FCHouse

Home Sweet Home!

Posted by Carlo - 31/12/06 at 08:12:42 pm

The weather, in these few days in Italy, has reflected our moods: it started with a good Sun, becoming after some days cloudy, cold and foggy.

This “Vacation” has been a lot of things, but anything relaxing and peaceful. We have been sent back in the land we had moved away from eight months ago.

Home Sweet Home has been the phrase we have thought once in London. We are at Home.

Another chapter of our life has been closed this Christmas, all the physical stuff we had in Italy has been moved, all the stuffs relocated.

We are at Home, Now. (and the ADSL is working again, sorry for the downtime)
Happy New Year to everyone of you. We hope 2007 will bring the Joy in your life. Thanks to Everyone who has been close to us in these years, months and days.

FCHouse goes in Italy for a short vacation!

Posted by Carlo - 23/12/06 at 10:12:48 pm

Hello everyone!

Fabiana and I will spend our Christmas vacation in Italy, with our parents and Friends. In these days our connectivity will be highly limited, so we don’t know if we will be able to post.

We would like to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

We will be back next year.

Thanks to everyone of you who has made this place special!

Fabiana and Carlo 

Wengo Visio: blog integration for videochat

Posted by Carlo - 22/12/06 at 09:12:53 am

This morning I found out a good piece of software, coming out from France. For those who don’t know, Wengo is an Open Source VOIP software. I’ve followed this software since its inception, and now the developers have released an interesting “plugin” in order to fill the gap between the Blogging Social Networking and the VOIP.

The new project is called Wengo Visio. It is still in beta, but it is promising!

As you can see on the right panel on FCHouse, you can contact me when I’m online, and you can have a direct video contact! It is really interesting, because this integration between the blogs and their readers can open new worlds!

I haven’t been able to test it deeply, so I don’t know how it really works. Well, if anyone wanna try, just open a new connection with me!

PS: differently from Skype, Wengo is Open Source and VOIP Standard!

UPDATE: to use the plugin you need to register for wengo on their website, collect the HTML code on the Wengo Visio site and put (as it is) on your webpage!

Everything is Very Easy and works perfectly under MacOsX and Windows. If you feel anything wrong under Linux (as someone told me) leave a comment: I cannot return a text chat!!!!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Posted by Carlo - 21/12/06 at 05:12:22 pm

And here we are! At least JK Rowling has revealed the title of her last harry Potter Book:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

BBC has been really fast in providing this succulent information. Clearly there are no images linked to the title, but this is just the first bit of news about it!

Enjoy… I will wait for the book to come out. The date is still unclear: it seems that JK Rowling is still finishing the book!

Quality of Contents: do not vomit your feelings!

Posted by Carlo - 21/12/06 at 10:12:57 am

Some days ago I read an interesting post on Webomatica. I’d like to show you one of the passage that hit me:

As J Leroy advises, don’t blog angry. Many a time I have written a really annoyed and sarcastic email, blog post, or comment, but just before hitting “publish,” I’ve realized I was just ranting - and rethought what I was about to make public on the web.

So I started reading some old posts, some of those I wrote when we still were in Italy. They were full of anger, of pain and bad things and feelings mixed together. I was writing from my stomach, vomiting out every single thought that was passing through my mind. FCHouse has been the repository of my thoughts, the place where, writing my anger, I was able to calm myself… but this wasn’t good for the reader.

Sorry.

In the last months I have changed my style: I do not write from my lower body, I do not write because I need to scream. I write calmly (quite always), trying to use my mind, trying to make this blog an interesting place, maybe a place where to discuss about everything. This has been reflected on the number of visitors, on the quantity, but especially the quality of the comments and of the visitors.

I hope that you, reader of this little blog, will find something interesting, useful of funny here, because this is what I have become since my move in London. I have found my peace again.

Thank You, Fabiana. Thank You, London!

The practicalness of RSS versus the pleasure of websites

Posted by Carlo - 21/12/06 at 04:12:45 am

I have to admit: RSS are very practicals! You have all the news in one place, no need to open thousands (?) of web pages. Everything is predigested and ready to be read.

On the other side I like to see the information in their contest. When I read some blogs, I know their layout, I like to taste their words in their environment. I know, it can be stupid, but it is what I am.

Usually I grab the RSS feeds from all my sources, but I always visit those I have linked in this blog with Firefox.

Am I the only one to do it?

Do we risk to lose some of the Web 2.0 interaction using too much our RSS?

When I surf the blogs and I find something interesting, I always comment it. It’s a part of me. When I use the RSS, even if the post is quite interesting, rarely I leave a comment… I’m too lazy to open the news in the browser and comment it. No, it is not laziness, it is the fact that I’m not completely involved in the reading!

La “Idiots’ Guide” dell’Emigrante (IT - Parte 3 / Questioni di Lingua)

Posted by Carlo - 20/12/06 at 08:12:58 pm

Dopo tante domande, una delle cose piu’ importanti per diventare un “Emigrante”, e’ la Preparazione! Preparazione a cosa? Beh a Molte cose (a volte troppe cose…). In primis la lingua!

Non diventerete madrelingua in una settimana, in un mese o in un anno, ma da qualche parte dovrete pur partire, vero? Ci sono alcune cose che potrebbero aiutarvi. Prima di tutto prendete la grammatica dal vostro scaffale: una buona rispolverata non potra’ che farvi bene! Studiate, ma nel frattempo cercate di rimanere in contatto con la lingua viva: leggete un buon libro, fate in modo che il vostro DVD non proietti piu’ l’audio in italiano e cercate di trovare qualcuno con cui fare due chiacchiere!

La “Idiots’ Guide” e’ basata principalmente sulle mie esperienze personali, quindi essendomi trasferito in Inghilterra, i miei esempi si baseranno sull’Inglese!

• Lettura e Ascolto: Quando pianificammo di trasferirci a Londra, mi comprai tutti i libri di Harry Potter in lingua originale. C’e’ piu’ di una ragione per la mia scelta. L’autrice (JK Rowling) scrisse il primo libro con uno stile molto semplice, incrementando la difficolta’ di lettura ogni libro. Questo vi aiutera’ a far maturare la qualita’ del vostro inglese con l’andare della lettura. Ovviamente ho scelto questi libri perche’ (a mio avviso) sono molto belli. Una cosa molto importante da fare e’ procurarsi gli audiolibri di cio’ che state leggendo: leggere e ascoltare assieme, sebbene complicato inizialmente, e’ un’ottima cosa da fare. Non solo vi abituerete alla pronuncia (di solito gli audiolibri sono recitati molto bene), ma vi abituerete ad ascoltare senza dovervi necessariamente concentrare sul labiale.

• Ascolto: Un’altra mossa vincente e’ guardare i film in lingua originale: inizialmente potra’ essere un tantino frustrante, siate avvisati, ma ci sono cose che vanno fatte. Ascoltate la radio in inglese, anche quello e’ un buon esercizio per far pratica con la cosa piu’ importante se deciderete di partire: la Comunicazione!

Cosi’ abbiamo coperto due delle quattro componenti della comunicazione, probabilmente le piu’ semplici… e adesso? Beh, le ultime componenti sono forse le piu’ importanti per una buona interazione: Parlare e Scrivere! La prima cosa che dovete cercare di capire e’ che essere in grado di esprimere le proprie idee e’ importantissimo in ogni momento. Chi pensa che i “Development Geeks” non ne abbiano bisogno… beh si sbagliano. Lo sviluppo, come ogni altra attivita’, si basa sulla comunicazione. Di certo siamo avantaggiati, in quanto gran parte della terminologia tecnica e’ in inglese, ma esprimere le proprie idee (base del lavoro di gruppo) non puo’ essere fatta correttamente pronunciando (magari male) poche parole.

• Parlare: Eccoci nello scoglio piu’ grosso. Parlare e’ facile, potete farlo con voi stessi (o sono l’unico che parla con se stesso?) …ma quello equivarrebbe a barare! Dovete confrontarvi con qualcuno. Internet puo’ aiutarvi a trovare qualcuno dall’altra parte del mondo con cui scambiare quattro chiacchiere. Fatelo! Avete qualche collega con cui parlare in inglese? Fatelo! A volte vi sentirete stupidi a parlare in inglese in un posto dove nessuno lo fa. Verrete squadrati da capo a piedi (o peggio), ma FATELO!
• Scrivere: per parlare potete fare come faccio io: baro! Parlo abbastanza bene l’inglese, correggendomi alquanto spesso e cercando la via piu’ semplice per esprimere i miei pensieri. Se non riesco a ricordarmi determinate parole, cambio strada e ne cerco una piu’ percorribile. Potete farlo, va bene! Io mi sono lanciato in un ambiente lavorativo meno di cinque giorni dopo essere sbarcato qui. Puo’ essere difficile, ma non tanto quanto mandare una email in un inglese corretto! Ho cominciato a scrivere questo blog sia in Italiano che in Inglese; i risultati non sempre sono stati dei migliori. I primi post in Inglese erano SCHIFEZZE (usavo dire che erano scritti in INGLISH). Ma ho continuato. e ancora. e ancora. Ho scritto in una lingua in cui non ero in grado di scrivere, ma non mi sono mai fermato, perche’ piu’ si scrive, piu’ si migliora!

La Pratica Rende Perfetti (Practice Makes Perfect!)

Una volta una cliente, interrogata sul mio operato, ha detto ad un mio collega (tra altre cose): “Riesco a capire tutto quello che mi scrive. A volte usa parole ‘buffe’, ma capisco chiaramente i suoi messaggi“.
L’Inglese e’ una lingua strana, specialmente per noi italiani. Puoi parlare con un accento tremendo, puoi dimenticarti le “s” per strada (come faccio continuamente), puoi fare un sacco di errori, ma l’importante non e’ la presentazione, ma il contenuto. Finche’ sarete in grado di far capire quello che volete dire, la qualita’ della “presentazione” non sara’ molta. Non conta troppo la vostra grammatica, ma la vostra capacita’ di far giungere i messaggi agli interlocutori.
Chiaramente questo non vi da Luce Verde per parlare (e scrivere) come un Klingon.

Pratica! Perche’ avrete bisogno di interagire con il nuovo mondo, e prima sarete in grado di farlo, meglio sara’!

Buona Fortuna!

PS: Non credo di essere la persona migliore per darvi consigli grammaticali… ma se volete una chiacchierata chiedetemi il mio numero di skype!

The Idiots’ Guide to the Emigrants (EN - Part 3 / Language Issue)

Posted by Carlo - 20/12/06 at 08:12:19 pm

After so many questions, one of the most important things, if you really want to become an Emigrant, is the preparation. Preparation to what? Well, to Many Many things! (sometimes too many things…). First of all the Language!

You will never become mother tongue in a week, a month or a year, but you have to start from somewhere, don’t you? There are some things you can do to make it easier. First of all take out of the shelves your old grammar: a good look at it again won’t do nothing but good things! Study, but meanwhile you have to get in touch with the live language: read a good book, switch you DVD language and try to find someone to talk with.

This “Idiot’s Guide” is based on my personal experiences, therefore having moved in England my examples refers to the English language.

• Read and Listen: When I planned to move to London, I bought all the Harry Potter’s book in English. There is more than one reason for this choice. The author (JK Rowling) wrote the first book with a very simple language, increasing the level of difficulty every book. This will help your english passing from one book to another. Of course the books itself are really good (IMHO). Another really good thing is to try to find the audiobooks of those book you are reading: reading and listening together, even if it can be quite tricky in the beginning, is a really good thing to do! Not only you will get used to a good pronunciation (audiobooks are usually well read) but you will also gain practice on listening without looking at someone!

• Listen: Another good point is watching the DVD in the language you will have to use: initially it will be very frustrating, be warned, but there are things that must be done. Listen, also the radio, is a good exercise to practice one of the most important part in your new location: the communication!

We have covered two of the four part of the communication, maybe the easier… and now? well the latest two components are the most important for a good interaction: Speaking and Writing. The first thing to understand is that being able to express yourself is one of the most important part in every field. Who thinks that the “Development Geeks” does not need a lot of it… well they are wrong. Development, like any other thing, is based on communication. We are quite advantaged, because all the technical words we use daily are english, but expressing ideas (the base of a teamwork) cannot be done easily with only few, badly pronounced words.

• Speaking: Here we are in one of the hardest task. Speaking is easy, you can talk to yourself in another language (am I the only one who talk to himself?)… but that is cheating! You have to face someone. Internet helps those who have a good spirit and wants to try. Skype, other messengers can grant you the capability to find someone on the other part of the planet to have a chat. Do it! Do you have any colleague to talk to (in English)? Do It! Sometimes you will feel stupid talking in English where everyone else do not. You will be stared at like a zombie, or worst. But DO IT!

• Writing: Speaking you can do as I do: I cheat! I speak quite well, correcting me quite often and trying to chose the easiest words available. If I am not able to say a specific thing in a certain way… well I try another one. You can do it. I have thrown myself in a working environment less than five days after my arrival here. It can be tricky, but not hard as sending an email without grammar mistakes. I have started this blog writing both in Italian and English; the result haven’t been always good. The first posts in English were CRAP (I was use to say I was writing in INGLISH, the way you pronounce “English” in Italian). But I went on. and on. and on. I wrote in a language I wasn’t able to, but I never stopped, because the more you write, the more you get better.

Practice Makes Perfect!

Once a client, asked about how did she evaluate me, told to a colleague of mine (between other things): “I can understand everything he writes me. Maybe sometimes he uses ‘funny’ words, but I can clearly understand every message.”

English is a strange language, especially for the Italians. You can speak with a terrible accent, you can fail the “s” (as I always do), and you can mispell a lot of words, but the important thing is not the shell, the important thing is the ghost. You have to be able to make the communication understandable, and as long you are able to make the others understand the content of your messages (not email messages, folks, the message you are trying to pass to someone else) it is good! It doesn’t count how perfect your grammar is, the thing that count is how much you are able to let your ideas reach the others!
Of course this doesn’t gives you the green light to speak (and write) as a Klingon.

Practice, because you will need to be able to interact with the new world, the sooner you will be able to do it in a proper way, the better will be!

Good Luck!

PS: I don’t think to be the best person to give you grammar advices, but if you wanna chat… well ask me for my skype contact!

Christmas email: another way of spreading spam!

Posted by Carlo - 20/12/06 at 01:12:27 pm

In these days I am receiving a lot of email for Christmas. I like getting those mails, but the problem is that too many times a lot of email addresses are set into the To field or into the Cc field.

In this way everyone receiving the mail have the address of all the others, and if one of them get a virus, it is highly likely that all the others will receive an infected mail.

PLEASE, when sending these emails, try to remember to put ALL your contacts in the Bcc field: in this way everyone will receive the mail, but no one will have all the other addresses the mail has been sent to!

Friends will be Friends

Posted by Carlo - 20/12/06 at 12:12:54 pm

Yesterday I watched “Nothing Hill” and I have been hit by the special relation some Friends (Bella - the woman on wheelchair - and Max - her husband) have with William Tucker (Hugh Grant). I had already seen that film (and more than once), but every time I see how these people behave, even if in Fiction, I always think to my Friends.

Some of them has disappeared, some of them are trying to keep in touch, other seems not to be friends any longer. I miss them, and probably they are one of the few things that I really miss.

I hope they will bring us in their heart, that they will forgive us for having flown away. I hope they will be able to remember us for what we have always been: Friends.
In these moments I remember Queen’s song: Friends will be Friends.

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Carlo Nicora is at home in London.