ITNOG day and Cathedral of Piacenza

content/blog/wk11day3.md

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-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 Cassar&agrave;, 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 >}}