Event facilities
Following on from the philosophy of the Institute, this document outlines the technical facilities and the accommodation
available.
The Institute offers good quality presentation and computer facilities:
Presentation facilities
-
A 16' x 12' main screen, and a 7'8 x 5'9 auxiliary screen.
-
An NEC MT1075 projector. This is an extremely bright wireless installation
with extensive connectivity options and many advanced features.
[Technical specs : 4200 ANSI Lumens ; Contrast ratio 200:1 ; autofocus and
digital zoom, automatic cornerstone adjustment ; Native resolution : 1024x768, Maximum resolution 1600x1200 ;
Aspect ratio 4:3 ; 5W stereo speakers ; Inputs : 1 DVI-D, 1 5xBNC, 1 RGB, 1 S-Video, 1 Video, 2 PC Card, 2 L/R RCA Audio, 3 Stereo Mini Audio, 1 USB A, 1 Remote ; Outputs : 1 RGB, 1 Stereo Mini Audio, 1 L/R RCA Audio, 1 USB B, 1 9-Pin PC Control, 1 Mouse.
].
- In the unlikely event of the NEC not functioning correctly with your laptop, or if you wish to project two images at once (e.g. one from a laptop, one from the document camera), there is also an auxiliary Toshiba DPD TDP-T250U projector.
- Instead of a boring old overhead projector there is an Avervision
330 multi-purpose document camera
that will display any printed document, photo, slides, x-ray film or 3D object
through the NEC projector. Useful features include optical 5x and
digital 8x zoom in, panning, mirroring, rotation, negative to positive
conversion, and a timer, and access to all of these features with the
infrared remote control. So basically you can dissect a frog, or a scorpion, live on the
wall, should you be into that sort of thing..
-
DVI, RGB, component video, and S-video cabling.
-
A 19th Century microscope, with an attachment to the Avervision for projecting the microworld.
-
A proper blackboard with real chalk.
-
DVD player with quality speakers.
-
A microphone and amplifier.
-
An electric piano.
Computer and network facilities
-
There is a private wireless network (802.11b) with a big aerial in the
building so users bringing their own laptops should be able to connect to the
internet and other local computers and printers from anywhere in or near the
monastery. The network connects with the outside world through the local 2Mb/s wireless broadband service.
-
We have twenty or so network laptop computers available for public use (these can be used together to form a distributed supercomputer).
-
Printing, scanning and photo/HD-video facilities are available.
Accommodation
Events for up to something like 35 people can be catered for onsite.
The Institute itself can accommodate 16 people in proper beds (more if you're prepared to rough it and use the church as a dormitory). An additional 11 people can be accommodated in the Doctor's house 30 metres away (this incurs a small cost, since we have to pay him) and there are other houses in the village that can be rented if necessary. Note that much of this accommodation is shared twin-bed rooms, though there are single rooms for important professor-types who value their privacy and some rooms have double beds. There are two bathrooms in the main house (and one in the Doctor's) and a Victorian-style external lavatory. Cots and small children-sized beds can be arranged on request.
As of summer 2007, the new luxurious Bedouin tent can now be found on the site of the old fortress on the terraces above Vallico..
Random quotes :
"It was easily the most enjoyable conference I have ever attended, and in
the most beautiful location"
"Each of the days in Tuscany was amazingly wonderful, can I ever imagine
Italian lovely place without any crowd of Japanese tourists?" [from a Japanese person]
"Thank you many times for the terrific time we (and in particular me) had
at the TTI. I think that was my summer highlight for this year, and I
suppose that it was the perfect atmosphere for our QMC family to grow
closer together!!"
"I am really happy to see that you are preparing a new Casino Summer School in Vallico Sotto. It remains for me the most profitable workshop I have ever had, associating the top quality of lectures and the excellent practical training, making very difficult things to become accessible. It remains also for me the type of ideal ambiance associating work, scientific discussion and entertainments."
"Very educational, very relaxing, just great.. Thanks for this memorable
week in Tuscany"
"Just a brief note to thank you again for hosting the QMC summer school. I
had a wonderful time in Tuscany, it was probably the best
conference/school I've attended. The science was excellent, and the
location, obviously, stunning. The Towler Institute is a very impressive
place. Every one of the participants was a pleasure to spend time with,
and I've come away with some friends with whom I intend to keep in
contact. The success of the school was down to your organization and hard
work, and I just wanted to say "grazie" to you for all your efforts."
"Thank you so much for organising the summer school. It is really a wonderful experience and I wish I would have another chance to return soon."
"You bet how wonderful time I had (I believe others students did too) in this fantastic summer school !! I would like to quote a very popular Chinese poem to show my personal feeling of the almost ideal life in Vallico Sotto. The author is Tao Yuan-ming, an extremely all-time popular poet of reclusion throughout chinese history after him. And Tao's philosophy of life is epitomized by his house or hut as a central metaphor for self and universe. The following poem is called 'Drinking Poem - 5 of 20':
I built my hut within where others live,
But there is no noise of carriages and horses.
You ask how this is possible:
When the heart is distant, solitude comes.
I pluck chrysanthemums by the eastern fence
And see the distant southern mountains.
The mountain air is fresh at dusk.
Flying birds return in flocks.
In these things there lies a great truth,
But when I try to express it, I cannot find the words.
Especially 'I pluck chrysanthemums by the eastern fence And see the distant southern mountains' can be recited by almost every Chinese fellow. I am also grateful for the night of awesome firework, which was like special 'time tunnel' to bring me back to my childhood. Thank you and Thank you !! I was in a bit hurry I didn't bring camera with me, but the whole beautiful scenary has been deeply impressed in my memory, which is unfadable for sure..."
"I want to say again, 'Thank You for a good time in Tuscany'. All particular facets of school was great, including lectures, practice, place, people, activities, food etc. It was my first summer school (conference) but I think it shall be hard to find something better. Thanks."
"It was a pleasure to be in the summer school last week in Vallico Sotto, to meet you and your team, this "strange foreign people" (including myself), and Sammy and Saska. I liked very much the lectures, learned many things and enjoyed a lot our excursions and dinners. We really had a good time, congratulations on the organization of this fantastic enterprise. Thank you very much!"
"Thank you for hosting the wonderful summer school on earth. I had really enjoyed that :)"
"Thank you for a great week both when it comes to science and adventure. Now I really understand why people return to Tuscany. Hopefully we will too."
"Thanks for the nice time we spent at your place all together! It was very nice time, nice way to socialize and all lectures were extremely interesting!"
"Thank you - you, Neil and Pablo brought us such a fruitful and joyful summer school!!! I have learned so much about the technical parts of QMC as well as the related applied physical problems!! Including learning that QMC can describe the Van der Waale's interaction, descirption of the e-h phase diagram and the interesting discussion in your talk about the strongly correlated systems!! Not to mention that we got all those different options of activities every day to exercise our bodies after the brain exercises in the morning, besides the interesting monastery we took the lectures, slept in and had meals, tea and coffee!!! Really gratefully to you three for the wonderful time!!"
"...well, it almost goes without saying that I would love to be there.
I need no persuasion about the beauty and tranquillity of the
place, and I think humanity in general and theoretical physics
in particular owe you a great debt for making all this happen."
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