Affari di famiglia — Francesco Muzzopappa

Affari di famiglia è un libro che non si prende per nulla sul serio. È un romanzo scanzonato, leggero e che strappa un sorriso, senza la pretesa di essere un capolavoro.

Francesco Muzzopappa ha messo insieme una storia piuttosto divertente e surreale, con personaggi altrettanto surreali che, però, potrebbero esistere davvero. La forza dei personaggi è nei loro difetti, che li rendono umani, per quanto al lettore possano apparire tonti e disconnessi da quanto succede loro intorno.

La storia non è molto più che un romanzo da ombrellone eppure intrattiene molto bene, riesce a catturare, nonostante la mancanza di punteggiatura per distinguere i dialoghi dalla narrazione o dai pensieri (e, a posteriori, è un fattore che può rendere difficoltosa la comprensione delle scene a una prima lettura, tanto che in alcuni punti è bene tornare indietro, rileggere e riflettere).

Nel complesso è un libro divertente e pieno di umorismo semplice.

Maggiori informazioni sul libro su OpenLibrary

@libri

#bibliofiliincurabili #libri #recensioni

Printing with PHA Filament as Potential Alternative to PLA

PLA (polylactic acid) has become the lowest common denominator in FDM 3D printing, offering decent performance while being not very demanding on the printer. That said, it’s often noted that the supposed biodegradability of PLA turned out to be somewhat dishonest, as it requires an industrial composting setup to break it down. Meanwhile, a potential alternative has been waiting in the wings for a while, in the form of PHA. Recently, [JanTec Engineering] took a shot at this filament type to see how it prints and tests its basic resistance to various forms of abuse.

PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates) are polyesters that are produced by microorganisms, often through bacterial fermentation. Among their advantages are biodegradability without requiring hydrolysis as the first step, as well as UV-stability. There are also PLA-PHA blends that exhibit higher toughness, among other improvements, such as greater thermal stability. So far, PHA seems to have found many uses in medicine, especially for surgical applications where it’s helpful to have a support that dissolves over time.

As can be seen in the video, PHA by itself isn’t a slam-dunk replacement for PLA, if only due to the price. Finding a PHA preset in slicers is, at least today, uncommon. A comment by the CTO of EcoGenesis on the video further points out that PHA has a post-printing ‘curing time’, so that mechanical tests directly after printing aren’t quite representative. Either you can let the PHA fully crystallize by letting the part sit for ~48 hours, or you can speed up the process by putting it in an oven at 70 – 80°C for 6-8 hours.

Overall, it would seem that if your goal is to have truly biodegradable parts, PHA is hard to beat. Hopefully, once manufacturing capacity increases, prices will also come down. Looking for strange and wonderful printing filament? Here you go.

youtube.com/embed/Me8UEWEKvmA?…

hackaday.com/2025/12/14/printi…

#Poland political analyst Edwin Bendyk:

The term ‘war fatigue’ often comes up in discussions aimed at showing declining Western public support for aid to #Ukraine. The latest More in Common survey, conducted in late November and early December, shows that talk of ‘fatigue’ is exaggerated.

The public in #Poland, the #UnitedKingdom, #France, #Germany and the #UnitedStates remain determined and have a clear view of who is the aggressor and who is the victim in this war, and what is unacceptable in peace negotiations. It is unacceptable for the terms of a ceasefire and peace to reward the aggressor.

Of course, there are clear differences between the electorates. In Germany, #AfD voters are more supportive of #Russia than Ukraine, in Poland less than half of #Konfederacja voters support Ukraine, PiS supporters are at the same level of support as the national average, and over 80% of Koalicja voters have no doubts and sympathise with Ukraine.

The study is very important as it presents a very concrete and evidence-based counterweight to the flood of disinformation plaguing the media. Russian trolls, including some politicians, present their projections and wishes, while this study presents the social reality.

Full article (in Polish): polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/s…

Full study: moreincommon.com/international…

Teardown of a 5th Generation Prius Inverter

The best part about BEV and hybrid cars is probably the bit where their electronics are taken out for a good teardown and comparison with previous generations and competing designs. Case in point: This [Denki Otaku] teardown of a fifth-generation Prius inverter and motor controller, which you can see in the video below. First released in 2022, this remains the current platform used in modern Prius hybrid cars.

Compared to the fourth-generation design from 2015, the fifth generation saw about half of its design changed or updated, including the stack-up and liquid cooling layout. Once [Otaku] popped open the big aluminium box containing the dual motor controller and inverters, we could see the controller card, which connects to the power cards that handle the heavy power conversion. These are directly coupled to a serious aluminium liquid-cooled heatsink.

At the bottom of the Prius sandwich is the 12VDC inverter board, which does pretty much what it says on the tin. With less severe cooling requirements, it couples its heat-producing parts into the aluminium enclosure from where the liquid cooling loop can pick up that bit of thermal waste. Overall, it looks like a very clean and modular design, which, as noted in the video, still leaves plenty of room inside the housing.

Regardless of what you think of the Prius on the road, you have to admit it’s fun to hack.

youtube.com/embed/sH0UqYOQHVA?…

hackaday.com/2025/12/14/teardo…