Sanata escardufá

These days there is the perception that commodities are not made to last long. Talk to anyone and they will tell you how the washing machine suddenly stopped working after just two years, while the one at their parents has been there doing the job for more than 20.

The question is then, is this just a perception, or are there some real facts behind? The concept of planned obsolescence has been out there for a while actually. From Wikipedia: “a policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period of time”.

It has its origins in 1924, when the most important producers of bulbs got together and decided to limit the lifetime of this product to 1,000 hours (with the technology available at the moment, bulbs could last 2,500 hours). Bulbs came first, but a whole range of other products followed afterwards, as it is clearly explained in the documentary Buy, Throw, Buy. Art is also tackling this issue, (re)using “obsolete” electronic devices to give them new uses, or simply to point out the issue.

Today I feel that obsolescence is not only planned from production, somehow it has made the way into our minds. Commodities not only stop working, but get out of hype. Who wants the precedent model of the XYZ mobile when the new one hits the market? Why bother buying good quality durable clothes when you can get cheap sweatshop-made ones and change your style every season? The same goes for furniture (e.g. the four letter global brand I do not want to mention) and a long etcetera.

This leads me to the title of this post. I was walking around the university and came across a disposal point. Plenty of  swivel chairs were to be thrown away. Nice perfectly functioning chairs bought with public money. One was rescued and has a new cheerful life; I’m sitting on it writing this. The rest might be resting in landfills now. Tons of plastic, fabric, metal buried in the land while we dig the same land to gather new resources.

Landfills, not to be seen but they are there and they are growing non stop. Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente (Eyes that do not see, heart that does not feel)

Picture by BACKYard Woods Explorer

hoy hubieses cumplido 80 primaveras
pero se aliaron la ignorancia y la intolerancia
y aprovechándose de tu vulnerable y tierna infancia
cometieron el crimen atroz

dicen que fuiste una niña demasiado adelantada a su tiempo
digo que no supimos defenderte
digo que no fuimos capaces de valorarte
profundamente lamento que te perdimos

80 primaveras más tarde con un jirón morado
te recordamos y te añoramos
pero sobre todo nos afanamos
para que más pronto que tarde nazca otra como tú

¡feliz cumpleaños!

Pisto patties are a treat from south-eastern Spain. Pisto is a sauce made from summer vegetables (aubergine, bell pepper, courgette) cooked very slowly. Sadly it is very difficult to find a vegan version in any local bakery, as most of the times they are painted with egg and even the filling has tuna, which by the way ruins the taste. I took part with this in the 2011 Vegantastic Cooking Contest; did not win any prize but all the patties were gone so fair enough

Ingredients:

- for the dough: 500 gr white flour, 200 ml water, 150 ml extra virgin olive oil
- for the filling: 1 onion, 1 aubergine, 1 or 2 bell peppers, 1 courgette, 1 garlic clove, 200 gr tomatoes or passata, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil for shallow frying

directions:

- for the filling:
1. cut the aubergine in slices about 1 cm thick, sprinkle with salt and let them for a while so that they expel liquid and thus become less sour (this might not be needed depending on the variety of aubergines that you use)
2. chop all the vegetables in small cubes
3. heat the oil, when hot add garlic and onion. When the onion is soft, add the rest of the ingredients, mix, put the flame to the minimum so the vegetables get cooked slowly with their own liquid they expel. It might take about 1 hour.
4. get rid of the extra liquid, otherwise it will be difficult to fill the patties.

- for the dough:
1. put the flour in a bowl and mix with the salt
2. mix oil with water, make it lukewarm and pour in the bowl
3. work the dough, first with a spoon, later on with your hands until is not sticky and feels soft
4. extend with a rolling pin making it as thin as possible

- for the patties:
1. get a “circle” of dough of, say, 6-8 cm. You might get it by placing a glass/bowl of that diameter upside down on the extended dough
2. fill with two tbsps of the filling. Close the patty and seal it with the help of a fork
3. “paint” the patties with olive oil and optionally sprinkle sesame seeds
3. preheat the oven to 200ºC and cook for 45 minutes. Beware that temperature and time depend on your oven, these are the times for mine.

Enjoy!

Scrissi queste righe ormai circa due anni fa. Purtroppo l’argomento torna ad essere di piena attualità a causa di un nuovo taglio dei finanziamenti pubblici all’informazione cooperativa e politica, e dunque le condivido ancora un’altra volta.

Il giornale Il Manifesto, che appartiene ad una cooperativa editrice, è a rischio di chiusura grazie al decreto Tremonti sull’editoria. Questo decreto nel suo articolo 44 taglia i contributi ai giornali cooperativi e no profit mentre lascia inalterati quelli dei colossi dell’editoria. Il Manifesto, che perde 4 milioni, è uno dei giornali più danneggiati.

Data la possibile scomparsa del Manifesto, propongo di dare una breve occhiata a chi c’è dietro alle altre testate nazionali per cercar di capire se questo avvenimento comporterebbe un’impoverimento della varietà di punti di vista informativi.

La Repubblica appartiene al gruppo L’espresso società per azioni (SpA). Il primo azionista della società è Carlo De Benedetti, ex amministratore delegato della FIAT, ex presidente di Olivetti nonché ex vicepresidente del Banco Ambrosiano.

Il Corriere della Sera appartiene ad un’altra SpA, il gruppo Rcs Quotidiani. Nel 1981, Angelo Rizzoli jr e l’amministratore delegato del gruppo, Bruno Tassan Din, furono coinvolti nello scandalo del dissesto del Banco Ambrosiano e della P2. I principali azionisti del gruppo sono: Mediobanca Spa, FIAT, Pirelli, Intesa san Paolo e Benetton.

Il Sole 24 Ore è proprietà della associazione che difende gli interessi degli imprenditori italiani; la Cofindustria.

La Stampa appartiene all’Editrice La Stampa SpA, che a sua volta è controllata dal gruppo Fiat tramite la holding Itedi.

Entrambi i giornali Il Messaggero e Leggo appartengono alla SpA Caltagirone Editore. Il principale azionista, col 65,6%, della società è Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone (decimo uomo più ricco d’Italia), direttamente e indirettamente attraverso società controllate. Egli è il Vice Presidente della Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (e secondo azionista privato). Il secondo azionista, col 2,24% è Edizione Holding; la finanziaria della famiglia Benetton.

Finalmente, Il Giornale, il cui editore è Paolo Berlusconi (fratello del presidente del consiglio), appartiene a Società europea di edizioni. Il principale azionista di questa società è Mondadori 39,27%, la cui presidentessa è Marina Berlusconi (figlia del presidente del consiglio).

Diventa palese nel brevissimo riassunto presentato che tutte le principali testate nazionali sono proprietà di SpA partecipate da grandi aziende italiane. In un panorama nazionale in cui la grande maggioranza dei giornali sono SpA, quale sarebbe l’impatto della perdita di un giornale che funziona come cooperativa editrice?
In un panorama di crisi economica, cosa ci diranno i giornali controllati dalle grandi aziende su dove deve investire il governo i soldi pubblici per lottare contro la crisi? Ci diranno diamoli alle famiglie in difficoltà ed ai lavoratori disoccupati oppure diamoli alle società quotate in borsa?

After some time in the “stone bread business” I’ve seen the light…

In other words, after several attempts in the few past years to make bread, unsuccessful as always I came up with very thick, solid bread, hence the pseudonym “stone” (or brick) bread, I’ve found a recipe that is very easy and, most importantly, it works! I share it then:

happy kneading & baking simple bread

In my oven it turns out to be better without the water. I also substitute 1/4 of the water with olive oil and add to the flour some basil. Mmm…

Sorry, but this post is not available in English

Sorry, but this post is not available in English

Sorry, but this post is not available in English

Sorry, but this post is not available in English

Mi vidis la bildon,
kaj mi nur ploris