I watched the race, with lights on. But is it already dark in Finland?
Tullio
The Swiss TV says that year 536 was the worst in history because of volcano eruptions in Iceland which clouded the sky and produced famine for lack of foods. Then there was a plague outbreak which killed half of people in the Byzantine empire. So we should not complain too much about typhoons in Italy and fires in California.

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I watched the race, with lights on. But is it already dark in Finland?

I noticed that as well. The sun sets early here in the Nordic countries at winter.
Levi is located in northern Finland north of the Arctic Circle within the Lapland region.
I think about for two weeks the Sun never rises at all in late december and early January there.
Well it's the opposite in the summer when the Sun never sets for two weeks:)
Photo taken at midnight at Treriksröset the tripoint of Sweden, Norway and Finland and about at the same latitude as Levi.

Treriksröset is also a very nice ski resort where you can ski at summer in the midnight sun.

WC Slalom premiere in Levi.
Yesterday it was Queen Mikaela.
Today it was King Marcel.
However Prince Henrik was close.
"We're almost even, Marcel's just a bit better. Now it will be a race out of this world." Henrik smiled:)

GP Moto Valencia
1 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati
2 Alex Rins Suzuki
3 Pol Espargaro' KTM

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Third intervention on my gas burner in three months. The first was the yearly checkup, the second a thermostat replacement and the third, today, an electrovalve replacement. But the burner was installed in 2000 so it can be forgiven.
Tullio

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Sigh. Calgary closes the door to the Winter Olympics in 2026.
This means, in turn, that Stockholm and Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo are the only two candidates left on the table.
Bad news for us taxpayers in Stockholm if we are forced to have the game...
And why is it called winter olympics in Stockholm?
Most of the events will not be in Stockholm but very far from us.
Some not even in Sweden. Some events would be in Latvia!
https://www.thelocal.se/20180613/latvia-to-help-sweden-with-2026-winter-olympic-bid
I hope that Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo will host the games instead:)

But Milano has no ski trails. Downhill races would be held in Bormio, at the end of the long Valtellina valley, with traffic problems (but there is a train, with also a line connecting Tirano to Sankt Moritz, the Bernina Express, so Swiss fans could easily reach Bormio, where there are old Roman spas). Cortina has plenty of ski trails, but hotels are not sufficient, also because the skiing season has many customers. Cortina is beautiful, maybe the most beautiful place in the Alps. It is connected by a cross country trail to Dobbiaco (Toblach) which I have skied.
Tullio

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True that Milan is not so close to ski trails or alpine skiing. Nor Stockholm.
Distance ski trails by car. Milan Bormio is 3 hours. Stockholm Falun is 3 hours.
Distance alpine skiing. Milan Cortina is 3 hours. Stockholm Ã…re is 7 hours.
Distance to Latvia by car?
But why does Stockholm want the games?
The town of Östersund/Åre has applied to the games several times and they have only walking distance to ski trails and alpine skiing.
Olympic Games doesn't come cheap! Stockholm doesn't have the same budget like when Putin arranged the games in Sochi!

I would say Milano to Bormio takes 4 hours. You have to cross many villages or towns with road lights and also "processioni" on Sundays and religion festivities. You can go much faster to Aosta Valley via the autostrada, but the Aosta people don't want Olympic games, they have too many tourists to lodge.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa is now stable and has even straightened slightly thanks to engineering work to save the world-renowned tourist attraction, experts said on Wednesday.
https://www.thelocal.it/20181122/the-leaning-tower-of-pisa-is-losing-its-lean
It's leaning is now 5.0 degrees instead of 5.5 degrees 17 years ago.
But if the tower will straighten to not lean at all in the future?
What will happen then? Pisa's biggest tourist attraction gone...
My brother went up that tower only this summer and he thought it was scary:)
A feeling that the tower will fall...

Giant Slalom ladies at Killington, USA
1 Federica Brignone Italia
2 Ragnhild Mowinckel Norway
3 Stephanie Brunner Austrtia
4 Mikaela Shriffin USA
Two Russian cross country skiers win a sprint race in Finland
The skiing season has started
Lake Louise downhill men in Canada
1 Max Franz Austria
2 Chris Innerhofer Italia
3 Dominik Paris Italia

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Good start of Italy in the alpine events:)
Sorry to hear that Lindsey Vonn got injured before the races this weekend and cannot compete.
"I won’t be able to race in Lake Louise. LL has always been my favorite stop on the WC and I am devastated to not be coming this year.I am down but I am NOT out!" she said.

Therese Johaug (Norway) and Alexander Bolshunov (Russia) with respectively the 10 km and 15 km cross country classic style a Kuusamo, Finland.

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GP Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
1 Lewsi Hamilton Mercedes
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull
Season ends

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Slalom Ladies at Killington, Vermont, USA
1 Mikaela Shriffin USA
2 Petra Vlhova Slovakia
3 Frida Hansdotter Sweden

SuperG men at Lake Louise
1 Kjetil Jansrud Norway
2 Vincent Kriechmayr Austria
3 Mauro Caviezel Switzerland
4 Hannes Reichelt Austria
5 Aksel Lund Svindal Norway
6 Mathias Mayer Austria
7 Adrien Theaux France
8 A.S. Seiersted Norway

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I have installed 8 GB more on my new HP PC. It came with only 8 GB RAM and i bought a 8 GB RAM module from Ballistix. Alas, when I tried to install it the PC started whining and I had to stop. Then I figured it had a 2400 MHz frequency, while the module installed by HP had 2133 frequency. So I surfed the Web until I found an offer by TIMETEC of two 4 GB modules at 2133 MHz. Today they arrived and I installed them, so the PC is now running two Atlas@home tasks each using 4 cores of the Ryzen 5 1400 CPU.
Tullio

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Speaking of NASA Insight probe’s successful landing.
Un ammartaggio perfetto:)

https://www.thelocal.it/20181128/italian-word-of-the-day-ammartaggio

Speaking of Insight and wordgames.
Insight was guided by the Italian 'bussolà’, a space tracker built by Italian company Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica.)
Now I always think 'bussolà’ is a pizza, not a compass.
No, here we even think 'bussolà’ is a bus company called "Buss Ola" owned by Ola.
Here is a pic of his buss:)

I've read of a measure made by an Italian scientist and published in "Science" magazine. The number of photons in the Universe should be a 4 followed by 84 zeroes. This through the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi gamma ray satellite. I am waiting for a confirmation, since the news appeared on La Repubblica paper.
Tullio

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At Lillehammer, Norway, Sjur Roethe and Therese Johaug, all Norwegians, win respectively the 15 km and 10 km cross country freestyle. Fourth is Dario Coiogna, Switzerland.

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