White Nights - The Costa Concordia Crew pulls an All-nighter

The amazing salvage operation of righting the downed cruise ship, The Costa Concordia, that had it looking like a beached whale since that fateful night when the Captain, showing off to his on-board hooker, finally came to a close as it pulled into the Genova (Genoa) harbour.  Crews worked day & night to first perch the ship on a ledge so it would not slide down onto the sea bed, destroying the natural habitat, and then righting the ship and finally, getting it to float - to then move up the coast to where it will be dismantled.

An amazing simulation video of the entire operation is here: 

http://video.ilsole24ore.com/SoleOnLine5/Video/Notizie/Italia/2013/concordia-rimozione/videoremoval.php

The French stirred up a fuss when they heard that Italians would be dragging the ship near the Corsica coast.  And so they sent out a pollution containment boat to "monitor" the process, as if yes, that would do the trick if the Concordia started leaking god knows what  hydrocarbons (no, I'm not smarter than a 5th grader) and muddying up the Mediterranean.  To put things in perspective, the boat is 60000 tons of steel - the Empire State Building is 57000.

So in this 24/7 and 2 1/2 year rescue operation came to a close, the Captain of the party ship decided he would celebrate the completion in the best way possible: By attending a White Party on the island of Ischia.  

Picture by Ischia Online Newspaper, Il Golfo

Issuing a statement as he wound his way thru the crowd, Schettino said that "Being on an island was as close as he could come to actually being near the island of Giglio" and "Wearing white is a sign of respect for those poor people who died so needlessly that night."  Schettino went on to say that by showing he was ready to move on with his life, and others (except, of course, those who perished) should do the same.  In short, by 'living it up' he was an example for all.

To the rest of us, left wondering what happened to House Arrest, Schettino said "House music, Arrested Development, just mix it in like a Buon Mojito, and all troubles will pass." 

Schettino bares his soul...

*White nights or, Notte Bianche are what Italians call all-nighters.

Italy wins for recycling most in Europe - The Costa Concordia

...in one fell swoop (both literally, and figuratively).  Already the largest ship salvage operation in history, crews finally floated the massive cruise liner as the first phase toward its final voyage Destination: The Breakers.  Although the nearly-beached ship (resting on a platform built to protect the environment in case the ship slid down into the bottom of the sea) made for a nice tourist attraction, the Costa Concordia who lost 32 passengers that fateful night, will leave its resting place to be sent up the coast to Genova to be taken apart.
Saving the ship in order to save the environment has come at a price tag of 1.5 billion euro - yeah, that's billion with a B.  The company is hoping to make their hapless Captain Coward, Mr. Schettino, pay for it.  "Maybe he can work it off, you know, by polishing the brass on a new boat - for the next 3000 years," one executive suggested. 
But Costa, operator of the very popular Costa Aquarium and other tourist attractions says they might just prop the ship up in the harbour in Genova. "I mean, people have been flocking to Giglio island for the better part of two years...imagine the crowds this could draw!" said another marketing executive. 
Certainly, it'd be one way to make the money back on the loss of their luxury liner.

A time-lapse from the Telegraph on refloating the ship

Garbage in your park? Rome decides if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

'La Bellezza sulla Monnezza'
Beauty wins over the Garbage Beast
photo from RomaToday

In an audacious move by Roma Capitale - or the Rome Municipality, the City decided to seriously 'think out of the box' and take on a new approach to garbage collection. By removing all the garbage cans* from one of its rather large parks. This experiment was launched on May 1st, and for the most part, was deemed somewhat successful. While more people brought their garbage out of the park nearer the large containers, they did see a larger accumulation around the canisters still left standing.
"The fact that people actually bothered to bring the garbage to one place rather than just leave it where they were picnicking for us is a huge success," remarked the AMA Garbage guys.  We hope that it catches on and more and more people who enjoy the park, actually take out what they put in.
Two months on, however, residents are reporting more and more garbage going uncollected than ever before. To the point that one of the rivers feeding into the Tiber has its very own garbage dam - made entirely of plastic bottles and reeds. 
"If nothing else, we've lightened the load on our work hours and workers. I mean, driving around the park every once in awhile and pretending we were doing it on a weekly basis was really maddening for all concerned. Now we just don't do it. This is one for transparent government."

*True story - only the quotes are made up (as usual)