Italy
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== Mafia == | == Mafia == | ||
| − | mafia is a | + | Mafia does not exist, I repeat, does not exist. |
| + | Mafia does not exist. Since mafia does not exist, there's no reason somebody would write a paragraph about a thing that does not exist. Therefore, this paragraph itself does not exist and you are not reading it. Step away from the screen, because this paradox could spawn a black hole that could suck you in and teleport you to Corleone, which is in an alternative reality and not in the [[real world]]. The true Corleone is a modern, sunny, developed village whose main activity is printing civics books and doing Nobel prize-level scientific research. They don't have a police station because there are no crimes since the early 14th century, not because policemen are way too afraid that, if they attempted to patrol the town's streets and ask some questions about the latest disappearances, their wives and children would soon become widows and orphans. | ||
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| + | Cars burn by self-combustion. | ||
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| + | The man found eviscerated in a car's back trunk last Sunday was not killed. [[Murder|It was a case of contortionist suicide.]] | ||
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| + | There is no such thing as "government corruption" in Italy, especially not in Sicily: [[Big lie|people just want to thank their wise and productive governors with seldom gifts.]] | ||
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| + | ''The Godfather'' is based on the same script as ''Star Wars'': [[Bullshit|both tell of a galaxy far, far away a long time ago.]] | ||
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| + | Some captious and serpentine journalists and judges may attempt to convince you that Italy is infested by mafia. This is a lie, and those forked tongues will [[Death|soon be dealt with]]. | ||
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| + | And those who still say it exists will be visited by two ''picciotti'' to further friendly discuss the matter in front of two ''cannoli'', a knife and a sawed-off shotgun. If the weather allows, you will be carried to do a little swimming in the port wearing concrete boots. | ||
== Quirks == | == Quirks == | ||
Revision as of 16:15, 12 June 2013
“”Italy is like a schnitzel - the more you beat it, the wider it is.
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| —Wilhelm von Tegetthoff |
Italy, which is more formally known as the Italian Republic, is a European country. Rome is in Italy. There are tensions between the developed North of Italy and the less developed South.
Contents |
Famous Italians
- Silvio Berlusconi, businessman, politician and all-round
scheming, corrupt bastardswell guy. - Leonardo da Vinci invented everything that the Chinese and Thomas Edison didn't, as well as being quite good at painting. Michelangelo Buonarroti was an artistic equal and contemporary of Leonardo. As the reigning artistic geniuses of the Renaissance, and sharing the same city at the same time, naturally they hated each other.
- Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince, the ultimate satirical "how-to" book of dirty pragmatism in politics. His name is now a byword for deviousness. He also wrote a lesser known book about establishing a republic. He was a republican, you see.
- Umberto Eco, a scholar who also wrote tales of conspiracy and intrigue.
- Garibaldi united Italy and had a biscuit named after him - it turned out to be a massive advertising campaign for United Biscuits.
- Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida had many fine qualities.
- The Three Tenors, except only one of them was Italian.
- Primo Levi deserves an article, deffo.
The food
One of the most famous and diverse cuisines in the world. And no, you can't just put spaghetti sauce on anything and call it Italian.
Mafia
Mafia does not exist, I repeat, does not exist. Mafia does not exist. Since mafia does not exist, there's no reason somebody would write a paragraph about a thing that does not exist. Therefore, this paragraph itself does not exist and you are not reading it. Step away from the screen, because this paradox could spawn a black hole that could suck you in and teleport you to Corleone, which is in an alternative reality and not in the real world. The true Corleone is a modern, sunny, developed village whose main activity is printing civics books and doing Nobel prize-level scientific research. They don't have a police station because there are no crimes since the early 14th century, not because policemen are way too afraid that, if they attempted to patrol the town's streets and ask some questions about the latest disappearances, their wives and children would soon become widows and orphans.
Cars burn by self-combustion.
The man found eviscerated in a car's back trunk last Sunday was not killed. It was a case of contortionist suicide.
There is no such thing as "government corruption" in Italy, especially not in Sicily: people just want to thank their wise and productive governors with seldom gifts.
The Godfather is based on the same script as Star Wars: both tell of a galaxy far, far away a long time ago.
Some captious and serpentine journalists and judges may attempt to convince you that Italy is infested by mafia. This is a lie, and those forked tongues will soon be dealt with.
And those who still say it exists will be visited by two picciotti to further friendly discuss the matter in front of two cannoli, a knife and a sawed-off shotgun. If the weather allows, you will be carried to do a little swimming in the port wearing concrete boots.
Quirks
Although functioning fairly well on the whole, courts of law in Italy have made a couple of rather odd rulings recently.
Meredith Kercher murder
Amanda Knox, an American college student, and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of murdering Knox's roommate, Meredith Kercher. There was no forensic evidence linking them to the murder, and another man, Rudy Guede -- who did leave forensic evidence at the scene -- had confessed to the crime after initially denying any involvement. (Guede received a 30 year sentence.)
However, Knox and Sollecito were tried anyway, which according to The Independent's Peter Popham was because the prosecutor was a follower of a conspiracy theorist blogger who claimed that Kercher was the victim of a satanic/Masonic killing. The blogger, Gabriella Carlizzi, claimed that Knox and Kercher (both in their early 20s) were members of a Masonic sect called The Order of the Red Rose and that The Order commanded Knox to murder Kercher for some unknown reason.[1]
To add insult to injury, privilege does not apply in Italian court proceedings; so, thanks to her testimony that the cops had assaulted her, Knox was later tried for slander.[2]
Adultery in thought
The following blurb -- reposted here in toto -- appeared on The Independent website:[3]
“”Italian judges set an astonishing legal precedent yesterday by annulling a marriage because the wife had merely thought of having an affair.[4] The Cassation Court, Italy's highest, backed the decision of a church court[5][6] in Modena, to dissolve the marriage – even though the woman had never been unfaithful.
The woman, who was not named, was trying to have the ruling overturned to benefit from no-blame financial arrangements, including alimony. She will no receive no such benefits." |
Be careful what you predict
In October 2012, six scientists and a former government official affiliated with the National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks were convicted of multiple manslaughter by a regional court when they provided "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory information" prior to a 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila.[7] The problem is that the ruling seems to penalize the defendants more on the basis of poor risk assessment (concerning a highly unpredictable form of seismic activity and the potential effects thereof; Fukushima One, anyone?) and less on actual malice or negligence.[8] Although the convictions are being appealed, the case could set a precedent in which scientists are sued or criminally prosecuted for not predicting natural events with an near-absolute level of certainty of the outcome - something which scientists would argue they're not capable of in the first place.
Vedi anche
- Benito Mussolini
- Cincinnatus
- Damanhur
- Galileo Galilei
- Pope
- Roman Empire
- Vatican (not officially part of Italy, even though it's surrounded on all sides by Rome)
Note a piè pagina
- ↑ Popham, Peter. "Masonic theory that put Knox in the dock", The Independent (UK), 1 November 2008.
- ↑ Pisa, Nick. "Amanda Knox will face slander trial over claim police beat her up while quizzing her over Meredith murder", Daily Mail (UK), 9 November 2010.
- ↑ Day, Michael. "Thoughts of affair end Italian marriage", The Independent (UK), 10 November 2010.
- ↑ Emphasis added.
- ↑ Emphasis added.
- ↑ Note: When a Catholic Church court annuls a marriage, any children the couple may have had during the marriage become illegitimate, which opens the children up to discrimination that is (ahem) "not frowned upon" by the Church.
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20025626 L'Aquila quake: Italy scientists guilty of manslaughter,] BBC News
- ↑ The mistake of criminalizing honest scientific mistakes, Respectful Insolence