diario - journal

What you'll read on this page are either reflections on personal events or on stuff I read in the news. Any opinions reported herein are merely personal, and subject to change, since that's how my brain works.

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Google Ads
I was reading an article on the Italian online newspaper Corriere della Sera, on activities celebrating the murder of a "super-magistrate" in Sicily, who was sent there to fight mafia in the '90s. The article describes activism among students, other figures in the war against mafia who were mercilessly killed in front of family, and so on.

When my eyes reached the bottom of the article, I noticed a box with Google Ads, advertising trips to Mafia Island, 6 Mafia ringtones, and "Great deals on Russian Mafia, Shop on eBay and Save!"
Entered on: Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 14:59.

A Loser
I know this is a very controversial issue. But the other side of the story on the terrible massacre perpetrated by Cho Seung-Hui is the story of a kid who came to the United States and was derided for his accent, his clumsiness.

He took revenge, ironically, on a few middle and working class American and foreign students. People who, like his parents, wanted to make it in the U.S.

But the lesson is, to me, as a society, to look at the dinamics of children relationships. Still to this day, I haven't heard anyone address the fact that the adults in this kids' life never took interest in him, or intervened to mediate his troubles as a foreigner growing up among not very sensitive children. I remember growing up we had a lot of comradery even with the "loosers". Maybe it was our Catholic education, but the person who made fun of the "weaker one" was the one who lost respect of the larger group.

I look at my children and the situation is exactly the opposite. Children in their classes immediately isolate the "different" kids.

It takes courage to stand up for those who don't have power. It takes honor. And sometimes it prevents tragedies.
Entered on: Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 at 17:00.

Zoom Zoom Zoom
This is funny: I was looking for some slang expressions on Urban Dictionary online and one caught my eye: Zoom Zoom Zoom.

Says the dictionary:

"In conversation it is an expression which follows a particularly good but lighthearted insult in order to emphasize the caliber of the remark. It is similar to the way that a person would use the word burn. Though the phrase itself was first made popular by the Mazda auto commercials, this particular usage was popularized in the popular television show "Scrubs", where it is often accompanied by a short "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" dance.

Guy 1:Dude, you're pathetic because you've never really satisfied a woman!
Guy 2: Oh really? Well, you might want to check that with YOUR MOM! Ohhhh! Zoom Zoom Zoom!"
Entered on: Friday, March 2nd, 2007 at 19:18.

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