Italian News Snippets: 06.24.07 (Part II)

Another dose of Italian news, because it’s just that kind of day:

• Apparently thousands of Italian tourism websites have been infected with a nasty virus or worm or something (if you didn’t already know I’m not a tech wizard, you do now), which someone has amusingly nicknamed The Italian Job. Hardy-har-har. Anyway, the Italy Logue is not one of the infected sites, so surf with glee – just be careful out there.
• Is this German woman the first female gondolier in Venice? No, she’s just the first woman who’s operating a gondola. Confused about the distinction? Well, there’s a pretty big one if you’re Venetian – and especially if you’re a gondolier.
• Well, even if some countries still insist on showing hours upon hours of reality television (just seeing the ads for “Age of Love” makes me feel more stupid), Italy’s state broadcasting company, RAI, has said it will no longer air reality TV shows as of next year. Yet another reason to move to Italy, as if I needed more reasons.
• If you’ve ever walked by a busy McDonald’s in Italy and lamented the burger-maker’s popularity in the Slow Food capital of the world, know that at least in some parts of Italy the local specialties can even drive the Golden Arches out of business. One example of this is now being made into a movie.
• The scarcity of public toilets in Italy has not gone unnoticed, and now there’s a contest to create “The Dream Toilet” – a porta-potty worthy of its beautiful Italian surroundings.
• YouTube is now available in Italian (along with several other languages), which hopefully means there will be even more cool videos from Italy being posted.