From f258a34b990cd1e02992249a5e3270f1c3f293de Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pim van Pelt Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 18:48:09 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] ITNOG day and Cathedral of Piacenza --- content/blog/wk11day3.md | 115 +++++++++++++++++- static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG | 3 + static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG | 3 + static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG | 3 + static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG | 3 + static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG | 3 + static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG | 3 + 7 files changed, 130 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) create mode 100644 static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG create mode 100644 static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG create mode 100644 static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG create mode 100644 static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG create mode 100644 static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG create mode 100644 static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG diff --git a/content/blog/wk11day3.md b/content/blog/wk11day3.md index 5d02fe8..2a5875d 100644 --- a/content/blog/wk11day3.md +++ b/content/blog/wk11day3.md @@ -1,7 +1,116 @@ --- -title: "Week 11, Wednesday:" +title: "Week 11, Wednesday: ITNOG" date: 2024-10-09T21:55:00+02:00 -draft: true --- -{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/todo.png" alt="Credit: " >}} +{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/missmonique-03.png" alt="Credit: Miss Monique, YouTube" >}} + +Today is it! The venue of ITNOG _On the Road_ is just across the way from where our hotel is. The +folks from Naquadria really did suggest a good spot for us. We wake up at 07:30 and have a breakfast +in the hotel. As yesterday, it's a good start of the day with pastries, yoghurt, scrambled eggs and +bacon, some orange juice and coffee. Marina is so kind as to drive me over to the venue, which is +about twenty minutes walking but only three minutes by car. + +She yeets me out at the frontdoof or the [[UCI +Cinema](https://www.ucicinemas.it/cinema/emilia-romagna/piacenza/uci-cinemas-piacenza/)] which is a +very unique place to have an event like this. I check in - already carrying my badge helps - and get +a goodie bag at the entrance. Going up the stairs, there's coffee and pastries (but I've already +eaten, so I skip the queue here!), and bump in to Alessandro and say hi. The event has a set of +booths in the hallway, mostfly from sponsors but some are interesting: [[VSIX](https://vs-ix.org/)], +[[MIX](https:/www.mix-it.net/)], [[PCIX](https://pcix.it/)] and [[NaMEX](https://namex.it/)] are all +present, and it's fun to see these exchanges all side-by-side like that. + +The 'stage' is actually just in room 5, which of course boasts a wonderful video and audio setup, +being a movie theater and all. It makes me feel like in a university auditorium, it easily seats +four hundred people. About one hundred fifty or so are seated as the presentations start. + +We are greeted by Katia Tarasconi, Mayor of the Municipality of Piacenza, and Alessandro Solari, CEO +of Naquadria, the host for this _On the Road_ event. We then also hear from Nicola Parenti, +President of Confindustria Piacenza, who brings a greeting address. The first topical presentation +is from a Non-Profit called OpenAccess Italia and its project “Parlami di TEch”: a support +tool for families and educators, by Danilo Smaldone and Antonio Prado. Then I get to bring my +presentation about VPP, which you can follow on [go.ipng.ch/itnog](https://go.ipng.ch/itnog), which +is the only one in English. Not too dissimilar from FRnOG in Paris a few weeks ago. + +I make it roughly on time, despite my latest slides not being used (the ones I prepared yesterday). +There's a slightly embarrasing mention of NONOG, and it has quite a few more slides than I have +planned to deliver. Partway through I see a "10 minutes left", but I think I did pretty well for an +on-time delivery. I hope there's a recording - this was a unique presentation having to stand still +so that the cameras could train on me. Without a lectern, I felt a bit naked! + +I am followed by Riccardo Burrai and Pietro Cassarà, who discuss AI/ML-assisted 5G-NTN Integration +for Optimized Network Slicing over Multi-Technology Architecture. What a mouthful! After Riccardo +and Pietro, Stefano Venditti, Luca Bocci, Luigi Antonio Afeltra take the stage and deliver a +presentation called Ground-Segment-as-a-Service (GSaaS), which discussed a new "pay-per-use" +business model for the provision of satellite connectivity. + +A discussion panel is next - an important topic entitled Energy transition: concrete actions for a +sustainable future by Francesco Brianzi, Giulia Houston, Stefano Riva, and Alessandro, our host. +After lunch, two additional presentations entitled 'Data analysis as an engine of energy +optimization', and 'How the CMCD standard can improve streaming monitoring, analysis, and +performance' are given. But, there is a kink - I am missing the subtitles, and there is virtually no +internet in this beautiful cinema: 5G is completely unusable for me, and there is no WiFi. +eventually give Marina a call and she collects me. + +We have a late lunch at [[Lo Fai](http://www.lofai.eatbu.com/)] and I'm amused as the lady there +makes absolutely certain that we understand that this is a _vegan resto_. We know, chillax, and it's +delish! I learn of a new vegetable here: _Cavolo Nero_ (English: Lacinato kale), a dark green leafy +kale that makes the pesto look amazing. Maybe I can get some for an upcoming green pesto at _Casa Di +Pim e Marina_ at some point in the future. + +Marina had planned to visit the _Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta e Santa Giustina_, a Roman +Catholic masterpiece in the town center. There's a musem about its history called +[[KRONOS](http://www.piacenzapace.it/)] which includes both a set of rooms with artefacts and +explanations of this church's checkered history, but also a guided tour of the dome which sits +thirtyfive meters above ground level, and has an absolutely stunning set of fresco's on the inside +of the dome of Guercino. Now, I do have vertigo, and I did not enjoy the 30cm ledge that was the +dome itself, but I made it through with only a _mild_ heart attack. I will say though: the picture +that I posted in the gallery below does not convey the dimensions of this cathedral nor its dome +around which I walked at 27m elevation! + +The rest of the museum had a collection of paintings, statuettes, and history. There were also some +very old artefacts. The oldest and most impressive was [[Codex +65](https://www.omifacsimiles.com/brochures/pia65.html)], an extremely valuable manuscript from the +first half of the 12th century, specially important not only from a historic, paleographic, +liturgical and artistic point of view, but because it has a complete repertory of Gregorian chant +and deals with the history of music, theater, miniature production, medicine, agriculture and the +esoteric sciences. The Codex has been described as one of the first encyclopedias of Western Europe +in the 12th century. + +I have to admit, not being a particularly fanatic art lover: compared to museums with large +collections of (in my mind somewhat repetitive) paintings of Jesus in all stages of His life, I much +prefer this journey through the Cathedral and learning about its history! + +The tour comes to an end and it's 18:00, so we have one last thing to do: shop for groceries! We +decided this afternoon that we'll not go out to dinner, again. We still have a few days in Milan to +go, so for tonight we go to a local delicatessen, hilariously called +[[Eataly](https://www.eataly.net)], and buy hummus, cheese, ham, bread, and a bottle of non-descript +red wine. I've heard many word puns in my life, but _Eataly_ is up there, well done! Before we go +back to the hotel, we take one last obligatory picture: a Selfie of us under the 'Welcome to +Piacenza' sign that is just south of where we sleep tonight. + +We enjoy our evening by watching (italian) TV, rummaging through the Internet for interesting bits +and bobs, and I write my journal for the few days past. Traveling makes it a bit more difficult to +keep up! The food is great, especially the sardines and olives are appreciated. The wine, albeit +non-descript, is perfectly drinkable. I pour almost all of it - sans one plastic cup for Marina - +into my body. I kind of deserve that, methinks! + +Tomorrow we'll go to _Me-lah-knooooowwww_ (Italian: Milano) to pick up Quinn at 13:00 or so. + +## Pictures of the Day + +{{< gallery-category >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1937.JPG" caption="The movie theater room where ITNOG on the road will be hosted" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1943.JPG" caption="I take my obligatory selfie with the audience, a bit hard to see because of the bright lights on the stage, but I asked them to shine their cellphone lights, which many did. Grazie!" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG" caption="The super-green Cavolo Nero on my pasta at Lo Fai in Piacenza, Italy" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1967.JPG" caption="A view down into the Cathedral from the dome of Guercino at Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta e Santa Giustina in Piacenza, Italy" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1978.JPG" caption="A room depicting how it might have looked like when the monks of this place did their finest scribing" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1979.JPG" caption="The original (!) Codex 65, one of the first recognized encyclopediae of western europe, dating from the first half of the 12th century" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1981.JPG" caption="Welcome to Eataly, a punny name for an italian delicatessen shop; we scored a great meal here" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG" caption="An obligatory selfie with Marina at the sign Piacenza, Italy - citta a sostegno dei bambini (English: City supporting children)" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG" caption="The spread for tonight - all found at the Eataly shop around the corner" >}} + +{{< /gallery-category >}} + +{{< gallery-modal >}} +{{< gallery-script >}} diff --git a/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9340b3e --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:166655a2fb6356bf0f526cbdd9ad5f9c179893035a2aca2304a9a617551f4d55 +size 1093614 diff --git a/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..45dac1d --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:b23374dcda7bfc868fb8486c960e0b79ea303bb4980ca78668af058730bafe16 +size 1313308 diff --git a/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d72773e --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:fafc2f34a19feb7f7e1dc769dff7baf7a8cd57d4c0c41ce9e64d54cdf8a54e8c +size 683687 diff --git a/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG b/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24c5d7d --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1947.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:97b4c8716bd6faac6c6916a2c2b56eb74206cdc52e4d824bfe51bb60b4f82d4e +size 40003 diff --git a/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG b/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3965292 --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1983.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:344d9a686990ec5872febb150d08af22faadf824bbb7b755cc430150461e5764 +size 52271 diff --git a/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG b/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff4a994 --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/thumbnails/2024-10-09/IMG_1985.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:ed230926d58b8956c940843fdfce8e939be5640a2346d74570456e13dcd9c693 +size 35475