AEROPLANE TO AEROPLANO

         The genesis of the Meteor P0    The first modern Italian drone    by Carlo Siardi (translated by L. Pavese       The word “drone” is now familiar to nearly everyone, surrounded as we are by news of these unmanned aircraft, often portrayed as novel, highly innovative, and somewhat mysterious. Yet drones also have a history—one largely unknown but well worth telling.      Surprisingly, Italy was a cradle of European drone development. And, since the beginning,  the country has produced unmanned aircraft ranging from high-performance, radio-controlled aerial targets capable of high-transonic speeds to multispectral reconnaissance and surveillance drones able to remain aloft for up to twenty-four hours.      This article traces the little-known origins of the Meteor P0, the ancestor of all Italian drones.      Sixty-seven years ago, the first Meteor P0 made its ina...

       Our  era is not only marked by a conventional date, but also by new concrete factors among which there is the entity of atmospheric radioactivity and its consequences. Dramatic chasms in time    by Roberto Vacca (Traduzione di Leonardo Pavese) We use the dates of significant events to mark periods of time or the beginning of new eras. World War II ended in the summer of 1945. Since then, we have been in the “postwar time.” This new era is not only marked by a conventional date, but also by new concrete factors among which there is the entity of atmospheric radioactivity and its consequences. Among the sources of natural atmospheric radioactivity, the polluting radon gas is at the top of the list. Radioactive radon is produced by the natural decaying of the uranium chain. Cosmic rays are another important source of radioactivity in the air. The artificial causes are the use of radioactive materials in healthcare, scientific research and ra...

This is an "old," 2012 translation which had reverted to a draft, but I decided to republish. I thinks it's still relevant. I hope you will find it interesting. About a month ago (this is what I wrote in 2012) on James Altucher 's very popular blog,  someone asked a question: how do you find ethics without religion? (You can read the question and answer section right here: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/02/ask-james-global-warming-facebook-more-crappy-people-and-how-many-dates-before-you-know/  ) I believe Italian author Francesco Agnoli gives a very convincing answer in this page of his book: " Perché non possiamo essere atei" (Why we can't be atheists). The book was published by the Italian publisher Piemme in 2009. I translated and edited the page, for brevity, previous permission from UCCR, Unione Cristiani Cattolici Razionali. You can find the original article in Italian here:   http://www.uccronline.it/2012/02/22/ha-senso-la-morale-sen...

  April 28, 1945 , Giulino di Mezzegra , in the Province of Como, Italy. In a place so marginal to be almost invisible, there dies, after having been captured while he was fleeing and convicted without a trial, Benito Mussolini . And with him, Claretta Petacci . There was no order to shoot Benito Mussolini and his ministers. So, who did really kill him? A dialog with Luciano Garibaldi. From Pangea,  rivista avventuriera di cultura e idee. Traduzione di Leonardo Pavese About that day, oh what a paradox, the only certain thing is that it is not certain what you, certainly, will find in history books. That is, that the one who killed Il Duce was “ Colonel Valerio ,” an alias that can be traced back to Walter Audisio , an accountant from Alessandria, later a representative and a Senator of the Republic in communist garb. One could say that what matters are the outcomes and not the means. But it is not true: legends are built on the bodies of leaders. The identity of a nation i...