L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers,  as we begin 2018, let me wish you a healthy New Year, so you c a n b e t t e r e n j o y . Happy New Year. I also want to remind you that L'Italo Ameri- cano, our Italian American bi- weekly newspaper with positive news about out heritage, began publishing in 1908 and is now the only Italian American bi- weekly newspaper published west of the Mississippi. I hope you realize that it can e a s i l y b e c o m e " 0 " ( z e r o - niente) without the enthusiastic effort of all readers: Italian American organization officers must encourage all their mem- bers to subscribe as a group (either to our print or online edition) and encourage relatives and friends to subscribe, too. I t h i n k i t i s t h e h e i g h t o f hypocrisy, when ardent advo- cates of "preserving our cultur- al heritage" do not even sub- scribe to our newspaper, getting their copy second-hand from a relative or friend, then paying big bucks to rent a tuxedo to attend high-ticket events of Ital- i a n A m e r i c a n o r g a n i z a t i o n s dedicated to preserving and promoting the positive aspects of our culture and heritage. These "sfacciati signori" then contact L'Italo-Americano to make sure their group's cultural or social events are talked about in our pages. Behaving this way, they forget our ethnic press is the keystone to preserving and promoting that cultural heritage to which they pay "lip service" a n d , b y a c t i o n s a n d l a c k o f enthusiastic support, they hasten the day when there may be no p a p e r t o p u t t h e i r n e w s i n . "Avanti, " dear readers, and now that our newspaper is print- ed in English and Italian on opposite pages, it has become a language learning tool for read- e r s o n b o t h s i d e s o f t h e Atlantic. *** January It is named for the Roman God Janus, who was depicted with two faces, one looking to the past, and the other to the future. Jan. 6 - Italians celebrate the E p i p h a n y a s a n a t i o n a l holiday. Jan. 7 - Astronomer Galileo G a l i l e i s i g h t s f o r m o o n s o f Jupiter in 1610, after inventing the first practical telescope. B a s e b a l l g r e a t T o n y Conigliaro is born in 1945. He was the youngest player to reach 100 home runs. Jan. 8 - Ella Grasso is inau- g u r a t e d i n 1 9 7 5 a s t h e f i r s t elected female governor (Con- necticut). Jan. 11 - Italian socialist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City in 1943. No cul- prit was bought to justice and suspects included his Fascist enemies as well as fellow anti- fascists.  Jan. 20 - Filmmaker Federi- co Fellini is born in 1920. His films, starting with La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) are clas- sics. J a n . 2 4 - A c t o r E r n e s t Borgnine is born in 1917.  He won fame for Marty and Pay or Die (1960), in which he played New York City's first Italian- American police lieutenant. J a n . 2 5 - M a t h e m a t i c i a n Giuseppe Luigi La Frangia (aka Lagrange) is born in Torino in 1764. During the French Rev- olution he chaired the commit- tee that developed the Metric System. Jan. 30 - Italy's Altar of Peace is dedicated in Rome in 9 B.C. by the family of Emperor Augustus. The Altar symbolizes the final unification of Italy under the Romans and the start o f t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n ' s P a x Romana (Roman Peace), which lasted some 200 years. *** Looking Back. Many things that people see or use around the world have an "Italian Connec- tion." Here are a few of them: THE ARCH: although an Etruscan device, it was actually perfected by the ROMANS and has become a standard in the world of architecture. It was first developed near Naples and was constructed of caementum, or as well call it, cement, using vol- canic soil from Mt. Vesuvius. POLYPROPELENE/PLAS- TIC: this product, which is a big p a r t o f o u r d a i l y l i v e s , w a s invented by the Italian chemist Giulio Natta. We couldn't store our left over pasta or "sugo" so conveniently without plastic containers. BOOKKEPING: bookkeep- ing was devised in the Middle Ages, but an Italian businessman named Luca Pacioli later pub- l i s h e d t h e r e s t m a n u a l o n accounting, called the double entry system, which is still being used today. THE VIOLIN: although the v i o l i n e m e r g e d i n m e d i e v a l times, this string instrument was brought to perfection by crafts- man like Antonio Stradivari in the 1600's. His pieces are still c o n s i d e r e d t h e f i n e s t i n t h e world. W I R E L E S S T E L E G R A - PHY: the genius of Guglielmo Marconi devised the transmis- sion of the Morse code by way of short wavers. Both radio and television were developed from this technology. Perhaps we can give Marconi's airwaves a little m o r e c r e d i t a n d i n c l u d e c e l l phones, nearly a century later.  TELESCOPE: the first prac- tical telescope was designed by Galileo Galilei around 1610. W h i c h m a y h a v e l e d t o t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e H u b b l e Telescope. EYEGLASS: the first use of the polished lens to improve v i s i o n w a s a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e Dominican Monk Alessandro Spina of Florence. The year was 1291. They say he had an eye for that kind of work. S T O R A G E B A T T E R Y : w a s i n v e n t e d b y A l e s s a n d r o Volta, I guess that explains the volt meter on the dashboard of your car. The year was 1800. How could the kids today oper- ate all those toys and games without them? D O M E : M i c h e l a n g e l o ' s dome over St Peter's, built in the late 1500's, was the model for every dome of every capitol in the United States. The older dome (Pantheon) still stands in Rome after 2000 years. It was an absolute breakthrough in ancient Roman engineering. P I A N O : c a l l e d t h e pianoforte, which means soft a n d l o u d . T h i s m a g n i f i c e n t instrument was invented by Bar- tolomeo Cristofori in 1720. FORK: eating with a fork evolved in 16th Century, Italy. The English have tried to take credit but the habit didn't reach England for another hundred years. Can you imagine a good plate of pasta and no fork? B A R O M E T E R : w a s t h e brainchild of Evangelista Torri- celli in the year 1643. B L O O D P R E S S U R E GAUGE: developed by Scipi- one Riva-Rocci, the year was 1896. How could Riva-Rocci have known that so many people w o u l d b e h a v i n g h i g h b l o o d pressure these days? MUSICAL SCALE: created by Guido D'Arezzo a 13th Cen- tury monk. It was a system of scale and musical notation that is the basis of all written music. THERMOMETER: another of the many inventions of the genius Galileo is that 6" sliver of glass American mothers place under their kids tongue. *** Nice New Year thought: Life - I shall pass through this world but once.  Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness t h a t I c a n s h o w a n y h u m a n being, let me do it now.  Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass their way again. Stephen Grellet

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