Mediterranea (Marco Chiavistrelli feat. Jug Band Colline Metallifere, 2020)

Music we like

Con la Sea Watch offesa e martoriata
per farla andare nella Libia bombardata,
e la Sea Eye respinta senza pietà
viva la libertà.

Mediterranea alza la bandiera sulla nave,
bandiera di giustizia e di pace sotto il sole,
e sfida il mondo duro e perverso del terrore
viva le Ong.

La bestia umana scalpita
vuole il suo pasto cieco,
cuore di pietra e sguardo di vetro
recita in pubblico ma

Mediterranea quasi non sente le parole
fa rotta a nord verso l’Italia sotto il sole
e alla folle pazzia risponde con amore
viva le Ong.

Chissà se finirà questo pasticcio immondo
che leggi e convenzioni dell’umano affonda
per cavalcare questa nera onda.

Mediterranea porta il suo carico prezioso
di vita vera e non di politica lebbrosa
e salperà finchè al mondo esiste un uomo buono
viva le Ong, viva le Ong.

GRASS (Geographic Resource Analysis Support System)

Maps

GRASS is a free/open-source software for the processing of geographic information.

I started to use GRASS for my PhD in 1994 (for my Master’s dissertation in Gent, Belgium, I used IDRISI and an Intergraph MGS workstation). The source code was given to me by Paolo la Barbera from the University of Genova, and I think I have been one of the first ten people in Italt to use this software.

My first setup was on HP-UX. When the Silicon Graphics workstations arrived at the Department, I recompiled GRASS on Irix. Between 1994 and 2002 I used GRASS a lot…I could almost make coffee with it.

To understand the origins of this system, we warmly recommend the 1986 documentary with William Shatner as a narrator. See below.

To be added:

  • The history of GRASS, and why the US Federal Administration stopped supporting it
  • The visit to Markus Neteler in Hannover in 2000
  • The email to Markus Neteler in 2005 (or 6?), with the idea of creating an event centered on free/open-source GIS for the international GIS Day
  • The Palermo GRASS user conference in 2007

For technical information: the official GRASS web site. For pibinko-style insights and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org