Face-Palm Thread

[Mrs Figg]

The Telegraph, 6th July 2012
Costa Concordia: Capt Francesco Schettino claims 'divine hand' guided him

Capt Francesco Schettino's extraordinary claim came as Italian judges released him from house arrest but said he must remain in his hometown of Meta di Sorrento, south of Naples, as he waits to go on trial on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.
He has been accused of gross negligence by sailing the 1,000ft luxury liner into a rocky reef off the Tuscan island of Giglio, ripping a massive gash in its hull.
But he claimed that rather than being responsible for the 32 dead, he had saved lives with his nautical skills and quick-thinking.
"If I had continued on that path the ship's prow would have hit the rock. It would have been carnage," he wrote in a letter to his lawyers.
"A divine hand surely touched my head. There are those who say the impact with the stern was caused because I was suffering from a hallucination.
What hallucination! It was rather my instinct, my skills, the ability to know the sea and suddenly change direction," he said.
To his critics, the extraordinary justification may fall into the same category as his now infamous claim that he did not deliberately flee the sinking ship, but "tripped and fell" into a lifeboat.
The lifeboat took him to the safety of shore even as hundreds of panic-stricken passengers and crew were trying to flee the listing ship in the darkness, inching their way down rope ladders and clambering into wobbling
lifeboats.
"I created the most optimal conditions to save everybody, independently of how events were unfolding," he wrote.

[Pettytyrant101]

Must be the same divine hand guided George Bush and Tony Blair- someone really needs to catch this divine joker!

[chris63]

[Mrs Figg]

not so face-palm now.

ITALIAN SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE GLIMPSED GOD PARTICLE
reviewitaly.com


Italian-led independent teams of scientists at the CERN physics research center in Gevena announced on Tuesday that they have found signs of the "God particle.” Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle, is believed to be a basic building block of the universe.

Over 40 years ago, British physicist Peter Higgs and others theorized the particle's existence to explain why atoms, and everything else in the universe, have weight. Now, for the first time, scientists have narrowed down research to define the region where the sub-atomic particle is likely to be discovered, but they clarify that they had found no conclusive proof of its existence yet . The leaders of two experiments, ALTAS and CMS, revealed their findings to a packed seminar at CERN.

Fabiola Gianotti, the particle physicist in charge of the ATLAS experiment, the biggest detector ever built at a particle collider, said that ATLAS had narrowed the search to a signal centered at around 126 GeV (Giga electron volts).

"I think it would be extremely kind of the Higgs boson to be here," she said during the seminar, as reported by Reuters. "But it is too early" for final conclusions, she said. "More studies and more data are needed. The next few months will be very exciting...I don't know what the conclusions will be."

Afterward, Guido Tonelli, lead physicist for the CMS experiment, outlined findings similar to those of the ATLAS team, saying the particle is most likely found "in the low mass region" of the collider.

[David H]

It's like putting rubbish in the pyramids,

I hope the Egyptians weren't listening!

[Mrs Figg]

not so face-palm now.

ITALY SCIENTISTS SAY THEY HAVE FOUND OLDEST HUMAN BLOOD

ROME (Reuters) may 2nd 2012 - Scientists examining the remains of "Otzi," Italy's prehistoric iceman who roamed the Alps some 5,300 years ago, said on Wednesday they have isolated what are believed to be the oldest traces of human blood ever found.

The German and Italian scientists said they used an atomic force microscope to examine tissue sections from a wound caused by an arrow that killed the Copper Age man, who was found frozen in a glacier, and from a laceration on his right hand.

"They really looked similar to modern-day blood samples," said Professor Albert Zink, 46, the German head of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman at the European Academy in Bolzano, the capital of Italy's German-speaking Alto-Adige region.
"So far, this is the clearest evidence of the oldest blood cells," he said by telephone, adding that the new technique might now be used to examine mummies from Egypt.
The studies were carried out in conjunction with the Center for Smart Interfaces at Darmstadt Technical University in Germany and and the Center for Nano Sciences in Munich.

Over the last two decades, scientists have collected data from the stomach, bowels and teeth of the well-preserved man, who was found protruding out of a glacier by German climbers in 1991 in the Tyrolean Alps on the Austrian-Italian border.
Otzi, whose nickname derives from the German word for the area where he was found, had brown hair and type-O blood and was believed to be 45 when he was felled by an arrow while climbing the high mountains some 5,300 years ago.
The nanotechnology instrument used Zink and his team scans the surface of the tissue sections using a very fine probe, the scientists said in a summary of their report.
As the probe moves over the surface, sensors measure every tiny deflection of the probe, line by line and point by point, building up a three-dimensional image.

RED DOUGHNUT CELLS
Zink, an anthropologist, said the red blood cells his team found had a classic doughnut shape seen in healthy people today.
"It is very interesting to see that the red blood cells can last for such a long time," he said.
"This will also open up possibilities for forensic science and may help lead to a more precise determination of the age of blood spots in crime investigations," he added.
Earlier this year, the scientists made the first complete genome-sequencing on Otzi, determining that the man had a predisposition for cardiovascular diseases and brown eyes that betrayed possible near-Eastern origins.
Otzi had lactose intolerance that was common among Neolithic agrarian societies and was also the first-known carrier of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection spread by ticks.

Examination of the wound where the arrow entered Otzi's back identified fibrin, a protein involved in the clotting of blood, a summary of the report said.
Because fibrin is present in fresh wounds and then decays, this appears to show that the hunter died quickly rather than after a few days as had been previously thought, it said.
Zink carried out his research with Marek Janko and Robert Stark, professors of material sciences at the Center for Nano Sciences in Munich and Italian colleagues in Bolzano.
To be certain that the specimens they were examining were blood and not pollen, the scientists used a second analytical method known as the Raman spectroscopy method.
In that method, a laser beam illuminates a tissue sample and analysis of the spectrum of the scattered light permits the identification of various molecules.
Zink said he and his colleagues hope to carry out further analysis on Otzi's enzymes, proteins and immune system.
"We hope we can make good progress in this area too," he said.
The complete results will be published by Britain's Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella

[Mrs Figg]

not so face-palm now

BEPPE GRILLO

Beppe Grillo, a popular Italian comedian, actor, and political satirist, writes one of the few non-English language blogs that's become wildly popular worldwide. That's because Grillo speaks the international language of outrage. On a typical day, Grillo's blog may call for Germany to declare war on Italy, or failing that, for Italy to boycott the upcoming Olympic Games in China, or for a prominent politician to stop acting like a "Psycho-dwarf." Most of the outrage has a political point — the Beppe blog features a regularly updated list of members of the Italian Parliament who have been convicted, and frequently calls for tainted politicians to resign from office. Last September, Grillo used his blog to rally marchers in nearly 300 Italian towns for his "Fuck Off Day," to encourage citizens to forcibly remove from office members of the Italian Parliament who have criminal convictions. The rally was such a hit that a second round is planned for April 25th. America could use a political satirist fueled by this sort of outrage, but for now, there's Beppe.

wikipedia says;
Grillo has spearheaded several national and international political campaigns. On Sept. 8, 2007, he organized a "V-Day Celebration" in Italy; the "V" stood for vendetta ('revenge') and vaffanculo ('fuck off'). During the rally, Grillo projected the names of two dozen Italian politicians who had been convicted of crimes ranging from corruption and tax evasion to abetting a murder. More than 2 million Italians participated in this rally. Grillo also used this rally to urge Italians to sign a petition calling for the introduction of a Bill of Popular Initiative to remove members of the Italian Parliament who have criminal convictions of any kind from their office. According to Internet scholars, V–day was the first case in Italian history of a political demonstration developed and promoted via word–of–mouth mobilization on the blogosphere and the social web.

This was followed by the second V-Day on 25 April 2008, in Turin, S.Carlo square. This V-Day was dedicated to the Italian press and its government financial support; Grillo heavily criticized the Italian press for the lack of freedom; Umberto Veronesi (about his support for incinerators); NATO bases in Italy, the politicians (Silvio Berlusconi had recently been re-elected) and Retequattro, still holding on to TV frequencies already assigned to Europa 7
On 1 September 2005, thanks to contributions from readers of his blog, Grillo bought a full page advertisement in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica in which he called for the resignation of the Bank of Italy's (then) governor Antonio Fazio over the Antonveneta banking scandal. In October 2005, Time chose him as one of the "European Heroes 2005" for his constant battle against corruption and financial scandals.
On 22 November 2005 Grillo also bought a page in the International Herald Tribune, again claiming that members of the Italian Parliament ought not to represent citizens if they have ever been convicted in a court of law, even in the first degree of the three available in the Italian system. His blog now contains a regularly updated list of members of the Italian Parliament who have been convicted in all three degrees, in what he calls "operation Clean Parliament". Grillo claimed, in 2007, that data suggested that even Scampia, the most dangerous suburb of Naples and one of the areas with the highest crime rate in Europe, actually had a lower crime rate than the Italian parliament's membership.
On 22 November 2005 Grillo also bought a page in the International Herald Tribune, again claiming that members of the Italian Parliament ought not to represent citizens if they have ever been convicted in a court of law, even in the first degree of the three available in the Italian system. His blog now contains a regularly updated list of members of the Italian Parliament who have been convicted in all three degrees, in what he calls "operation Clean Parliament". Grillo claimed, in 2007, that data suggested that even Scampia, the most dangerous suburb of Naples and one of the areas with the highest crime rate in Europe, actually had a lower crime rate than the Italian parliament's membership.

[Mrs Figg]

not so face-palm now

'Proof' that long lost Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece lies behind Florence painting
The Telegraph saturday 7th July 2012

Art 'detectives' searching for a long-lost Leonardo masterpiece in a palazzo in Florence have found traces of paint which match that used by the Renaissance genius for the Mona Lisa. Researchers claim the discovery is the first definitive proof that the Leonardo work lies hidden beneath a huge battle scene subsequently painted in the same spot by the artist Giorgio Vasari.
More work needs to be done, but the findings seem to have solved a 500-year-old mystery and could represent one of the biggest discoveries in the history of art for decades.
Leonardo was commissioned in 1503 to paint an enormous tableau, The Battle of Anghiari, in the Hall of the Five Hundred in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Contemporaries hailed the work as "the school of the world". But it disappeared when Vasari was commissioned to enlarge and completely remodel the imposing hall, painting six new murals on its walls. It had long been assumed that the Leonardo work was obliterated.
After centuries of speculation about whether it may have survived, researchers led by Dr Maurizio Seracini, of the University of California San Diego, drilled a series of tiny holes in existing cracks and fissures in the Vasari battle scene.
They pushed probes and micro-cameras through the holes and discovered traces of red, white, orange and black pigment – evidence of a large painting.
The black pigment was made up of an unusual combination of manganese and iron and corresponds exactly to the black paint used in Leonardo's Mona Lisa and St John the Baptist" This was a type of paint specifically used by Leonardo and not found in the works of other artists," said Dr Seracini at a press conference in the Hall of the Five Hundred.
"This is an exciting day," said Terry Garcia, an executive president of National Geographic, which sponsored the project. "We've waited a long time for this. This team has unlocked a mystery that has been with us for 500 years. It is important not just to Italy but to the world."

[Norc]

the pope looks evil in every single shot of him.

[Eldorion]

For this thread:

[Mrs Figg]

Berlusconi trial hears of women dressed as nuns stripping
The Guardian 16th April 2012

Italian former PM's parties shocked me, says Imane Fadil adding that she was later warned to keep quiet by a 'mysterious' man
A model testifying at Silvio Berlusconi's trial for paying for underage sex has given dramatic evidence of young women dressed as nuns and footballers stripping at the former prime minister's parties, and has claimed she was warned not to speak about what she had seen.

Moroccan Imane Fadil, 27, told the court she watched as two young women donned black habits and crucifixes to perform a pole dance before stripping to their underwear. At another party, a Brazilian model wearing a mask of the footballer Ronaldinho and an AC Milan shirt stripped to her G-string.
Fadil is one of at least three women who have come forward to deny Berlusconi's claims that his "bunga bunga" parties at his mansion outside Milan
Milan in 2010 were more than just "elegant dinners".
Shocked at what she saw at her first party, Fadil said Berlusconi took her into his office and handed her a watch, earrings and €2,000 (£1,650) in an envelope, stating: "Don't be offended, but I know you women are always in need."
Fadil said she declined to stay the night, and claimed the women who did were paid more for sex. "The girls complained they were afraid of diseases," she said. "But they all competed to stay because whoever stayed earned a lot more."
The nights, she said, were arranged by Nicole Minetti, a former TV showgirl now regional councillor for Berlusconi's party – who was one of those allegedly dressed as a nun – and Emilio Fede, a former newscaster on one of his TV channels.
Both are separately standing trial for procuring prostitutes for Berlusconi, who stepped down as prime minister in November. They deny the charges.
Berlusconi's trial, which started last April, centres on his relationship with Moroccan runaway Karima el-Mahroug, known as Ruby the Heart Stealer, who attended parties aged 17. Mahroug denies working as a prostitute and has said she never had sex with the former prime minister. Paying a prostitute under 18 is illegal in Italy. Berlusconi is also charged with pressuring police to hush up the case.
He has said large sums of money he gave to Mahroug were to prevent her straying into prostitution, while he has also claimed he believed she was a relative of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.
Fadil, who is also a Moroccan national, said that on one occasion a fellow party guest had told her Mahroug had "extremely compromising" photos and videos of the parties.
After news of Berlusconi's parties emerged, Fadil said she was repeatedly contacted by a "mysterious" blond, blue-eyed man who invited her to a meeting at Berlusconi's mansion and gave her an untraceable mobile phone to stay in touch.
She told the court: "That person threatened me and told me, 'If you say something about it's your business.'" Asked by Berlusconi's lawyers why she had not spoken before of the meetings, Fadil replied: "I was scared, and I am scared today to walk out of this courtroom."
After refusing to meet Berlusconi. Fadil said she was contacted by Fede. "He made me understand that I should not talk about what I had seen," she said.
• This article was amended on 17 and 18 April 2012. It was originally amended to reflect that Karima el-Mahroug denies working as a prostitute. The footnote has been corrected to show that the original was not wrong to say Berlusconi is standing trial for paying an underage prostitute.

Mr Berlusconi has denied any wrongdoing. The trial is due to start on April 6 in Milan and he has said he will appear in court to defend himself, insisting that he is the victim of a "Left-wing orchestrated plot" to oust him.

[Eldorion]

Moroccan Imane Fadil, 27, told the court she watched as two young women donned black habits and crucifixes to perform a pole dance before stripping to their underwear. At another party, a Brazilian model wearing a mask of the footballer Ronaldinho and an AC Milan shirt stripped to her G-string.

Hot.

[Mrs Figg]

[Norc]

okay... what the fuck. all of it. what in the name of God was all that...? hot? when was that hot and why? and I don't understand. masks? what the fuck!

[Mrs Figg]

Norc I have been saying 'what the fuck' every day for the 15 years I have lived in Italy. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
weird thing is I love it here, its never boring.

[Norc]

I bet x)

[Mrs Figg]

this is to balance out the negative stuff a bit.

FIRST ITALIAN WOMAN ASTRONAUT to be launched into space in 2014

ROME, July 3 (Xinhua) -- An Italian woman astronaut has been assigned for the first time for a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), local media reported on Tuesday.

In 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be launched into space on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) announced in Rome.

Cristoforetti, 35, a captain in the Italian Air Force, is now trained on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Station systems, robotics and spacewalks.

"The past three years as a European astronaut have been an amazing time of personal and professional growth," she was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency after receiving the news of her assignment.

"I am now excited to continue this journey with the objective of serving Italy and Europe as a crewmember of the International Space Station," she added.

"As privileged temporary inhabitants of humanity's outpost in space, we will make every effort to share the mission, and virtually take along all those who want to join our journey," said the astronaut, who enjoys hiking, scuba diving and doing yog when not in training program.
Cristoforetti will work on the Station for six to seven months as part of the six-astronaut international crew.

[Mrs Figg]

SECRET STASH OF 100 'Caravaggio sketches' FOUND IN MILAN CASTLE

The Guardian 5th July 2012
Researchers say alleged early works show master painter's key traits and could be worth £560m
A team of historians have claimed to have stumbled on 100 previously undiscovered early sketches by Caravaggio hidden in a castle in Milan, a cache they have valued at £560m.

The sketches were found among 1,378 works in the archive of painter Simone Peterzano, who employed the teenage Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, as an apprentice in his Lombardy studio between 1584 and 1588, before the young painter headed south to Rome to win fame.

"We always felt it was impossible that Caravaggio left no record, no studies in the workshop of a painter as famous as his mentor," Maurizio Bernardelli Curuz Guerrieri, artistic director for the Brescia Museum Foundation, told Italian news agency Ansa.

The sketches attributed to the artist, who championed the dramatic chiaroscuro technique of mixing light and shade, and whose popularity has soared over the past century, will be published on Friday in an ebook to be sold on Amazon.

Bernardelli and fellow researcher Adriana Conconi Fedrigolli searched through Peterzano's collection in Milan's Castello Sforzesco after a two-year study of works by Caravaggio hanging in churches and museums, to understand the geometric patterns the artist later favoured, particularly in his Roman period.
The findings shed light on a period of Caravaggio's life that has been shrouded in mystery until now. After he moved to Rome, Merisi acquired notoriety after killing a man, brawling and arguing with his patrons, then fleeing to Naples and Malta before painting some of his most dramatic works in Sicily. He died in mysterious circumstances in Tuscany, aged 38, possibly of syphilis, sword wounds, malaria or poison from the lead in his paints, according to a recent theory based on studies of bones supposed to be his.

Bernardelli said he wanted to find Caravaggio's early sketches after studying the artist's mother. "Caravaggio's mother, Lucia Aratori, had spent a fortune to pay the expensive fees to be an apprentice for four years in Simone Peterzano's studio," he said. "It is impossible that she would not have wanted to see the results."

[Pettytyrant101]

I was a corrupt mafia stooge in charge of a country and its media I'd probably spend a lot of time in the company of beautiful woman too! They could pour my buckie for me

[Eldorion]

okay... what the fuck. all of it. what in the name of God was all that...? hot? when was that hot and why? and I don't understand. masks? what the fuck!

Is "hot" not used as a slang term for sexy or attractive in Fjordlandia?

[Mrs Figg]

I still dont understand why Ronaldinho?

[Norc]

okay... what the fuck. all of it. what in the name of God was all that...? hot? when was that hot and why? and I don't understand. masks? what the fuck!

Is "hot" not used as a slang term for sexy or attractive in Fjordlandia?

yes, but in the context I didn't understand why the use of it.

[Eldorion]

I still dont understand why Ronaldinho?

Berlusconi has weird tastes? As if we didn't know that.

yes, but in the context I didn't understand why the use of it.

I was being sarcastic because I don't understand why anybody would want that face on their strippers.

[Mrs Figg]

Its a mystery

[Norc]

true that Eldo.