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Connecting the dots ~ Balance of a year

Posted on December 29, 2017 10:56 PM in , ,

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

✓ 1st Book (in the correction phase, but here we are)
✓ 2nd Degree (in Humanities, the first was Technical)
✓ 1st scientific article (a peer-reviewed one)
✓ 1st Course in Tor Vergata University.
× Definitive breach with my ex girlfriend.

An intense year. No doubt.

In search of a pattern

"There are things that don't look connected, but at some point you can connect them and everything makes sense", says Cheryl in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (the remake is not a great movie but contains several good insights).

Jobs 21297033685_5df62b949c_b.jpg

Sometimes I put together some elements to find a pattern, a model of meaning. Steve Jobs focused his famous Stanford speech of 2005 on the concept of connecting dots, adding that to achieve it you can only look back. It's like that, and sometimes I can do it well, sometimes less. On many occasions, this year, I have been able to connect the dots and see a bigger picture, and it was perhaps the year in which it happened more clearly.

Not for everyone is this way, or not for all things (the theme of personal and collective narration is a leitmotif of my research - so somewhere here the longread is assured). If I look at the stories of friends, ex's, or colleagues, I realize that for some of them, it's not easy to connect dots and see a "design". In some cases, they do not give importance to things that, instead, make sense to connect. In other cases we are fixed in a narration that apparently makes sense, but which is not connecting the "right" things. We often do not give space to what is painful, because we don't want to see it in our life, and consciousness. So we tell us a story, but the dots do not connect, or something is always missing... and the painting simply doesn't appear.

The last check on my list is in this category: it was a loss I do not understand well. I can cling to a poet motto, or tell me that it helped growing (in some circumstances, it was), but the truth is that after all these years I'm still unable to catch sense of this story - maybe our singer Vasco is right: there is no one. No dots to join, no pattern.

The personal point of view

In connecting things, there is a personal focal and an extended one.

In the personal focal I can say that a recognizable pattern was certainly the field of study, on the topics that were of my greatest interest: research on digital processes and teaching. The possibility offered by the degree in humanities, combined with the one in computer engineering, gave me the basis to configure a path of deepen professional growth in these two areas. I saw how everything I had done was necessary. Clearly, in order to achieve these results, it was necessary to work hard, but there is a common thread that links the past things - even apparently wrong (such as the degree in engineering, in fact) - to what I have done nowaday. Those skills and past "wrong" studies now make sense.

That's why when I see friends avoiding connecting experiences, I get to say "believe me, it's not useless". Yet I already know that they will not believe me. I too, often, struggle to recognize the experiences, especially the painful and senseless ones. It is way a continuous work, which we never stop learning to do - with a method. Often we find ourselves failing to reread our personal history from different perspectives, and - specially - with a different look...

The tiring adjective refers to all the things that have happened in a single calendar year, so many. Beautiful (most), but also exhausting, because I had to review almost all of my work and study models. It seems not so, but it's like changing head or almost, after 45... Someone could call it "a beautiful challenge" (a term that immediately makes you think of the marketing language). Complicated challenges, too. At the end of the year I experienced two events that are difficult to manage (and we are the third adjective, difficult), I prefer not to talk a lot about. From the seemingly simple distortion to the wrist - that instead is perhaps something other -, to important people who moved away from my routine for work and obedience's reasons. And I will miss them...

Here comes the... Newsletter

Since I'm not the kind of person who stands still for a long time - nor I do everything right, but the contrary*, in January will start my newsletter, which in a flicker of imagination I called "LGPost". It'll be weekly and based on the Paper.li platform drawings from the social feeds I read (Twitter, plus Facebook, Linkedin, in the future), and some articles that I report directly. Hence, if you want to sign up, I'm glad!

* At the time of Splinder - an italian blog community - I wrote a little "eulogy of balance"; today, unfortunately in the maximalism era, articles against mediocrity are rampaging on Medium. Maybe I should find that post...

Movable Type 5.2 upgrade process

Posted on March 30, 2013 1:00 AM in

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

When I've upgraded my copy of Movable Type to the version 5.2 a couple of months ago, I remember I had to say thanks publicly to Mihai Bocsaru of Pro IT Service for the fundamental help he gave to me: without him, I wouldn't probably upgrade no copy of MT, as several problems affected the upgrading process. That's time to do it.

In fact, there're many aspects to consider when upgrading MT, and several scripts to change and upgrade, in several parts. Without an expert mind, I think nobody could point out all these aspect particularly because they can vary from platform to platform, and from situation to situation ─ depending from your installation configuration. 

One point from which start is surely forums.movabletype.org. Here you can find solutions from the persone doing Movable Type, that's clearly the best solution.

In particular, I must thank Mihai for the Signing in stuck problem in comments (consult this post to have information on the whole problem and the related aspects): It was very hard to resolve this also because it was involving several other upgrades to do. But at least all went well.

Another problem you would encounter when upgrading is the inability to properly use the edit window under Firefox 16 or higher. Also for this problem there's a solution, and in this case it's the MT staff developer Takeshi Nick Osanai to furnish it: check the page named "Patch file for Firefox 16 users" to resolve the issue.

Happy Movable-typing!

Hello World (Movable Type 5 bugs)

Posted on October 16, 2010 3:57 PM in

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

Image representing Movable Type as depicted in...

Image via CrunchBase

This post started as a simple test entry to understand what's wrong with Movable Type 5.

I use movable Type since it existed and I loved it.

Last week, I installed MT 4.34 over a MT Pro 4.25 installation that resisted for two years without problems (except for a 504 Gateway error when I try to update my Contacts page, ok: I never fixed that since I don't know why does so and how).

Something went wrong: the upgrade process apparently went perfectly, but when I accessed the Dashboard, I discovered the Edit fields (the ones letting you add and edit entries) simply disappeared. Dashboard, interface, settings and so on worked. But when you click on "Create New", you get a simple page where there isn't any text area to put text in.

So I posted some topics to Movable Type Forum to ask help, and Mike, gently as usual, tried to help, but without result. So I decided to try un upgrade to the newest version 5. Again, upgrade went correct, the data was there, but the entry area to update or add entries not.

Finally, discouraged and sad, I did some tests. I tried to copy a fresh copy of MT 5 over that I have on server. And in this phase, something happened: when I call the  mt.cgi, now it called mt-upgrade.cgi procedure and say that:

Time to Upgrade!

The following Movable Type components require upgrading or installation:

* Professional Pack Version 1.53
* Community Pack Version 1.72


But when I click on the Upgrade button, it get stuck and nothing appears, only the dynamic bar (it's a gif....).

Not clear what's wrong, but now I discovered that the problem could rely on the addons/commercial and community packs. So I deleted them from the server and *puf*, the Edit area now appeared! I apparently can use all.

I uploaded the addons dir again, and again, it appeared "Time to Upgrade!" ..

So now, I'm in doubt about what to do. If I upload this "packs" directory onto the server, MT thinks he must upgrade something in that addons. It isn't so (since they come from the latest version of MT!). But If I don't do that, I think something will happen of not specifically good in the future - even if I don't know what....

It's really necessary the directory addons/commercial.pack?

Any hint wil be deeply appreciated!


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Something changed

Posted on May 23, 2005 11:41 PM in

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

Just a reminder :)

It would be funny if I should write here some feelings of mine. I won't do. :)

Btw: received some mail recently? If not, tell me. I will do. :)

Gained tremendous momentum...

Posted on December 22, 2004 1:57 PM in

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

Blogging has gained tremendous momentum on the Internet, enabling millions to share their lives and thoughts with others. Blogging is all about communication - people are interested in other people's lives and want to share their own experiences and thoughts at the same time. A multimedia diary is a great starting point for sharing the experiences that make up your life.

From the presentation of the new Nokia Lifeblog 1.5 just downloadable also for the 6630 (coincidence)!

Joi's '1k friends' Orkut

Posted on December 20, 2004 12:04 AM in

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

According to Orkut, Joi Ito can have only 1000 friends.

Ok, 64K it's enough for everybody..and so on. But, it's a though on real life compared to "online" life, is a limit of Orkut or is a limit of Social networks instead?

I think the last chance. It's a limit of social network implelementation and theory. Real life can't be simulated in all its various depects and aspects.

The Blogger's Sunday (#71)

Posted on June 28, 2004 3:00 PM in

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

While I'm being reading a comment on the italian marketing blog IMlog (it), about Gmail 1GB resource, my attention has been captured by this excerpt on Lenna's blog:

Why the 90 percent of italian blogs threats political arguments? (on the other countries it's not so!) And why, of this 90, the 90 percent is on the left side? And those blogs that are not political, and want to thread other arguments, fail to publish not-so-ironical posts, or those who offer marketing lessons at a scarse level? Why on the other countries it simply doesn't happen?

I'm not sure elsewhere it's so..

Something more on Gmail: this Help page reports features and wishes, and a new site: Gmail forums.

But there's still nothing for a program that checks multiple Gmail accounts. It would be useful...

First post (aka: the 'all went well' one)!

Posted on May 2, 2004 1:00 AM in

Medium  English posts are also on medium.com/@lucianog.

Hi to everyone out there!

This is my first post in english, I've just opened the blog!

Effectively, I've only installed Movable Type on a fresh site, because my italian weblog is here, blogging since may 2002! :)

Please write me if something doesn't work as it should (viewing, usability, mail or contacts, ..). Thanks.

Welcome 98.84.18.52!
I teach in higher courses about Communication and digital media. I've been coorganizer for TEDxViadellaConciliazione, plus founder of BETA magazine et al.
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