Savinelli

System for predicting foreign exchange transactions

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:38:29 -0300

Published July 16, 2026. This document presents a patented system designed to predict foreign exchange transactions. Publication no. US 2026/0203815 A1.

Although the document is publicly accessible through the USPTO website, I have also archived a copy on my website.

Read Document

Our last night out in Tokyo

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 14:25:01 -0300

Photograph of Robert with friends, Tokyo, Japan, 2026.

One last sushi dinner with friends before leaving Japan.

L'Anniversaire du Gaspard at Fuji-Q

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 18:20:07 -0300

Photograph of a cardboard cutout of Gaspard, 2026.

Celebrating Gaspard’s birthday at Fuji-Q.

Drinking Turkish Tea at My Father's House

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 03 May 2026 16:36:17 -0300

Photograph of Cami drinking Turkish tea at my father's house, 2026.

Drinking Turkish tea at my father’s house.

A minimalist approach to year end: decluttering my house

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 30 Nov 2025 11:15:24 -0300

As the year draws to a close, one ritual I enjoy is a thorough declutter — deep-cleaning the house and letting go of things I no longer use.

Deep cleaning isn’t just sweeping floors or dusting shelves; it’s about identifying items that no longer serve a purpose and deciding whether to repair them (if they are broken), sell them if they still hold value, donate them to someone who will use them, or discard them if they’re beyond repair.

This year I donated countless pieces of clothing — T‑shirts, jeans, jackets, and shoes — to people who will put them to good use. In my view, there’s no point in profiting from people in need of clothes. I also disposed of worn-out items: mismatched socks, socks with holes, and T‑shirts that had become rags. If you wouldn’t wear something yourself, it’s probably not worth donating.

I also made a little money selling an old Logitech C920 webcam I no longer used, and I have another listing for a Raspberry Pi Model 3B that I hope will be sold by next year. Rather than spending that money on day-to-day expenses, I’ll use it to buy shares — a small investment in my future self and a quiet act of gratitude.

The end result is a lighter start to the year: you keep only what you truly use and need, reducing the number of possessions you own and the mental overhead of maintaining them.

28/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Thu, 22 May 2025 20:03:01 -0300

Continuing with this week’s goal, this is the current status of my studies:

CM1025 Fundamentals of Computer Science: Week 6 *
CM1035 Algorithms and Data Structures I: Week 7
CM1040 Web Development: Week 8

And accompanying that, this was my TO-DO list for today:

Study through 2 pomodoro sessions
Prepare dinner
Prune the plants
Tidy the house up

Note *: I have already begun to watch the lectures and solve the exercises, so I am on my way to completing week 7 (but I’m am not right there quite yet).

27/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 20 May 2025 10:13:04 -0300

Pursuing this week’s goal of getting to week 8, I’ve managed to accomplish the following so far:

CM1025 Fundamentals of Computer Science: Week 5 -> Week 6
CM1035 Algorithms and Data Structures I: Week 7
CM1040 Web Development: Week 7 -> Week 8

Despite my acknowledgment of the fact that it is my responsibility to stay on track of my progress, I’ve been lagging behind “Fundamentals of Computer Science” because the content delivery is awfully done. There is no spontaneity in the class, no grace, no passion… It’s just people reading slides and nothing beyond that.

26/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 19 May 2025 09:29:36 -0300

This week I’ll need to double up on the study efforts I’m making so as to stay ahead by one week on all my courses.

We are currently on week 7 so the goal is week 8. Staying ahead by one or two weeks is really helpful once we reach week 10 because the midterms tend to be rather time consuming. Since I also work a full-time job, time management tends to be key to success.

As of today, this is the situation:

CM1025 Fundamentals of Computer Science: Week 5
CM1035 Algorithms and Data Structures I: Week 7
CM1040 Web Development: Week 7

25/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 04 May 2025 12:52:10 -0300

I’m lagging behind my studies. These first few weeks have been packed with activities and responsibilities as so I need to catch up with two of the three courses I’m taking this semester. Today I’ll be focusing on Fundamentals of Computer Science, and if I have some time to spare (which I highly doubt) I’ll do some exercises from my english grammar book.

Rosen, K.H. Discrete mathematics and its applications. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011) 7th edition, Chapter 1.7, pp.80–90.
Solve week 3 exercises
Watch week 4 lectures
Read Rosen, K.H. Discrete mathematics and its applications, pp.311–330.
Solve week 4 exercises

24/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 10:01:06 +0000

Tomorrow is exam day.

I’ll be solving some practice exams today. And later, in the afternoon, I’ll visit the raspberry pi store to see if I get my hands on a new raspberry pi.

23/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:33:49 +0000

Started early today.

I got to the library at 9:30 and I will be here unitl 12:30 at least. Afterwards, I will take a quick break to have lunch and then I will either go explore the city a little more, or back here to the library.

22/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 11:50:30 +0000

I got my library card today.

After two semesters of online course taking with UoL I’m finally visiting the main building of my university: The Senate House.

21/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 15:31:47 +0100

Since I had some time to spare in Barcelona while waiting for my next flight I decided to take some time write down some of the places I want to visit while I’m in London. What I came up with is not an elaborate itinerary, but a list of places of interest.

I will also be revising my notes on discrete mathematics before resuming practice test solving.

20/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 11:21:13 -0300

Setting off to the UK! 🇬🇧

It will be great to finally visit my university after two semesters online. Even though I have previously been to the UK on a short trip, this time I’ll be staying for a longer period. My Discrete Mathematics exam is still around the corner, so I’ll have to keep up with my studies while I’m there.

My To-Do list for today:

Finish packing.
Check-in for my flight.
Download some practice tests.
Start solving one of those tests.
Buy some snacks for the flight.

19/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 08:17:07 -0300

Today will be a continuation of yesterday.

Continue revising my notes on Discrete mathematics.
Finish solving practice test 2.
Start solving practice test 3.
Plan some activities to do while in the UK.
Print some extra practice tests.

18/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 08:41:30 -0300

Today is going to be much like yesterday. I want to finish solving this second practice test I’ve started yesterday. I also want to plan some activities to do in London while I’m there. A rough itinerary would do. Maybe a list of places to visit or things I want to try.

Continue revising my notes on Discrete mathematics.
Continue solving practice test.
Plan some activities to do while in the UK.

17/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 18:16:42 -0300

With the cheat sheet already prepared, today I’m going to go through my notes to make a revision of the concepts, formulas and definitions covered in the course and also start solving one of the practice tests.

Start revising my notes on Discrete mathematics.
Start solving one of the practice test.

16/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 18:41:09 -0300

This past Thursday I received the admission notice for the exam I’ll be taking on March 10, and since this afternoon will be quite peaceful it would be really convenient to write a cheat sheet to use that day.

I also need to fix some shelves in the kitchen and the bathroom that are loose due to how they were first installed by the previous owner, so allocating some time to home maintenance would also be wise.

Fix the cabinetry.
Write a formulae cheat sheet for my discrete mathematics exam.

New year's resolution 2025

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 19:24:57 -0300

Before setting my new goals for this year, it might be wise to reflect on last year’s achievements.

Starting with the most noteworthy, I became a University of London student and I already passed both of the courses I took last semester - that is, Computational Math and Introduction to Programming I. I also was granted recognition of prior learning for How Computer’s Work. So that’s already 45 credits out of 360 I need to be awarded my bachelor’s degree.

I also managed to do some exercise two to three times a week and get around 8 hours of sleep a day. Not bad.

However, on a negative note, I failed to prepare and sit for Cambridge’s C2 Proficiency Exam.

Consequently, basing my judgement on what happened last year, and the expectation I can set for 2025, this is my new year’s resolution:

Visit England.
Wake up at 06:00 and be at the office by 07:00. This will imply being in bed by 22:00 to maintain the 8 hours of sleep requirement I have set for myself.
Pass both of my Discrete Mathematics and Introduction to Programming II courses and the courses I’ll be taking next semester, which will probably be Fundamentals of Computer Science and Algorithms and Data Structures I.
Keep exercising three times a week.
Be wise about my spending. Delve into corporate bonds. Do not let a single month go by without purchasing securities.
Prepare and sit for Cambridge’s C2 Proficiency Exam in AACI. It could be helpful to complete the books on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation that I have lying around.

15/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 08:15:02 -0300

This week will be quite varied. I’ll be watching the week 12 lectures as well as solving the remaining exercises I have yet to do from the weeks 11 and 12 problem set.

I will also be going over some units of English Pronunciation in Use - Intermediate, and if I happen to still have some time to spare, I will be solving some exercises from the book Language Practice for First or writing my new year’s resolution that I still haven’t managed to write.

As for today, I need to collect a parcel at a post office nearby. I bought one of the books I need for my English course online, and the parcel has been waiting for me since Tuesday. This year we will be using the Objective Proficiency set of books [1 and 2], and the Cambridge English Proficiency 1 for Updated Exam companion book.

Today’s list:

Watch week 12 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 11 and 12 problem set.
Collect parcel.
Solve unit two of English Pronunciation in Use - Intermediate.
Go to the gym.

This week’s list:

Add to the calendar the reminder for the next live lectures.
Print weeks 13 and 14 problem set.
Fix scissors tool.
Solve weeks 7 and 8 problem set.
Watch week 10 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 9 and 10 problem set.
Watch week 11 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Watch week 12 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 11 and 12 problem set.
Watch week 13 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Start solving weeks 13 and 14 problem set.
Solve some exercises from Language Practice for First.
Hand in the peer-graded assignment on induction and recursion.

14/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 09:26:21 -0300

As for today, I’ll be watching the week 11 lectures and solving all the exercises from the problem set related to the topics introduced in the webinars.

Add to the calendar the reminder for the next live lectures.
Print weeks 13 and 14 problem set.
Fix scissors tool.
Solve weeks 7 and 8 problem set.
Watch week 10 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 9 and 10 problem set.
Watch week 11 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Watch week 12 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 11 and 12 problem set.
Watch week 13 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Hand in the peer-graded assignment on induction and recursion.

13/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 13:09:36 -0300

I’m feeling burned out. I took a day off today so that I can have the whole day to study at a slower pace. I will also go to the gym as it is a great way of winding down.

Add to the calendar the reminder for the next live lectures.
Print weeks 13 and 14 problem set.
Fix scissors tool.
Solve weeks 7 and 8 problem set.
Watch week 10 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 9 and 10 problem set.
Watch week 11 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Watch week 12 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 11 and 12 problem set.
Watch week 13 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Hand in the peer-graded assignment on induction and recursion.

12/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 08:27:42 -0300

Because of my day job I won’t be able to tackle as many items on this list as I would wan’t to, therefore I’ll be solving weeks 7 and 8 problem set, and if I can, I will also watch the week 10 lecture.

Add to the calendar the reminder for the next live lectures.
Print weeks 13 and 14 problem set.
Fix scissors tool.
Solve weeks 7 and 8 problem set.
Watch week 10 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 9 and 10 problem set.
Watch week 11 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Watch week 12 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 11 and 12 problem set.
Watch week 13 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Hand in the peer-graded assignment on induction and recursion.

11/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 08:02:03 -0300

Here’s the plan. We are on week 13.

With regard to the Introduction to Programming II course, I have completed everything that is required of me up until week 14, scissors and editable shape tools included. However, tha scissors tool needs some tweaking. I’ve been asked to write a log on the progress I’ve been making to hand out with the final assignment, so I should be taking special care so as not to forget to include important details.

I’ve also made this Gantt chart to organize the features I need to be delivering by the end of the course and I think I am currently doing alright. I will probably not make any changes to the application until next week since I am exhausted - I’ve been doing lots of coding and I’ve written lots of documentation because the midterms’s deadline was yesterday.

With regard to Discrete Mathematics, things are not looking as pristine. I need to solve weeks 7 and 8 problem set, weeks 9 and 10 problem set. I also need to watch the videos from weeks 10 to 13 and solve the questionnaires in each section. I’ve noticed that I have some peer-graded assignments that I could not complete from week 10… Let’s hope it doesn’t have a negative impact on my final mark… It says ungraded so it probably won’t.

Consequently, this is the list of thing I need to do in order to get back to speed:

Add to the calendar the reminder for the next live lectures.
Print weeks 13 and 14 problem set.
Fix scissors tool.
Solve weeks 7 and 8 problem set.
Watch week 10 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 9 and 10 problem set.
Watch week 11 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Watch week 12 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Solve weeks 11 and 12 problem set.
Watch week 13 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.
Hand in the peer-graded assignment on induction and recursion.

From that long list. Today I’ll be taking a look at:

Solve weeks 7 and 8 problem set.
Watch week 10 lectures and Aziza’s webinar.

I probably won’t finish any of the two, but I need to start somewhere.

10/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 18:33:32 -0300

Ok, midterms are over.

I’m quite exhausted ngl, and on top of that I need to catch up with the material covered in the past two weeks. However, I think I did great on both assignments.

As for today, I think that I will device a plan on how to get back to speed. I will also print the problem sets I should have solved. Those exercises might be a good way of resuming my studies.

09/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 08:58:09 -0300

Yesterday was the first day of week 7 of the semester, which implies I should start revising the material on predicate logic for my discrete mathematics course. Before moving on, however, I have yet to complete a peer-graded assignment that is due next week. I also need to start revising the material for this week on data visualisation for my Introduction to Programming II course.

Moreover, today I’ll be attending the first lecture on financial investment principles that I signed up to last week so I’ll be taking a look a the notes prior to that. And I must not forget about my health. I will have to hit the gym sometime throughout the day.

Consequently, I’ll be tackling these tasks today:

Hand in the peer-graded assignment on propositional logic.
Start revising the material on predicate logic.
Attend the lecture on financial investment principles.
Train legs.
Go for a walk.

08/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 09:18:43 -0300

I came to the realisation that I now longer have as much time as I did when I was a full-time student, and so, I decided to skip the last two items on this list.

pp.12 exercises 1–4.
pp.13 exercises 5, 6, 8 (a, b, d, e, g and h), 9 (a, b, c and h), 10, 11, 13 and 14.
pp.14: exercises 22–23.
~~pp.15 exercises 32-37.~~
~~pp.35: exercises 9, 30, 31 and 34.~~

However, since the problem set has key exercises that the tutors wants us to do, I tackled those ones during the past weekend.

Problem set on propositional logic.

I also started writing myself a cheat-sheet with all the key pieces of information I need to remember during the test.

07/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 18:55:17 -0300

Today I continued solving the exercises I had for this week. More precisely I solved pp.14: exercises 22–23. Consequently, this is how my TO-DO list is currently looking like:

pp.12 exercises 1–4.
pp.13 exercises 5, 6, 8 (a, b, d, e, g and h), 9 (a, b, c and h), 10, 11, 13 and 14.
pp.14: exercises 22–23.
pp.15 exercises 32-37.
pp.35: exercises 9, 30, 31 and 34.

I had serious trouble identifying the hypotheses and the conclusion in the statements and therefore I’ll write down the annotations I’ve made here. These are the rules to identify which is “p” (hypotheses), and which is “q” (conclusion) in conditional statements.

If p, then q.
If p, q.
p is sufficient for q.
q if p.
q when p.
A necessary condition for p is q.
q unless ¬p.
p implies q.
p only if q.
A sufficient condition for q is p.
q whenever p.
q is necessary for p.
q follows from p.

For bi-conditional statements:

p iff q.
If p then q, and conversely.
p is necessary and sufficient for q.

Financial Investment Principles

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 18:39:21 -0300

Rewley House, Oxford, United Kingdom.

In line with my 2024 new year’s resolution, on November 26th I’ll be taking a course on financial investment principles offered by The University of Oxford and delivered by Konrad Kleinfeld.

There are two aspirations behind taking this course. The first one has to do with personal growth. And the second one with my professional aspirations. Addressing the former of the two, with the very first pay check one receives, there comes the responsibility of administering those acquired resources. I’ve never been formally introduced to finance, and I believe that knowing at least the basic aspects of it can help anyone greatly with this task we are all confronted with. Of course, one can live life spending all the money one makes in clothes, trips, technology, restaurants, you name it, but knowing there are other things out there to explore is what drew me to this course.

On the other hand, addressing the latter of the aforementioned aspirations, since I work in a bank, getting to know some of the technical vocabulary, and the inner workings behind how the business is conducted, could potentially propel my career, or at least help me build a stronger foundation onto which continue to build my future.

06/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 06:59:49 -0300

This semester I’m taking Discrete Mathematics (DM) and Introduction to Programming II (ITP2).

As for this week, I’ll be reading Chapters 1.1 and 1.3 from Rosen, K., & Rosen, K. H. (2011), Discrete mathematics and its applications., and solving the following exercises:

pp.12 exercises 1–4.
pp.13 exercises 5, 6, 8 (a, b, d, e, g and h), 9 (a, b, c and h), 10, 11, 13 and 14.
pp.14: exercises 22–23.
pp.15 exercises 32-37.
pp.35: exercises 9, 30, 31 and 34.

I’ll also be reading Chapters 1.1 and 1.2 from Koshy, T. (2004), Discrete mathematics with applications., and solving:

pp.17 exercises 3, 6, 9, 16, 19, 23, 25 and 31.
pp.19 exercises 54–56,
pp.29 exercises 3–7, 11 and 35–37.

On a personal note, the past few months went by in the blink of an eye. One day I was visiting Chile with my colleagues; another I was in Mendoza enjoying some well deserved holidays; what followed was me sitting for my Computational Mathematics exam and handing in my final assignment for ITP1; and the next thing you know I was visiting Ushuaia with some of my childhood friends.

Trip to Ushuaia, Argentina

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 20:04:32 -0300

Photograph of Robert with friends, Ushuaia, Argentina, 2024.

One with the boys on a trip to the southernmost city in the world.

05/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:46:31 +0100

Today was my first day as a freshman studying computer science at University of London. Therefore, I spent some time setting up my notebooks and writing down the important information for each course I’ll be taking, like bibliography, and the assessment method. These courses are: Introduction to Programming I (ITP1), and Computational Mathematics (CM).

I also came up with two lists to help me organise myself; one to keep my study time distribution present at all times, and another one to keep track of the week we’re in. The distribution of the following 22 weeks should look something like this today onwards:

Monday: ITP1, 2 to 3 hours.
Tuesday: CM, 2 to 3 hours.
Wednesday: TP1, 2 to 3 hours.
Thursday: CM, 2 to 3 hours.
Friday: CM, 2 to 3 hours.
Saturday: ITP1, 2 to 4 hours (only if necessary).
Sunday: CM, 2 to 4 hours (only if necessary).

With this in mind what I want to achieve is 6 to 10 hours a week of study time for ITP1, and 8 to 13 hours a week for CM.

Additionally, I took notes on the ITP1 lectures for weeks 1 and 2, and solved all the exercises meant for those weeks.

04/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:19:30 -0300

Today I revised units 10 and 11 from the book on foundational mathematics, and also started watching the first lectures on the second course of the Object-Oriented Programming Specialization.

These units covered simpler topics, namely, transposing formulae, and a general definition of what an equation is, how to solve them, how to go about quadratic equations, and strategies for systems of equations.

03/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 18:19:25 -0300

So far unit 9 from the book on foundational mathematics has been the one that took me the longest to complete.

This unit went over the algebra behind expressing single factions as the sum of two or more simpler fractions (partial fractions).

It is an interesting topic, it really is, but going over all of the exercises was a time consuming task.

02/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 14:04:58 -0300

It took me a little bit longer than I had actually expected because, yesterday, a friend dropped by and we spend the whole afternoon chatting, but today I completed all the exercises I had remaining from unit 8 of the book Foundation Maths, 7th edition, that is part of the recommended bibliography for Computational Mathematics.

I also completed the first course of the Object-Oriented Programming Specialization that we, students joining as part of the spring 2024 cohort, were gifted, and were encouraged to take.

01/100 Days of Productivity

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 12:01:47 -0300

I know it’s probably too early to start revising the Syllabi and the specification of the modules I’ll be taking next month, which are:

Computational Mathematics (CM1015)
Introduction to Programming I (CM1005)

But getting up to speed with the academic learning pace is something I must achieve if I want to even consider graduating with first class honours.

Therefore, despite courses stating on 8 April, I’ve already started going over some of the recommended bibliography for Computational Mathematics thanks to the online library service that the University of London has. In particular I’ve completed units 1-7 from Foundation Maths, 7th edition, a book written by Anthony Croft and Robert Davidson, during the past week, and I’m planning to complete unit 8 during what is left of today.

Started Studying at University of London

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 11:36:34 -0300

Last week has been packed with emotions. After many months of preparation and hard effort, and after achieving a C2 score (grade A) in Cambridge University’s Advanced English Exam, on January of this year I applied to Goldsmiths, University of London to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Degree and received an offer letter on 21 February!

Probably the best birthday gift I could have ever received!

Alongside this academic endavour, this year I’ll be preparing Cambridge University’s C2 Proficiency (CPE) exam with the Argentinian Association of English Culture.

I passed my C1 Advanced exam at grade A!

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 17:03:11 -0300

While the official communication stated that the exam results would be available by 17 January, I did not expect them to be released this early!

Today I received a notification from Cambridge English that mentioned that my results were ready!

My overall score was of 203, which means I passed at Grade A!

This is great news since I need to have proof of my English proficiency in order for my application to even be considered at London University.

New year's resolution 2024

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 22:02:59 -0300

This year’s goals might be a little bit more ambitious than last year’s, but I think last year’s outcome has stood me in good stead to face this brief resolution:

Become a Goldsmiths, University of London student.
Prepare and sit for Cambridge’s C2 Proficiency Exam.
Be wise about my spending and saving habits.
Do some exercise two to three times a week.
Get 8 hours of sleep a day.
Do not drink alcohol.

I’ll be posting frequently on the progress I’m making towards earning that degree I pursuit.

British Council + Santander Bank Grant

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 22:05:02 -0300

This week I received an email confirming I’ve been granted one of the 5,000 Banco Santander Scholarship for Language! This grant will give me access to an online C1 level training course in English that will be conducted by the British Council during the 2023-24 school year.

2 Out of 4 Certificates Earned So Far

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 20:54:34 -0300

Today I’ve finally submitted my last assignment for the Data Science Professional certificate and, therefore, I received my certificate of completion along with a digital badge, that is endorsed by The American Council on Education, as a reward for the hard work I had put into earning it.

Together with the ones I’ve earned from taking Google’s IT Support Professional specialization, these achievements mean I’m now halfway through my journey to obtaining a semesters’ worth of credits.

All in all, the list of certificates to earn now looks like this:

Next steps would be to enrol on IBM’s Applied AI Professional specialization, and start tackling those courses, but that’s something to mind tomorrow.

On the other hand, I’m debating with myself on whether or not to sit for the C1 Advanced Exam or the Duolingo English Test since, as far as I know, both serve the same purpose when it comes to demonstrating my knowledge of English, the first costing $285 and the latter $59.

Project Euler

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Fri, 26 May 2023 22:10:28 -0300

Yesterday, as I was enjoying a cup of coffee while updating some things on my website, I remembered about a site that caught my attention a few years ago, but that I had ignored due to time constraints.

To be honest I don’t really know how did I first stumble upon it. I think it was at university because it combines computer programming with mathematics, but that would be a guess.

The site I’m talking about is projecteluer.net, and I’ve been having a great time coming up with solutions to some of the problems.

I’ll be uploading the answers I come up with to rnsavinelli/project-euler. For the time being, what I’ve uploaded is mostly code, but if I find the math the staple of the solution, I might as well transcribe that to a markdown/latex file to make it easier to understand.

If you think you’re up for a challenge, why not give it a try as well?

Reducing my digital footprint

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 18:33:12 -0300

Following the alignments I’ve set for myself this year on my new year’s resolution, and pursuing the objective of reducing my digital footprint and augmenting my productivity, I resolved that selling what used to be my workstation, and getting rid of digital distraction was the way to go.

Let’s first discuss the latter of the two since it was the hardest. The approach I took to reducing digital distraction was to close most of my social media accounts, and removing the applications from my cellphone. Psychological stress aside, doing it was actually much simpler that I thought it would be. I did not possess that many accounts (just one on LinkedIn, one on Instagram, and one on facebook), but it seemed at first that if I dared to delete them, I would suddenly cease to exist. After all, everyone I know seems to enjoy what those sites offer, and love updating their status, publishing pictures, and such. It feels unnatural not to be on there with them, doesn’t it?

Looking back after some weeks, I’m truly terrified. How can a social media site be so tightly tied to everyone’s life? Why does it take that much will power to press delete? What’s wrong with us?

Being a Responsible Computing Devices Owner

Regarding the other decision I took, since I owned a laptop, a cellphone, a desktop computer, and a server, choosing what device should I get rid off was not an easy choice since each one of them served a different purpose.

Let’s start with the server. This server I have is an old custom built computer that’s about 11 or 12 years old and has almost no market value, so selling is not an option. I’ve taken good care of it over the years, I’ve replaced some faulty RAM, bought it a new PSU, etc. so throwing it away, and having it become electronic waste doesn’t call my attention since I still have use cases for it, and I love the fact that I’m still able to keep it up and running as an usable device with my copy of OpenBSD.

My laptop and my phone are part of my daily computing, and by selling them I don’t think I can reach any ground breaking productivity boost. If something, it would probably contribute to achieving quite the opposite.

Now, for my workstation/desktop pc, being it a recent acquisition (it’s been about a year since I assembled it), my desktop computer was luckily easy to sell. It had an AMD 5600X processor, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, an Nvidia 2080 Super graphics card, it had two M.2 drives, one with archlinux with the nvidia open source drivers for my everyday computing needs, and the other one a copy of windows 10 on it for those occasions where my friends and I would spend an afternoon together playing some online games.

The End Result

To be honest, I’m really happy with how it all turned out. The PC I managed to sell it to a friend of mine that was on the search for new hardware, and (as of today), I’m only on Facebook. I was about to remove that account too, but I weighted pros and cons, and decided it was better to keep it since it is my only mean of communication with some relatives.

C1 Exam Preparation Material

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 17:54:06 -0300

This week I bought four books to help me improve my english grammar and vocabulary throughout the year, alongside the official C1 Advanced Preparation material, namely they are:

English Grammar in Use, by Raymond Murphy.
Advanced Grammar in Use, by Martin Hewings.
Language Practice for First, by Michael Vince.
Language Practice for Advanced, by Michael Vince.

Why B2 level books alongside C1/C2 level ones? To be honest, I haven’t revised my english knowledge in a while. I mean, yes, I’m a user of the language, but you don’t need a lot of formal learning on English to get by… But talking about proper and ample usage of grammar and vocabulary, that’s another thing. Ranging from some words’ spelling, to irregular verbs and irregular plural forms… I haven’t had any sort of formal or informal education on English for at least 4 years.

As of today, I’ve complete units 1 to 18 from English Grammar in Use, unit 1 from the grammar section of Language Practice for First, and Unit 1 from the vocabulary section of the same book.

Giving Shape to My Course of Studies

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 14:34:23 -0300

Today I’ve been giving shape to the academic path I’m striving to take.

I’ve been doing the math on how much would each single course cost me, and it’s quite a bit. Luckily I’ve found a series of online courses (four professional certificates to be more precise) that are eligible for credit once completed. If possible, I would like to complete all of them since that would mean huge savings on the long run.

The four certifications are:

Each of them would give me enough credits (15) to avoid taking some courses. In particular, two level 4 compulsory modules, and two level 6 modules. To put you into context, to be awarded the BSc you need to reach a minimum of 360 credit hours, and earning all these certificates would mean 60 credits already on my favour, or in other words, a whole semesters’ worth of credits. It’s a lot, isn’t it?

You may have noticed that I placed an asterisk next to Google IT Support Professional, that is because I’ve completed it earlier this year while I was still defining my career path. Here is the certificate on Coursera if you want to take a look at it! And here is the badge that has been issued to me!

New year's resolution 2023

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 21:21:50 -0300

During the past few weeks, I’ve been building this blog from the ground up, using Hugo, and the knowledge I have acquired since I started writing software, to help me keep track of the goals I’ve set for myself for this year. These are:

Prepare and sit for the C1 Advanced (Cambridge English: Advanced) Exam.
Save as much money as I can for the B.Sc. in CS offered by the University of London.
Do some exercise at least 3 times a week.
Take a cold shower every day for at least 30 days.
Reduce caffeine consumption.
Read one chapter from a book each day.
Sleep 8 hours a day

I’ll be posting frequently on the progress I’m making towards earning that degree I pursuit.

Disabling Hyper-threading

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 18:02:29 -0300

Overview

If your computer contains an Intel(R) processor implementing out-of-order execution (which is effectively every processor Intel manufactured since 1995, with the exception of Intel(R) Itanium and Intel(R) Atom before 2013), chances are, your system can be exploited using Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS).

Mitigating vulnerabilities like Foreshadow/L1TF, Fallout, and RIDL, disabling SMT [1] (commonly known as hyper-threading [2]) on Intel CPUs can be a good security measure to take into consideration.

Having said that, there will be a reduction in your system’s performance in exchange for the added security. It is highly advisable that the following mitigation is only reviewed/applied for the SMT specific concerns.

What is the problem with SMT and MDS?

Intel’s proprietary Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) allows multiple execution threads to be executed on a single physical CPU core.

When buffers are shared between hyper-threads then, SMT might lead to possible system exploitation.

Citing from a document published on kernel.org:

“When performing store, load, L1 refill operations, processors write data into temporary microarchitectural structures (buffers). The data in the buffer can be forwarded to load operations as an optimization.

Under certain conditions, usually a fault/assist caused by a load operation, data unrelated to the load memory address can be speculatively forwarded from the buffers. Because the load operation causes a fault or assist and its result will be discarded, the forwarded data will not cause incorrect program execution or state changes. But a malicious operation may be able to forward this speculative data to a disclosure gadget which allows in turn to infer the value via a cache side channel attack.

Because the buffers are potentially shared between Hyper-Threads cross Hyper-Thread attacks are possible.”

Mitigation mechanism

Event though, the Linux kernel detects the affected CPUs and the presence of the required microcode, in which case the kernel enables some mitigation mechanisms by default [3], completely disabling hyper-threading is the compete solution as regarded by the OpenBSD project in 2018 [4]

To check if your system is affected, run:

$ grep . -r /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/

If the output contains SMT vulnerable then you may proceed by using the following kernel parameters:

l1tf=full,force mds=full,nosmt mitigations=auto,nosmt nosmt=force

To do this edit your /etc/default/grub file and append the given kernel options between the quotes in the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line.

The resulting GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line should look something like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 l1tf=full,force mds=full,nosmt mitigations=auto,nosmt nosmt=force"

And then automatically re-generate the grub.cfg file with:

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Changes will take effect upon reboot. After rebooting your system, running the grep command stated above should now contain SMT disabled.

On the derivation of a mathematical model representative of the 3-bit counter register (es_AR)

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 18:10:04 -0300

The information contained in these documents was developed for academic purposes for the K1001 Computer Architecture course of UTN FRBA (National Technological University Buenos Aires Regional Faculty) as taught in its annual format in 2020 by Engineer Gonzalo Vilanova.

Read Document

View Demonstration

On Social Media and On Becoming Platform Independent

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Sat, 28 Sep 2019 19:25:07 -0300

Who remembers how the internet was in the 00’s?

There used to be a time where the internet was different: most websites were sort of equal, in the sense that, there was no data mining, no terms of service, no pop-ups, no unethical JavaScripts running in the background, no trackers, no third-party statistics, no constant monitoring. Why would a website want to know my location? Why should I need to review some terms and conditions before reading an article published on the internet? How are you improving my experience by using cookies? “Just sign-in to continue reading/viewing!”, “Join our newsletter to get all our top stories in your inbox!”.

This is the story about why I decided, on the first quarter of 2019, that I would say no to all of it, and try to become day after day a little more platform independent and build my own website.

Not to anyone’s surprise, a good day I realized how much time I was spending staring at my mobile phone’s screen browsing through social media and/or just the web. I became aware of the humongous amount of time I was wasting using what we call the internet… which practically speaking (for most people) consists of the handful of websites and services that we all know and use.

With that in mind, I want to state that the internet is not just what we see on a daily basis. The Internet is not just ****book, I****gram, Yo****e, **ddit and ***gle, etc. Those sites (often called apps or services) are part of the internet, yes, but the concept comprehends much more than that. It seems that the definition of it turned to be this group of social media sites and web services that, to use them, all require people to sell their privacy and freedom, their thoughts and ideas, their rights and goodwill, their free will.

Social media is to be described as this omnipresent entity that is constantly priming our thought process with misleading headers/titles, advertisement, misinformation, stereotypes, and bombarding our brain with irrelevant and invasive “junk-food information” that doesn’t allow us to have clear thoughts, to think properly, to think. We are (constantly) being assaulted by psychological tricks that these “service providers” are playing on us all, and that we passively absorb like plants absorb the sunlight [1]. Frankly we’ve become as devoted to these applications/websites /services as we are devoted to religion.

Not only does our thought process get skewed, social media also targets the weaknesses of our personality with content that makes us think we are spending our time wisely when we are not. They feed us with discomfort, with misery, they make us think we need to buy into a lifestyle, into a brand, into trends to fit into a social group (sometimes even our own social circle) tagging ourselves like products in a catalog. These platforms make us prisoners of their “convenience”, they make us develop an unbelievable, and always increasing, amount of dependency for them while also making us feel wretched and alike. We are regressing toward the mean, we are becoming standardized.

To put an example on how imprisoned we are, let me ask you: How many times did you check your social media feeds on the last hour? How many hours have you spent today scrolling through your feeds? How long would it take for a friend of yours to respond to that text message you just sent him?

As radical as it might sound, there is evidence (see [2], [3] and [4]) that, to accomplish this objective, classical conditioning has been employed regarding how our brain reacts to likes, shares and follows; yes it’s just like what Pavlov did with the dogs, the food, and the bells. And what is worst, studies have been held in order to optimize and improve their effectiveness over time.

Citing from a BBC piece of news titled “Social media apps are ‘deliberately’ addictive to users” [5]:

A former ****book employee made a related point.

“Social media is very similar to a slot machine” , said Sandy Parakilas, who tried to stop using the service after he left the company in 2012.

“It literally felt like I was quitting cigarettes.”

During his year and five months at ****book, he said, others had also recognized this risk.

“There was definitely an awareness of the fact that the product was habit-forming and addictive,” he said.

“You have a business model designed to engage you and get you to basically suck as much time out of your life as possible and then selling that attention to advertisers.”

From the little dopamine shot we receive when we get a like, to the anxiety and insatiable need for more content that these services generate unconsciously on us, with the promise of instant gratification available at the click of a button, setting oneself free is a rather difficult decision to make, and one even harder to accomplish.

It’s not a lack of self-control nor does it mean we don’t have a strong enough will. Social media has become so deeply integrated into our lifestyle that it’s like one will disappear from the world if one dares to close/delete one’s accounts. After all, all our friends and family are on these sites and therefore it seems unnatural not to be on them, doesn’t it?

The span of it does not only imply classical conditioning but a detriment in our cognitive system, in our ability to focus, to pay attention. All of those, endless and ever-changing scrolling feeds with frequent shifts in information structure, lead up to something called the pinball effect.

Citing from paragraphs 7 and 8 from an article published on ScienceNordic titled “Why looking at social media at work disrupts your concentration” [6]:

“The pinball effect … is exactly the psychological repercussions, which stem from frequent shifts in information structure. In other words, the attempt to divide attention to different sets or chambers of information simultaneously….”

…“The pinball should illustrate the awareness which is “thrown” or “dashed” by enabling technology (“the pinball machine”) towards various information clusters that each demand to be made sense of. Concentration, as an item, is bouncing unsystematically between different sets of information. On their own, these sets or spaces are harmless, but in pairing or juxtaposing within the same conscious agent they result in cognitive diffusion which leads to disorientation, confusion and, most literally, de-localisation.”

We are flagrantly boycotting ourselves. The never ending amount of content instantly available to us is destroying our ability to stay focused in one single task. That is so true that I would really be impressed if someone makes it to the end of this article without checking their phone, getting distracted by a notification or message, or carried away by some other stimuli.

In order to conclude, I’d like to invite you (the reader) to imagine then, having to rely on these platforms’ consent for any form of self- expression. I would also like to encourage you to join me on my journey and try to become more platform independent and less reliant on social media, if possible.

This little project of mine “https://savinelli.com.ar” aims to be my humble try to overcome this hazard, to become a bit more independent and less attached to these massive social media providers that dominate the internet and control its freedom of speech. It also is an effort to heal myself from all the toxicity and harm that comes from using them.

About

rnsavinelli@gmail.com (R. Nicolas Savinelli) — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

About Robert

Roberto Nicolas Savinelli is a Software Engineer at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and a student of the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree at Goldsmiths, University of London. He’s also a full stack developer graduate from the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires (ITBA), where he was a beneficiary of the Banco Santander Technology Scholarship.

During his childhood, he attended Euskal-Echea as a social sciences student, where he graduated with some honorific mentions. Most importantly, it was during this time that he developed a passion for reading, encompassing not only general literature but also philosophy, poetry, and the classics. This fascination has profoundly shaped him as a person and influenced his outlook on life.

Class of 2016 graduates from Euskal-Echea, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 2023.

Throughout his early twenties, he delved into technology through electronics engineering and computer systems engineering at UTN.BA. Despite him not graduating from any of those degrees, the knowledge he acquired has helped lay the foundation upon which he has built his career.

Alongside his academic endeavours he worked as a Laboratory assistant for the Department of Information Systems Engineering at the aforementioned university.

Curriculum vitae

I firmly believe that tailoring a curriculum vitae to fit a particular job description is derogatory to the essence of the individual. It normalizes applicants by emancipating any singularity they may have on them. As a result, a document that provides a summary of my education, professional experience, some of the qualifications I’ve earned (that might be considered valuable), some selected software projects, and distinct achievements can be found here.

Download CV (PDF)

Contact information

Depending on the nature of the communication, you may want to send me an email, a message through LinkedIn, or a message through Slack if we are fellows.

For encrypted communications consider using this PGP Public Key or just run:

$ curl -sL https://savinelli.com.ar/savinelli.asc | gpg --import

Fingerprint: 8A72 9272 734D D60B 0717 D451 79CB 3F42 7FB2 67F7

The social media accounts disclosed here are the only accounts I posses, no account anywhere imitating me or any of my “brands” has any association with me.