Fast games and Slow games

What do you prefer?

There are several types of game, but one of the distinctions made between a game and the others is that: there are slow games in which logic and thinking prevail and others where you must act fast to win.

"Slow games" - Long time duration (hours)

CARDS GAME
The player, through logic and intuition, "slows down" the game in order to build his own winning strategy.

CHESS
The game slowly progresses, because the players through the reasoning must be able to make the best move.

SHANGAI
The player makes his move slowly, not to move the other poles (game's basic rule).

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Ascolta

"Fast games" - Short time duration (minutes, seconds)

"GIOCO DEL FAZZOLETTO"
Ancient game, in which guys must be fast, in order to take the handkerchief before the opponent.

QUIZ GAME ON TV

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Ascolta

The candidates, when the presenter posed the question, must quickly press the button to answer before the opponents.

PACMAN
The player must quickly move the joystick in order to finish the game level before the end of predefined time.

http://www.google.it/imghp?hl=it&tab=wi

Speed Dating

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A new way to communicate and make new friends

Speed dating is a formalized matchmaking process or dating system whose purpose is to encourage people to meet a large number of new people. Its origins are credited to Rabbi Yaacov Deyo of Aish HaTorah, originally as a way to help Jewish singles meet and marry."SpeedDating", as a single word, is a registered trademark of Aish HaTorah. "Speed dating", as two separate words, is often used as a generic term for similar events.

Men and women are rotated to meet each other over a series of short "dates", usually lasting from 3 to 8 minutes depending on the organization running the event. At the end of each interval, the organizer rings a bell or clinks a glass to signal the participants to move on to the next date. At the end of the event participants submit to the organizers a list of who they would like to provide their contact information to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_dating 

http://www.speeddate.it/cosa_e.aspx

Super speed

"The Flash"

The Flash is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comicsuniverse. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940).

Nicknamed the Scarlet Speedster, all incarnations of the Flash possess "super-speed", which includes the ability to run and move extremely fast, use superhuman reflexes and seemingly violate certain laws of physics. Thus far, four different characters—each of whom somehow gained the power of "super-speed"—have assumed the identity of the Flash: Jay Garrick (1940–present), Barry Allen (1956–1985, 2008–present), Wally West (1986–2006, 2007–present), and Bart Allen (2006–2007). Before Wally and Bart's ascension to the mantle of the Flash, they were both Flash proteges under the same name Kid Flash.

The Flash vol. 1, #105 (Feb-Mar, 1959).
Featuring the Barry Allen version of the character and the original Mirror Master.
Art by Carmine Infantino.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_%28comics%29

Digital people: “fast”, “slow” or “out”?

Italians, nation of poets, saints and...navigators?

The Italian population who daily use Internet, is estimated at about twenty million. According to reliable statistics, the Italians who have a broadband connection are at least 12% of the population. Depending on the type of connection used, you can then identify three "categories" of people:

-“fast”;

-”slow”;

-“out”;

“Fast” are people updated at the modern world, using the Internet as an extension of their cognitive and social skills, tend to be "always connected" to the ADSL or optical fiber at home and at work, UMTS and Wi-Fi when they are on the road. "

http://www.comuniclab.it/42479/internet-40-anni-dopo

“Slow” are those who, by choice or by lack of alternatives, still use the analog connection to 56 kbps or ISDN, useful for downloading your mail (without attachments if possible) and some occasional browsing, not for work online. The phone for them is still an instrument to talk and, occasionally, send sms.

http://dixdipcpervoi.blogspot.com/2010/09/internet-in-italia-va-piu-lento-che-in.html

The category "out", which still includes the majority of Italians, well represents the general situation of Italy, a nation struggling to keep pace with the modern times. The "out" see the Net as a strange animal, preferably to be kept in a cage.

Unfortunately, until the "out" are the majority in the politicians and can handle the power, we will be hardly able to enjoy the great opportunities that the digital revolution offers. We will be a nation of users but we will never be able to innovate.

http://www.thedailybit.net/index.php?method=section&action=zoom&id=2310

Slow COLOR movement

Slow Color & DESIGNatural & for conscious comfort ™

The interesting thing about Slow Color Movement, is how in today’s fast paced world, it teaches you about being patient with yourself. Be it either to see how the colors will reveal themselves slowly, as the natural fabric dries, to just waiting for the natural dyes to boil slowly and not in a flash.

With a need to increase awareness about the consumers about the problem with synthetic dyes and the benefits of natural dyes, the SlowCOLOR movement looks to change perceptions and attitudes among consumers and the incumbents in the apparel industry in order to preserve and sustain natural dyeing traditions around the globe.

http://www.slowcolor.org/

http://www.crowdspring.com/project/2286725_designatural-the-slow-color-movement/details/ 
 

Larghissimo / Prestissimo

The speed of music

In music at the beginning of the song and when required, are placed a few words to indicate the speed and the trend at which it should have, especially in classical music.

Most of these words are Italian, because many of the most important composers of the 17th century were Italian, and this period was when tempo indications were first used extensively.

All of these markings are based on a few root words. By adding an -issimo ending the word is amplified, by adding an -ino ending the word is diminished, and by adding an -etto ending the word is endeared.

Nowadays we use BPM (Beats Per Minute), a unit typically used as a measure of tempo in music.

So, in accordance to past and present, we can found these notations on classical music sheet, that are the basic tempo markings:

• Larghissimo — very, very slow (20 bpm and below)
• Lento — very slow (40–60 bpm)
• Largo — very slow (40–60 bpm), like lento
• Larghetto — rather broadly (60–66 bpm)
• Grave — slow and solemn
• Adagio — slow and stately (literally, "at ease") (66–76 bpm)
• Adagietto — rather slow (70–80 bpm)
• Andante — at a walking pace (76–108 bpm)
• Andante Moderato — a bit faster than andante
• Andantino – slightly faster than andante
• Moderato — moderately (101-110 bpm)
• Allegretto — moderately fast (but less so than allegro)
• Allegro moderato — moderately quick (112–124 bpm)
• Allegro — fast, quickly and bright or "march tempo" (120–139 bpm)
• Vivace — lively and fast (˜140 bpm) (quicker than allegro)
• Vivacissimo — very fast and lively
• Allegrissimo — very fast
• Presto — very fast (168–200 bpm)
• Prestissimo — extremely fast (more than 200bpm)

http://www.musicacolta.eu/2009/03/07/agogica-le-indicazioni-del-tempo/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo

In Andante and Variations by W.A. Mozart
we can see the tempo indication above the beginning of the notes
http://www.borgmusic.ca/transcriptions.html

Downshifting and simple life

Reset our lives in other register!

The phenomenon of downshifting, including in the broader concept of simple living, living in simplicity, is affecting even the beautiful country and that Italians like to translate the term "voluntary simplicity."
A practice not just recently. In the seventies, philosophers such as Jean Baudrillard (The consumer society, 1970) and André Gorz (Environment & Policy, 1975) theorized the need décroissance, decrease, based on awareness dell'insostenibilità, individually and globally, development rates too fast.

Today, as thirty years' ago, partisans of the slowness I think we should do the best possible and as quickly as possible.
But who are the supporters of going slow? Above all professionals with a good job, graduation, various specializations. They can choose. They have this privilege. They do this by opting for a lifestyle on a human scale, as "green."
These are people who have decided to give up marathons stressful jobs to have more free time to devote to family, their hobbies, friends. Men and women who, facing a global economic crisis, the depletion of the planet's wealth and all'inaridimento of their lives, they begin to reset their own lifestyle. To give an impression more "Eastern", leaner, less determined by impulse, sometimes manic consumption. And less "connected".

Downshifter 
The downshifter is the one who recovers his emotional, depriving them of chances for career success and money. And 'one who invests on the concept of happiness, waiting for individual choices become fashionable, able to transform our society and our rigid division of labor.

 
 http://www.voglioviverecosi.com/index.php?consigli-per-cambiare-vita-vivere-una-vita-migliore-e-pi%E3%B9-felice-_84/come-migliorare-la-qualit%E3-di-vita-downshifting-e-slow-living_231/

Life and places

The rhythm of life changes according to the place

The Modern City is the symbol of hectic people's life. Traffic, confusion, stress, job, house..lead the people to be "Fast", and consequently to live "Fast", with unsusteinable rhythm.

Everything becomes faster. This type of City is generally situated in economic developed States.

"Fast rhythm" in the City.

On the contrary there are small villages, situated in wild places, within the nature. In these villages, people's life flows slowly, without stress, confusion...The rhythm is marked by the Nature. Usually this kind of place has not been totally influenced by industrial progress, and it is also situated far from the city.

Mountain village: symbol of "slow life".

Slow Art

"Slow" ends up being a way of being

Slow art is an evolving movement championed by such proponents as Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic and columnist for the New York Times. It advocates appreciating an art work in itself as opposed to a rapid, flitting witnessing of art common in a hectic societal setting. One of its central tenets is that people often seek out what they already know as opposed to allowing the artist to present a journey or piece in its entirety.

Another interpretation of Slow Art relates to creating art in a slow way. This practice is about being mindful of detail, valuing the history inherrent in re-usable materials, putting time into creating small items. The practice encourages the maker to be naturally meditative as they create. "Slow" ends up being a way of being. An example of local makers creating in this way is highlighted by those involved with the inaugural Eastside Makers Market in Tasmania.

East Side Makers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Movement
http://eastsidemarket.blogspot.com/

Fast feet

Speed in greek mythology


In ancient greek mythology many characters were known for their speed:

- Antilochus, that in the Trojan war was distingueshed for his swiftness on foot;



Antilochus on an Attic red-figure anphora, ca.470 BC, Louvre museum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antilochus

- Achilles, a Greek hero of the Trojan war, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad; he was known not only for his famous heel, but also for his strenght and fast feet, that made him earn the well-known ephitet.

Achilles Wounded in the Heel by Paris, 1850, plaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles

- Hermes, the great messenger of the Gods in Greek mythology: for this reason he had wings on his feet, in order to be very fast.

A canvas representing Hermes with wings on his feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes

Slow Reading

How to comprehend and appreciate a complex text

Slow reading is the intentional reduction in the speed of reading, carried out to increase comprehension or pleasure. The concept appears to have originated in the study of philosophy and literature as a technique to more fully comprehend and appreciate a complex text. More recently, there has been increased interest in slow reading as result of the slow movement and its focus on decelerating the pace of modern life.

The use of slow reading in literary criticism is sometimes referred to as close reading. Of less common usage is the term, "deep reading" (Birkerts, 1994). Slow reading is contrasted with speed reading which involves techniques to increase the rate of reading without adversely affecting comprehension, and contrasted with skimming which employs visual page cues to increase reading speed.

The earliest reference to slow reading appears to be in Nietzsche's (1887) preface to Daybreak: "It is not for nothing that one has been a philologist, perhaps one is a philologist still, that is to say, a teacher of slow reading."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_reading

Slow Travel

"If we have slow food and slow cities, then why not slow travel?" - Théophile Gautier

Slow Travel is an evolving movement that has taken its inspiration from nineteenth-century European travel writers, such as Théophile Gautier, who reacted against the cult of speed, prompting some modern analysts to ask "If we have slow food and slow cities, then why not slow travel?". Other literary and exploration traditions, from early Arab travellers to late nineteenth-century Yiddish writers, have also identified with slow travel, usually marking its connection with community as its most distinctive feature.

Advocates of slow travel argue that all too often the potential pleasure of the journey is lost by too eager anticipation of arrival. Slow travel, it is asserted, is a state of mind which allows travellers to engage more fully with communities along their route, often favouring visits to spots enjoyed by local residents rather than merely following guidebooks. As such, slow travel shares some common values with ecotourism. Its advocates and devotees generally look for low-impact travel styles, even to the extent of eschewing flying.

Aspects of slow travel, including some of the principles detailed in the Manifesto for Slow Travel, are now becoming to feature in travel writing. The Sloth Club Japan [www.sloth.gr.jp] produced a slow tourism manifesto in 2006 that incorporates culture, fair trade, ecology and spiritual reconnection and regular runs tours along these themes to places like Bhutan.

A new book series launched in May 2010 by Bradt Travel Guides explicitly espouses slow travel ideas with volumes that focus very much on local communities within a tightly defined area, often advocating the use of public transport along the way. Titles include Slow Norfolk and Suffolk, Slow Dorset and Exmoor and Slow North Yorkshire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Movement

http://www.slowtraveleurope.eu/data/downloads/hiddeneurope_25_slowtravel.pdf

http://www.sloth.gr.jp/E-index.htm 

Slow Parenting

Parents and children: happy and satisfied

Slow parenting is a parenting style in which few activities are organised for children. Instead, they are allowed to explore the world at their own pace. It is a response to concerted cultivation and the widespread trend for parents to schedule activities and classes after school; to solve problems on behalf of the children, and to buy services from commercial suppliers rather than letting nature take its course.

Slow parenting aims for the goal of allowing children to be happy and satisfied with their own achievements, even though this may not make them the wealthiest or most famous.

The parents of modern children are often encouraged to give each child the best possible childhood experiences, to ensure their success and happiness in adult life. However, it is argued that this may lead to over-stressed children who do not know how to take care of themselves. Their imagination and attention span are reduced. They expect constant stimulation.They are unable to cope with the unpredictability of the real world, either expecting their helicopter parents to intervene, or complaining about unfairness. They may not even understand who they are themselves until much later in adulthood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_parenting 

Slow City

 The Modern City: It can still be slow?

Cittaslow (literally Slow City) is a movement founded in Italy in October of 1999. The inspiration of Cittaslow was the Slow Food organization. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns while resisting "the fast-lane, homogenized world so often seen in other cities throughout the world" – as the official slowmovement.com description puts it. Celebrating and supporting diversity of culture and the specialties of a town and its hinterland are core Cittaslow values.

Cittaslow is part of a cultural trend known as the Slow movement.

Cittaslow has expanded broadly beyond Italy. By 2006, national Cittaslow networks existed in Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom; By mid-2009, fourteen countries have at least one officially accredited Cittaslow community. In July, 2009, the small seaside village of Cowichan Bay, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada became Canada's and North America's first Cittaslow town.

Movement's logo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cittaslow 

http://www.cittaslow.net/ 

Slow Money

A new movement based on money

Slow Money is a movement to organize investors and donors to steer new sources of capital to small food enterprises, organic farms, and local food systems. Slow Money takes its name from the Slow Food movement. Slow Money aims to develop the relationship between capital markets and place, including social capital and soil fertility. Slow Money is supporting the grass-roots mobilization through network building, convening, publishing, and incubating intermediary strategies and structures of funding.

Formation	2008
Founder	Woody Tasch

Slow Money was started by Woody Tasch, former chairman of Investors’ Circle — a nonprofit network of over 200 angel investors, professional venture capitalists, foundations, family offices and others.The idea to initiate the Slow Money movement came to Woody Tasch while he was writing his book Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money– Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered. The non-profit, Slow Money, was founded in November, 2008, following the publication of Mr. Tasch’s book. The movement gained significant momentum from a number of local and regional meetings, and press coverage during the first half of 2009 leading to an Inaugural National Gathering.

"Once in a while, a book comes along that has the potential to change things. This is one such book. It is going to unleash a major movement in this country." - Steve Costa, Point Reyes Books

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Money

http://www.slowmoney.org/

Slow Gardening

Slow cures for our gardens

Slow Gardening is a philosophical approach to gardening which encourages participants to savor everything they do, using all the senses, through all seasons, regardless of garden type of style. Slow Gardening applies equally to people growing vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruits, as well as those who tend to their own lawn, or have an intense garden hobby such as topiary, bonsai, or plant hybridizing. It actively promotes self awareness, personal responsibility, and environmental stewardship.

It's a no-brainer, comparing modern gardens to how we eat. In just a couple or three generations we've gone from eating mostly home-cooked food, and gardening with mostly local resources, to routine fast-food and "mow-and-blow" landscapes filled with plants from afar.

Waistlines have been supersized while garden sizes have withered. Why bother to grow when you can just run to the store and get prepackaged? Instead of sowing saved seed, we buy uniform hybrids by the six-pack, shipped to us at a huge cost. Sure, we've shed a lot of the menial work of putting both food on the table and flowers in the garden, but at what cost to the connections with the Earth that our ancestors took for granted?

Slow Gardening to the rescue! Similar to Slow Food(Tm) , an international movement started in Italy in the 1980s by convivial connoisseurs who savor producing, preparing and consuming traditional in-season dishes, a "slow-gardening" approach can help us enjoy our gardens year in and year out and possibly connect us with our neighbors. 

Some ways to enjoy Slow Gardening:

Take it easy - Life has lots of pressures: why include them in the garden? Your garden provides natural opportunities to kick back, relax, step off the treadmill. Think "long haul" and take your time.

Cliches can help: No need to go whole hog right off the bat. Don't have to eat the whole enchilada.

Grow plants of all descriptions -  native or well-adapted - that like your climate and provide something for you and local wildlife through all seasons. Include plants for evening enjoyhment, and at least a little home-grown food (herbs, vegetables, or landscape-quality fruit plants).

Get 'er done - You don't have to be an expert to garden, or even to work very hard. Even a small potted plant can help you focus on the "here and now" of everyday living. 

Get together - Gardeners have always been a sharing tribe. Find a safe group of like-minded folks who won't impose their expectations onto you or your garden, grab a digging fork and slip right into the rhythm of the seasons. 

Slow doesn't necessarily mean lazy. As Steve Bender, senior garden editor for Southern Living Magazine put it, "Maybe you can't save the whole world, but by slightly modifying the way you garden you can save your own backyard. And that's a start."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Gardening
http://slowgardening.net/

Spray paint art

A Fast Art for a Fast Society

Spray paint art is an artform using spray paint, traditionally on posterboard, but can be done on any non-pourus material such as wood, metal, glass, ceramic or plastic. It differs from graffiti art in that graffiti is performed on buildings, trains and the like, as opposed to more traditional art surfaces.

The artist will start by creating a mental layout of how they want their picture to go. They need to keep in mind: where objects will go (such as planets, trees, mountains, stars, haze, water, etc.), what colors to use, how fast they need to paint (if it’s hot out, the paint will dry faster so you need to work faster) and finally which tools and methods to use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CFPg1m_Umg 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_paint_art 

Fast and Slow in Cartoons

- Going, going, gosh!, directed by Charles M. Jones

Willy the coyote and Road Runner,
protagonists of many pieces, in which the first tries in vain, to capture the fast volatile.

-  Speedy Gonzales, directed by I. Freleng

The fastest mouse in all Mexico! Speedy's major traits are his ability to run and his comedic Mexican accent.