Canzone per AM

perchè basta anche un niente per essere felici,
basta vivere come le cose che dici

da "Canzone per Alda Merini" di Roberto Vecchioni

Roast with home made seitan

My first veggie roast with home made seitan (from wheat flour).

New post about Sales Orders and Ship Groups in OFBiz on HWM Blog

Another post of the OFBiz tutorial series I wrote for my company's blog:
"OFBiz Tutorial – Order Entry and Ship Groups"

Fiorentina out of CL, but with a victory

Fiorentina's Mission Impossible

After the unacceptable decisions of the refree during the first match, Fiorentina tonight is going to try its Mission Impossible versus Bayern Monaco:

New post about PDF exports in OFBiz on HWM Blog

Another post of the OFBiz tutorial series I wrote for my company's blog:
"OFBiz Tutorial – Implementing a Product PDF export"

New post about CSV exports in OFBiz on HWM Blog

Another post of the OFBiz tutorial series I wrote for my company's blog:
"OFBiz Tutorial – Implementing a Product CSV export"

Another post in the OFBiz Tutorial series

Another post of the OFBiz tutorial series I wrote for my company's blog:
"OFBiz Tutorial – Enhancing the Product list screen"

New post about OFBiz Widget Programming on HWM Blog

Here is the link of a new post about OFBiz widgets I wrote for my company's blog:
"OFBiz Tutorial – Building A Simple Product List Screen"

New post about OFBiz Custom Components on HWM Blog

Here is the link of a new post about OFBiz Custom Components setup I wrote for my company's blog:
"OFBiz Tutorial - Custom Components in OFBiz"

New post about OFBiz Widget Renderers on HWM Blog

Here is the link of a new post about OFBiz Widget Renderers I wrote for my company's blog:
"OFBiz Tutorial - Introduction to OFBiz Widgets"

HotWax Media is Gold Sponsor at ApacheCon US 2009

We did it again!
HotWax Media is again, after last year's Platinum Sponsorship at New Orleans conference, one of the top names at ApacheCon: we are Gold Sponsor at ApacheCon US 2009, Oakland.
Unfortunately this year I am not able to attend and meet the Apache gents, but for sure HotWax Media will be greatly represented by Mike Bates and Tim Ruppert.
Here is the blog post about this event from HotWax Media blog:
HotWax Media, Gold Sponsor, ApacheCon US 2009

Just For Money

Interesting news about Luca Toni, former great scorer of my beloved Fiorentina, before he left to play for Bayern Munchen, where he is right now, getting paid about 3 times he used to be in Fiorentina.
Now Toni is complaining because, after the last not quite good season, he has been placed at the margins of the team.
Toni was treated like an hero in Florence, now he is one of the many (rich) players in Munchen.
This reminds me of a quote from "Star Wars", when Princess Leila says to Han Solo:

If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive.

Three B-movies that I would bring with me in a desert island

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" by Tobe Hooper (1974)
"They Live" by John Carpenter (1988)
"Braindead" by Peter Jackson (1992)

Gorgeous dessert in SLC

Another trip around the World, Toronto and then Salt Lake City, my second home, where I had this low fat and healthy dessert :-)

republicofitaly

[...] Ho visto bombe di Stato
scoppiare nelle piazze
e anarchici distratti
cadere giu' dalle finestre

from "Quarant'anni" by Modena City Ramblers

Firefox error using OFBiz demo certificate

I had issues running OFBiz in Firefox 3.0.8 (but the problem may be already there since 3.0.3) on MacOSX; the browser was returning the following error:

Error code: sec_error_expired_issuer_certificate

I managed to fix it following these steps:
1) Firefox-> preferences -> advanced -> encryption -> view certificates -> servers
2) Add exception...
3) Enter https://localhost:8443

The chair of evil

The company I work for, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, US, shipped me a cool chair for my home office.
I understand this is not going to be the most common package received by Italian Custom Authorities, and I was prepared to do the requested paperwork (and of course pay the custom duties and taxes) to pass thru the borders.
However one of the papers is really amazing in its stupidity; I had to sign a declaration about the intended usage of the chair (?!):

I will not use the chair for torture and repression according to CEE rule # 1236/05

And I am not joking.

Quick Start Guides for OFBiz

Here are some "experimental" quick start guides for OFBiz that I have written to simplify the very first steps in the OFBiz world: Quick Start Guides.
Right now they are just an experiment and a work in progress, but they may be useful: by following them, in very few steps, you will be able to have an OFBiz instance up and running, create a custom application etc...

Pancakes!

"the making of" home made pancakes... with original ingredients purchased during my last trip to Salt Lake City.

An amazing veggie burger

I am in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the second time in a few weeks, and I am going to stay here for two weeks.
Today I went to the Gateway, the big and nice open air mall in Salt Lake City, looking for a place to eat, and I finally went to the "The Counter Burger".
There I filled the form for the order of my custom veggie burger (in their website you can see all the options available, www.thecounterburger.com) and I was served with the beautiful one in the picture below



Not a very healthy lunch... but definitely something you have to do at least once in your life (or week).

Another nice quote by Sclavi

Ormai sono sicuro che Dio esiste. Ora si tratta solo di trovarlo e riempirlo di botte.

Tiziano Sclavi, "Non e' successo niente"

Abigail

Another quote from an Italian book that I have loved (during the last nights I couldn't sleep and spent some time re-reading pages of books from my shelves).

This one is from "Tre", Tiziano Sclavi:

Aveva incontrato Abigail in un mare di whisky, quel giorno che avevano distrutto la distilleria clandestina, giu' a Centostelle. Non poteva dirle niente e non poteva lasciarla andare. Abigail aveva reazioni diverse, Abigail rideva e parlava d'altro, Abigail voleva ucciderla e vivere con lei.
"Come diavolo ti sei conciata?"
"Eh?"
"Dico, cos'hai addosso?"
"E' un vestito nuovo".
"E' un costume da pagliaccio".
"Cafone. Tutti gli altri mi hanno trovata elegantissima".
"Si?"
"Proprio".
"Tu conosci troppa gente-con-le-fette-di-salame-sugli-occhi".
"Senti..."
"Hm?"
"Niente".
Facevano i discorsi piu' assurdi della galassia, e la loro strada piu' breve tra due punti era l'arabesco. Avevano passato insieme una fetta di vita parlando d'altro, in un campionario di allusioni e doppi sensi. Lui parlava di un'altra per dire lei, lei parlava di un altro per dire lui.
"Sono innamorato di lei".
"Sono innamorata di lui".
"Vorrei poterle dire..."
"Vorrei potergli dire..."
Si guardarono negli occhi e lei sorrideva con i suoi che erano azzurri.
"Un soldino per i tuoi pensieri".
"Non penso niente. Hai le occhiaie".
Allora pensava che non avrebbe mai capito.
"Sono molto giu', sono stufo..."
"Io ti voglio bene..."
Allora pensava che forse aveva capito.
Quando lui spariva, lei lo andava a cercare, lo riportava su' per la sua scala di frasi a meta', e alla fine di ogni onda chiudeva gli occhi.
"Ma cosa vuoi capire, deficiente!"
"Forse capisco troppo, stupido!".
Era una storia troppo vecchia, aveva cominciato a bere, era scappato e ritornato, e lei gli aveva sparato e aveva fatto andare il film al contrario.
Erano passati anni di quel tiraemolla, e lui stava per morire, ma si sapeva che non sarebbe morto.
"Io ti ho ingannata per tutto questo tempo, perche' io non sono di questo mondo e ti ho fatto credere che si'. Ho l'ombelico tra i capelli e mi manca un dito del piede destro. Io sono venuto da un pianeta di nome Tre. Sono venuto su un razzo d'argento, e questo e' il mio grande segreto".
Lei aveva scosso la testa.
"Non capisco. Io ho sempre amato lui, lo sai".
"Non scherzare adesso. Ricordo i tuoi occhi azzurri, i tuoi discorsi cominciati e non finiti. E il 20 aprile mi hai detto che mi vuoi bene".
Sorrideva imbarazzata.
"Si, ti voglio molto bene, sei un caro amico... Ma i miei occhi sono verdi".
"Io sparivo per il tuo bene e tu mi venivi a cercare..."
"Non ricordo".
"Sei sempre stata tu a condurre il gioco. Io non potevo dirti niente, eri tu che dovevi capire".
Aveva nascosto la faccia tra le mani.
"Oh, scusa, mi viene da ridere... Scusa... Sapessi come sei ridicolo..."
Non aveva creduto ad una parola, naturalmente. Non era Abigail quella. Forse era una mutante di Sirio. Forse era solo la sua immaginazione, perche' il suo pensiero era Abigail, che veniva e andava.
O forse era proprio lei, che si era cambiata la faccia di bioplastica e aveva un'amnesia.
I suoi occhi erano verdazzurri. Abigail, cosi' abile nel costruire labirinti con una sola uscita e una di scorta.
Era impossibile che lui fosse annegato in quel mare di whisky, giu' a Centostelle.

Sunset

Oggi sono tanto triste, cosi' faro' cadere il sole un'ora prima.

adapted from "La Circolazione Del Sangue", Tiziano Sclavi

ApacheCon - Badge

Preparing for the ApacheCon US 2008.



Here is my schedule and my profile pages.
For an overview of all the sessions related to OFBiz, visit the OFBiz Symposium page.

Comici Spaventati Guerrieri

[...] non si puo' sopportare tutto questo capisci Lucia quando sono nella mia stanza e qualcuno urla anche con gli occhi si puo' urlare Lucia, Lucia mi chiedo, che cosa e' successo, perche' fingete di non vedere, vorrei capire qualche volta Lucia, ma sapessi che musica nella testa, negli oggetti consumati, e dopo quanto veleno ti senti addosso Lucia, e allora pensa se non fosse cosi', se non ci credessi piu', se fossi perbene Lucia saremmo una coppia normale, io e te, al ritorno dal cinema andremmo a casa e non saremmo perduti in una citta' di notte, ma quelli perbene forse sono perduti lo stesso Lucia, ma se almeno ascoltassero, se capissero che l'altra' meta' di verita' per quanto si puo' raccontare solo urlando e' l'altra meta' necessaria, non si puo' tagliare via non si puo' dimenticare, alla fine solo il dolore esiste come esisto io, un matto per strada, un matto e' una persona che non sa dove andare, niente di piu' Lucia, tu puoi capire, tu che sei benedetta tra le donne, tu che mi hai visto felice, tu che sei coraggiosa tu che a volte mi hai lasciato solo come un cane tu che adesso per favore scendi non guardarmi ti dico, questo e' un sentiero per comici spaventati guerrieri e io non voglio ne' vincere ne' perdere solo che tu mi ricordi e dopo che mi anneghino nello zero di quelle medicine e mi chiamino come vogliono e tornino a raccontare le loro storie, non sono vere, manca meta', tu lo capisci cara, almeno tu e allora scendi per favore.

from "Comici Spaventati Guerrieri", Stefano Benni

Serie A: Chievo vs Fiorentina 0-2

Thanks to the goals of Kuzmanovic and Gilardino, Fiorentina won the match today... this is the way to go!

(Copyright by fiorentina.it)

Paranoid

Finished with my woman 'cause she couldn't help me with my mind
People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time

All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy
Think I'll lose my mind if I don't find something to pacify

Can you help me? occupy my brain?
Oh yeah

I need someone to show me the things in life that I can't find
I can't see the things that make true happiness, I must be blind

Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry
Happiness I cannot feel and love to me is so unreal

And so as you hear these words telling you now of my state
I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but it's too late

By Black Sabbath

The Art Of War

I have recently read the amazing "The Art Of War", an ancient strategy manual that is attributed to Sun Tzu, but in reality was compiled by various anonymous authors that collected oral precepts, in the ancient China of the 4th century BC.
Even if, as it is common with similar Oriental literature, the concepts in the book are not expressed and developed in a linear and formal way, as we are more used to in western literature, the book is really impressive.
Here are some remarkable excerpts:

And so swift like the wind,
Slow like the forest,
Raiding and plundering like fire,
Not moving like a mountain,
Difficult to know like yin,
Moving like thunder.

and:

There are roads one does not follow.
There are armies one does not strike.
There are cities one does not attack.
There are grounds one does not contest.
There are commands of the sovereign one does not accept.

There are also interesting concepts that are stated and not explained, but that become clear (or reveal additional meanings) as you read other parts of the book. Consider for example this sentence:

Leave a way out for surrounded soldiers.

When I have read it for the first time I must confess that I thought it was a remarkable example of humanity, but not very useful in a manual about war. But later on in the book there are these sentences about the efficacy of danger to motivate the soldiers:

Throw them where they cannot leave.
Facing death they will not be routed.
Officers and men facing death,
How could one not obtain their utmost strength?

and also:

Therefore, in dispersed ground, do not do battle.
In light ground, do not stop.
In contested ground, do not attack.
In connected ground, do not cross.
In junction ground, join with allies.
In heavy ground, plunder.
In spread-out ground, move.
In enclosed ground, strategize.
In death ground, do battle.

Victory is the final goal, not War or annihilation of the enemy.

CL - Second draw for Fiorentina

After the good draw in the first match of the Champions League 2008/2009, Lione - Fiorentina 2-2:


(Copyright by fiorentina.it)

yesterday night, Fiorentina played the second match, in Florence, with Steaua Bucarest:


(Copyright by fiorentina.it)

unfortunately it was another draw (0-0) as Fiorentina was not able to break the strong defense of the Romanian team.
2 points after the second match is not a good score, but Fiorentina is still there, waiting for the next match, with Bayern Munich of the ex Luca Toni.