michael Patterson, the 43-year-old Georgia man who dived into a creek to save a 4-year-old girl from drowning and became paralyzed from the chest down during the rescue, died after spending three weeks in a hospital, The Associated Press reports.
Patterson’s family shared the news on Facebook.
Patterson’s bravery left many, including the woman whose daughter he rescued, stunned. “He jumped in head first and after I grabbed her, I looked back and he was floating on top of the water,” Carlissa Jones told WSB-TV.com after Patterson’s injury, which occurred on June 8.
Jones’ daughter, Javea, was able to be resuscitated. Patterson broke his neck during the dive. He also developed respiratory acidosis, pneumonia and a bacterial infection after the injury, according to Fox News. The medical problems that came after the broken neck contributed to his death, Polk County Coroner Trey Litesey told news outlets.
Patterson’s bravery was commended across the Web. Comments on the Yahoo News story after his injury reflected the immense respect people had for his actions.
One commenter wrote, “there really are no words to express the character of this man.” Another wrote, “now this is what a hero looks like.”
On Facebook, where Patterson’s friends and family had set up a page to raise funds for his care, there was an outpouring of sympathy.
From the page:
Mike’s spirit and selfless actions inspired tens of thousands who sent cards, letters and emails and engaged in posts at the Friends of Mike Patterson Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Friendsofmikepatterson). His life and the lives of others are forever changed by his courageous, split-second decision to save another’s life. Mike’s tragic story made news headlines around the globe. His heroic act stirred an outpouring of emotion and a desire to help Mike in his time of need. His caring nature will forever be honored.
At this time, funeral or any other arrangements are not known. The Friends of Mike Patterson Trust will post additional information as it becomes available. Please keep Mike’s family and friends in your prayers.
Patterson’s dive was not the first time that he had demonstrated his bravery. A week before, he and another man had pulled a truck driver from his cab after the truck caught fire.
His mother told WSB-TV that her son didn’t see what the big deal was about his part in rescuing the man from the truck fire.
“He said he did what he thought, what he hoped anyone else would have done for him. That’s not a very common thing anymore, for anyone to care about someone they don’t know,” she told the Cedartown Standard.
Dimenticarti è poco – Biagio Antonacci
Ci Basta un Sogno–Raphael Gualazzi
Diamonds – Rihanna
Barbaresco
Surgery n.9
Two years ago when I read about platelet-rich plasma therapy I was excited about the possibility of trying that for my soar knee that, due to many sport injuries, is suffering from osteoarthritis and extensive cartilage loss. It had become so bad that it was painful to walk, and at my young age it was hard to deal with the daily pain. Quite interesting I read that with a handful of stem cells it is possible to heal arthritis, get rid of the pain and almost feel like you have a brand new knee. The therapy is an outpatient procedure where blood is drawn from the bone marrow under local anesthesia. The blood is then immediately centrifuged so that the stem cells get separated from the rest of the blood. You get a blood derivative (MSC) that is injected into the joint cavity as a common infiltration. That is enough to activate the stem cells which are transformed in 20-30 days into cartilage cells and are able to repair the joint.
“The results,” assures Professor Ferdinando Priano, famous Orthopedic surgeon who teaches at the University of Genoa, and former president of the Italian Society of Arthroscopy, “are amazing. In 90-95% of cases, the pain decreases and improves joint mobility. There are no problems of rejection or adverse reactions. In reality,” explains Professor Priano, “the use of stem cells taken from the bone marrow has been around for thirty years. If it is used to accelerate the healing of fractures that are struggling to heal or to fill in loss of bone, or in the course of certain replacements of prosthetic joints. But it is only a few of years we are employing these cells to repair cartilage defects.” Basically the stem cells are like baby cells and not fully developed yet. As they grow they are able to multiply and transform in any kind of tissue. This will essentially facilitate the repair of the damaged bone or tissue in the body. Quite fascinating!!
When I read the article above I immediately went to visit Prof. Priano in Genova and when he looked at my knee I was told the bad news. “Your leg is not straight so even if we apply this therapy your knee is not likely to get any benefit from it.”. He suggested I had an Osteotomy to straighten the leg so that the body weight is off the damaged knee area and shifted to the other side of the knee, where the cartilage is still healthy. I have talked about this procedure in this post. So I decided to follow his advice and that’s why on December 2011 I was in Italy to undergo the Osteotomy performed by Prof. Priano.
Few months after the surgery the pain started to improve and I could finally walk with less pain. Although the situation was significantly better, recently I still had some discomfort. I knew I had to try the platelet-rich plasma therapy but I wasn’t too keen on undergoing another surgery. Finally last month I decided to gather all my courage and try. I was comforted by reading this article and find out that this therapy is now very popular among athletes with similar conditions.
I arrived in Italy during last weekend and Tuesday morning I was on my way to the city of Rapallo. There I checked into the private clinic Villa Azzurra, ready to undergo surgery number 9. The clinic is 
small but extremely nice, surrounded by a beautiful garden, sitting on the hills of the Italian riviera, not far from the sea. The very welcoming and serene atmosphere put me immediately at ease. The staff was very nice and courteous. I had to wait a few hours for my turn but finally at 3:30pm the nurse came to take me down to the operating room. “Here’s the Chinese guy” said Prof. Priano smiling at me. I was reassured to see him there. The procedure was quick, at first the blood was drawn from my arms and that was a little painful as they had to use long needles to go deep, near the bone marrow. I only had local anesthesia on the knee and Prof. Priano first cleaned the debris from the joint with a quick arthroscopy as the blood was centrifuged. Then he injected the blood derivative containing the stems cells into my knee. The whole procedure all took about 20 minutes. Two hours later Prof. Priano came to room and said that I could walk on my own and return home. As he left I expressed my gratitude to him. “Thank you professor!”.
It’s too early to say what the outcome is going to be but 3 days after the procedure my knee feel much better already and I can walk around normally without problems, it’s just a little swollen. Overall I am amazed of how simple the procedure was and how I quickly I was able to be back on my feet.
Let’s hope for the best!
Ferrari is Passion…
It was a fantastic weekend in Shanghai where for the first time in my life I went to a F1 Grand Prix. The Ferrari dominated the race and won with Alonso, how lucky that was! It was very emotional for me to be there and finally watch the competition live. F1 racing is my Dad’s favorites sport and I grew up watching the Grand Prix with him on TV. I was also very lucky to sit in a good location where most of the action was happening, right in front of my eyes. That got me so excited that I couldn’t contain my joy, so I called my dad a few times: “We are in first position!!”. Indeed it was a good way to reconnect with him. And what an amazing feeling watching the Ferrari going fast like a bullet, it made me feel so proud of being Italian! It was an unforgettable day and I fell in love again with F1 racing. I will for sure try to go watch other Grand Prix before the end of the season, because it’s not just the racing that was fun but it was a big gathering of people from all over the world, having fun, cheering and spending a great afternoon together.
Se si potesse non morire – Moda’
——- translation——
If I had the time to think
About the beautiful side of things
I would have realized how hot and yellow the Sun really is
And how simple it is when it rains outside to gift yourself with a window so you can make everything look better when making love…
If I just had a little more time to travel
I would shred my heart into salty dust
To cover every inch of the sea
If I could keep more promises and in return have the certainty that roses will bloom without thorns
That will change everything….
Can you imagine if with a single jump we could fly
If we could disappear in a hug
If we could feed ourselves with kisses
There would be a little more love and less hunger in the world
And there would be no time to suffer
And could you imagine if we didn’t have to die
If you could see the stars even when the Sun is shining
If you could be born again every month so that we receive again the sweetness of affection from a mother and father
If we could sleep in the dark without fears anymore..
.. while outside a thunderstorm begins.
If we could give a little bit of faith to those who no longer believe in good things
If even the animals could talk to us, maybe we would start wondering more often if they are human instead of us
If I could walk up to the sky with our eyes closed, aware that we would never stops breathing
That would change things…
Can you imagine if with a single jump we could fly
If we could disappear in a hug
If we could feed ourselves with kisses
There would be a little more love and less hunger in the world
And there would be no time to suffer
And could you imagine if we didn’t have to die
If you could see the stars even when the Sun is shining
If you could be born again every month so that we receive again the sweetness of affection from a mother and father
If we could sleep in the dark without fears anymore..
.. while outside a thunderstorm begins.
while outside a thunderstorm begins.
Beijing meets Seattle
Yesterday I went to see the Chinese movie “Finding Mr. Right” although the Chinese title is 北京遇上西雅图 which translates to “Beijing Meets Seattle”. The film portrays a young Chinese woman named Jiajia, the materialistic girlfriend of a Chinese tycoon. In a ploy to gain U.S. residency, she comes to Seattle pregnant. She stays at a birthing center, where she meets a doctor, Frank, a Chinese immigrant and single dad. Jiajia loses contact with her wealthy boyfriend in China, and eventually Jiajia and Frank fall for each other. Later Jiajia’s boyfriend reappears and takes her back to China, where she can lead a life of comfort and luxury in Beijing. But Jiajia’s feelings for Frank win out and she decides to return to the U.S. to find him. It’s a romantic and touching story, sort of a remake of the movie “Sleepless in Seattle”. It’s interesting how the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s story made a lasting impression on Chinese people. I guess in China people associate rain with romantic feelings and Seattle’s got plenty of rain… It’s also interesting to see a Chinese movie director exposing the audience to the social problems affecting the elite of the society in China.
The film touches a cross-national subject, one that may be popular among Chinese viewers but controversial in the U.S. — foreign nationals coming to the U.S. to give birth. There is a growing trend of wealthier pregnant women getting tourist visas to fly to the United States and give birth in America to make their babies American citizens. Connected to so-called maternity tourism, birthing-home operations have made headlines in California and New York. Recently, such operations in Southern California have been the target of loud complaints and protests from local residents. Los Angeles County has taken measures to crack down on such businesses.
The movie also touches topics that I have talked about in this blog like the stupidity and materialism of certain young girls in China, the downside of a fast growing economy that generates chaos and loss of values in the Chinese society. The movie also talks about the loneliness, confusion and suffering of Chinese young and beautiful ladies. It’s good to see that Jiajia finds the way to put her life back on track after moving to Seattle, almost implying that in the western world lies hope for Chinese women to regain sanity, once they are away from their poisonous life they have in China. And it’s interesting how western men are portrait in the movie: one character is a sperm donor, the next one is full of tattoos, a gay, an old rich man full of arrogance, a rude policemen… – pretty much not ideal candidates for a husband … While Frank, the Chines man and main character of the movie, stands out as the clear winner. He is a good man, humble, wise, caring, generous, a responsible father and a role model husband. He is “mr Right” indeed. It’s clear what the director message is, although love stories on movies are often dreams on celluloid… Real life and reality are a different story.
The movie obviously made me miss Seattle and my friends there. It was Alicia who invited me to watch it in a the theatre at the World Trade Center. Afterwards that she was expecting me to spend the night with her but yesterday, after watching the movie, I felt in a strange mood. If I spent the night with her I would have felt like a toy, and that didn’t make me feel comfortable so I asked her to drive me back home. I could see that she was a little bit disappointed but this time inside of me, something was telling me to be strong and follow my heart…
La vita come un film
Nella mia vita ho sempre cercato di capire il perché delle cose, ho sempre cercato di andare a fondo su tutto, trovare una ragione, la verità, la giustizia, questi sono i miei ideali. Imparare una lezione a volte e dura e i più testardi dalla vita imparano poco. Ma c’è un momento in cui bisogna misurarsi con se stessi. E io voglio avere un ruolo in questo. Altrmenti cosa ho vissuto a fare? La mia vita e davvero stata come un film, piena di ricordi, di episodi. Può darsi che tutto non sia valso a niente. Non mi importa, sento che questo passo lo devo fare.
Dreams
A dream is like a signature. It’s an indelible mark of one’s thoughts, desires and aspirations…