Blog

Some of the Puccini's Arias performed by the best opera's singer ever, Maria Callas

Who owns the web? Perhaps the man who two decades ago invented hyperlinks and created the first browser - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a subatomic physicist, now the most ardent advocate of free and open internet. "The web should serve humanity," he told the annual STOA lecture in the Parliament on Tuesday. STOA is an in-house panel of experts that advises on scientific policymaking.

Your talk is entitled "One web, free and open for all" - is this a question, a wish or a statement?

It is a wish, of course. It's the way I think the future should be and it is one of the mottos of the web foundation we just started. One the most essential things about the web is that with a click you can go any place. There is not a French web or an English web; they are linked not separate. The web is not divided into good and low quality documents; it is not divided between academic and commercial, there is no discrimination, it is just one web, free and open for all and that's its power.

Is your vision of a free and open web compatible with the fact that private companies, Google in particular, monopolise and commercialise access?

I can’t talk about individual companies. I know people are concerned about monopolies and I also know that those concerns can change, seemingly overnight. There is a concern that control by a company or government could spread. It is important to keep the web free and open.

Science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem said: "I didn't know that there were so many idiots until I began using the Internet." Is the very openness of the web also one of its weaknesses?

This is a huge question. People can read everything on the web but that does not mean they have to read everything. Most people have asset blogs, which they find of high value, as they have asset people they know and trust. The web is very much about recommendations.

Look at it this way, if you walk down the street in your city and pick up papers blowing about you will probably get very low-quality information. If instead you read books, and newspapers recommended to you the quality is better.

On the web the answer is - the technology is the link. It works when people trust that the links are to high quality. If you find something you don't like, go back one step. Go back, don't read that again and don't read the things linked to them either.

Arguably, we have seen US politics - US democracy even - transformed by the web. Is Europe is heading in the same direction?

I think the web can help people to communicate more efficiently. What characterized the last US election was communication. A lot of people being involved, looking up the issues and looking up the politicians. What I would really like to see is the web used for responsible debates.

I would like politicians to be held accountable using web technologies. If they say something, you would be able to go and see a balanced analysis by the people, by experts and join in the discussion. Of course this raises a lot of questions about who is an expert, who you trust and what you read. How can you be sure what you read is not written by an idiot?

My hope is that we will design more powerful democratic systems which will be less about sound bites. TV broadcasts the sound bite election, I hope the web can bring us the election arguments, where people are accountable for the truth and show respect.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee

• Born in London in 1955
• Studied physics at Queen's College, Oxford
• Built his first computer with old TV, soldering iron and a Motorola microprocessor
• Created web in late 1980s and early 1990s at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)
• Offered it free on the net
• Founded World Wide Web Consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston in 1994
• Often named as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century
• In 2003 he has received his knighthood from the Queen
• Currently heads up the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT, where he is now based as an academic.

The largest and most important UN climate change conference in history opened Monday, with diplomats from 192 nations warned that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming. The UN meeting started with this video "Save the world".

The conference, the climax of two years of contentious negotiations, convened in an upbeat mood after a series of promises by rich and emerging economies to curb their greenhouse gases, but with major issues yet to be resolved.

Conference president Connie Hedegaard said the key to an agreement is finding a way to raise and channel public and private financing to poor countries for years to come to help them fight the effects of climate change.

Hedegaard — Denmark's former climate minister — said if governments miss their chance at the Copenhagen summit, a better opportunity may never come.

"This is our chance. If we miss it, it could take years before we got a new and better one. If ever," she said in prepared remarks.

Denmark's prime minister said 110 heads of state and government will attend the final days of the two-week conference. President Barack Obama's decision to attend the end of the conference, not the middle, was taken as a signal that an agreement was getting closer.

At stake is a deal that aims to wean the world away from fossil fuels and other pollutants to greener sources of energy, and to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from rich to poor countries every year over decades to help them adapt to climate change.

Scientists say without such an agreement, the Earth will face the consequences of ever-rising temperatures, leading to the extinction of plant and animal species, the flooding of coastal cities — about half of humanity lives with 100 miles (160 kilometers) of a coastline — more extreme weather events, drought and the spread of diseases.

Negotiations have dragged on for two years, only recently showing signs of breakthroughs with new commitments from The United States, China and India to control greenhouse gas emissions.

The first week of the conference will be focused on refining a complex text of a draft treaty. But major decisions will await the arrival next week of environment ministers and the heads of state in the final days of the conference, which is due to end Dec. 18.

EU keeps world in suspense on 30 percent vow

Only at the endgame of the Copenhagen summit will the European Union tell whether it considers other nations’ pledges to be “comparable”. A “yes” would raise the EU emission reduction commitments.

To keep up pressure on other major players, mainly USA and China, the EU will hide its cards on a key issue until the very last moment of the UN conference on climate change. This is according to the Swedish Minister for Environment, Andreas Carlgren. As Sweden holds the rotating EU presidency, Mr. Carlgren is negotiating on behalf of the union.

The EU has already adopted a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. However, the decision also specifies that the union will raise its commitments to 30 percent if other major players undertake “comparable commitments” – without specifying what would qualify as being “comparable”.

“The EU is ready to raise its commitments from 20 to 30 percent, but this would require others to bring something to the table. The endgame will be about what the US and China will deliver. It would be rather astounding if President Obama came to Copenhagen only to offer what he has already said,” Andreas Carlgren told a press conference, according to Danish daily Politiken.

He added that “we are still expecting larger reductions (than so far committed to) from our Chinese friends and colleagues.” (Photo of Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren: Gunnar Seijbold/Regeringskansliet)

In gift wrap emergencies when you've got the present but need some wrapping, here's an idea for turning a magazine page into a bow. (There may be better ways to stick this thing together, but I used what I had on hand: staples and adhesive glue dots. Double stick tape would work, too.)

Cut a magazine page lengthwise into 9 strips, 3/4" wide. Leave 3 of the strips full length. Cut one inch off 3 of the strips. Cut two inches off 2 of the strips. Cut the last strip down to 3 1/2" long.

Twist each strip to form a loop at both ends and staple it in the center. Shape the last, short strip into a circle and secure it with a glue dot.

Layer the 3 longest pieces on top of each other, spacing them evenly and securing each with a glue dot. Add the next two groups of pieces, doing the same. And finally, stick the loop into the center.

Use other papers, like a map of your city. Here's Chicago. Anybody see your street?

In Denmark, near Aarhus, the world’s first Active House is being tested. Thanks to 50m2 of solar panels, solar collectors and a heat pump, over the course of a year this house actually captures more energy than it uses.

For 8 months of the year, the house feeds excess energy into the national grid and then for 4 months of the year, it takes it back, meaning that the grid acts as an energy bank.

The family who are testing the house by living in it for a year can monitor their electricty and heat production and consumption on a weekly, monthly and daily basis via a computer screen on the wall.

A further innovation is that the house is totally self-controlling. Windows and window blinds operate automatically in response to climatic changes. Sensors inside the house adjust the parametres so that maximum comfort and convenience is achieved using the minimum energy.

Heating and ventilation are also automatically controlled by the house’s central computer. It even over-rides the residents’ behaviour if it thinks they are wasting energy. For example, if lights are left on at night, ten minutes after everyone has gone to bed, the house automatically turns all the lights off.

Seven other similar houses are being built across Europe and the question is really whether it is possible to build houses like this at affordable prices because this one cost around 600,000 euros to build

What is the Jubilee Year?

The Jubilee is a remarkable event that carries profound spiritual, historical, and social significance. The term likely originates from yobel, the ram’s horn used in ancient times to signal the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). While this celebration occurs annually, its meaning takes on a special dimension when it marks the beginning of the Jubilee Year.

The Rock in Rome (until its 2008 edition known as Romarock Festival) is one of the musical events that takes place annually in Rome druing the summer. Check the dates and names of the main concerts for 2022, below.

A meticulous replica of the statue of David by Michelangelo, created in Florence using laser scans and 3D printing, will enrich the Dubai Expo 2021 in October. The resin twin brother of Michelangelo’s David,17ft (514 cm) high as the original, was commissioned by the Italian government and will represent Italy at the Expo to be held in the city of the Emirates.

From April 6th 2021, passengers on Covid-Tested flights and anyone who wishes to do so, can undergo an antigen or molecular test at the airport at specially low rates, replacing the facilities managed by the National Health Service and without further burdening the general community.

Covid-tested flights are flights that have been authorised by the Ministry of Health by means of a special ordinance.

Italy offered Europe's first coronavirus-free corridor with the United States for passengers who have tested negative for COVID-19 since November 2020, scrapping the obligation for new arrivals to quarantine. As of today, April 2021 and til the end of June 2021, it is possible for airlines to operate "Covid-tested" flights on the following routes: