And while we were offline, Karavansara reached the 40.000 views in 2016 – which was our original target, and exactly the double of the figure we made in 2013, our first year.
Karavansara is slowly growing, and I think I owe you guys a big
Category Archives: Other
Like Outer Mongolia, but without all the perks
And so we got our traditional three-days Internet blackout, for causes still to be defined.
And the orchard’s iron gate was ripped from its place by a passing tractor.
And we are snowed in, under a nice 1 foot snow cover.
And it’s cold as hell.
Basically, just like being in Outer Mongolia, without any or the plus sides.
In all this, I should be writing like hell, and I can’t find the energy – bad health, short of breath, and my hands are icy-cold. And I can’t type in wool gloves.
But apart from this, everything’s fine, as me and my brother hurl towards the first Christmas without our father.
These are not-so-bright days in more sense than one.
But we’ll hold on.
Going Weightless
Brief service message.
You may have noticed, or maybe not, that a small banner for Weightless Books appeared in the sidebar.
Fact is, I’ve been very pleased with the service provided me so far by this online bookstore, especially the subscription service to digital magazines.
So, I decided to spread the news, and joined their affiliate program.
Which also means I’ll be getting a small revenue from sales going through my links, which is mighty good considering that soon I’ll have to pay for this blog’s domain.
As usual, I’ll make sure these ads are not invasive.
Waiting for the river
It’s a bad moment for being stranded in Astigianistan, along the course of the Belbo river.
The recent rains are wreaking havoc with the Piedmontese river system1.
Vast areas are already under water, and the Belbo, roughly 100 yards from where we live, has a long history of disasters and floods.
Our house went under in 1948, when the water here in Castelnuovo Belbo reached almost six feet in depth on the town hall square (which is fifteen feet higher than this house) and again in 1968. In 1994 the water stopped something like 20 yards from our front gate.
What can we do?
We wait, and first thing tomorrow we make certain that the house insurance is still alive. Then we start moving all the stuff upstairs.
I’ll keep you posted.
- this, despite the many opinionated f*cks that keep saying there is no ongoing climate change because they have air conditioning. ↩
Gmail is the devil
OK, sorry guys, I’m going to rant a little here.
Fact is, I’m beginning to seriously hate Gmail.
First, there was the matter of the digital magazine subscription – every month for one year the publisher sent me a copy of the download link in a mail, and every damn month the mail was filed as spam, and there was no way to teach the frigging filter that the thing was emphatically not spam.
Throughout 2013, I got my copies of Apex Magazine a few weeks later than everyone else – literally picking my copies in the dustbin.
And one supposedly does a digital subscription to save on delivery time…
Then there is the issue of the guy with my same name, and a very similar email address – and I get a copy of everything that is sent to him because Gmail decided we are the same person, and his email is a backup account of mine.
And by everything, I mean everything – including special offers on diapers, off-color exchanges between him and his football teammates, and work email.
I contacted the guy the day I received a payment receipt with all of his personal data on display. He reacted by insulting me, and by sending along with his abusive reply an attachment with a virus.
Weird chap…
Then, less than one month ago, Gmail again decided a message to me was spam – and thus I lost a great job opportunity. This was extremely embarrassing, and a big financial loss for me – but apparently there’s nothing that can be done.
Today once again I subscribed to a digital magazine.
And again I had to go and pick the payment receipt and the assorted welcome mails from the trash basket.
I know, I know – I could simply check the spam folder every evening just to be on the safe side. But if I am to go through pages and pages of spam every day to see if Gmail just decided to kill an important, legit message… what’s the use of a spam filter?
Or we could go back to the old local practice: I just called to tell you I sent you an email.
This is ridiculous.
Karavansara 