Aspen Institute Romania rocks!
No kidding, check out the latest project:
Spune Adevarul Puterii! Symposium on Thursday, April 9th, 2009, starting with 9 AM at JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel, Constanta Room
in collaboration with Robert F. Kennedy Foundation of Europe
For more on the issue, check out: Speak Truth to Power
sâmbătă, 28 martie 2009
miercuri, 25 martie 2009
duminică, 22 martie 2009
Blast from the Past
If you are looking for lessons on how to manage 3000 people, take some lessons of Management from the Viennese Imperial Court - the one from the 19th century, that is.... here (From ScienceBlog.com)
duminică, 15 martie 2009
sâmbătă, 14 martie 2009
On E-books
Can't preach more about e-books.
The fact that I can basically buy any book online, with instant access and not a few weeks until delivery, if delivered (Remember, there was a time when Amazon did not make deliveries in Romania), not to mention the 3 GBP per book - delivery charge... is life-style changing...
Please don't tell me about the smell and the feel of a good book. I know. I'm right there with you on that. I still love to lose myself in libraries, leaf through and buy "real" ( :P) ) books like crazy, but at least twice as many books bought are e-books.
And another thing: Access: I'm usually reading several things: for work, for me, for knowledge.... I my bag (that already contains too many things), I can only fir one book, so usually in the morning when leaving for work, I have to decide which.... With e-books, it's extremely easy: I have most of them (well, at least the latest, or more important ones) with me, on my e-reader or computer...
Anyways, the ode to e-books is caused by the Read a E-book week, that just ended today.
However, just like Valentines that cannot constrain love to a single day (Notice how I'm waxing poetic lately), Read an E-book should not be restricted to the second week of March... So, read an e-book, save a tree, feed your mind!
The fact that I can basically buy any book online, with instant access and not a few weeks until delivery, if delivered (Remember, there was a time when Amazon did not make deliveries in Romania), not to mention the 3 GBP per book - delivery charge... is life-style changing...
Please don't tell me about the smell and the feel of a good book. I know. I'm right there with you on that. I still love to lose myself in libraries, leaf through and buy "real" ( :P) ) books like crazy, but at least twice as many books bought are e-books.
And another thing: Access: I'm usually reading several things: for work, for me, for knowledge.... I my bag (that already contains too many things), I can only fir one book, so usually in the morning when leaving for work, I have to decide which.... With e-books, it's extremely easy: I have most of them (well, at least the latest, or more important ones) with me, on my e-reader or computer...
Anyways, the ode to e-books is caused by the Read a E-book week, that just ended today.
However, just like Valentines that cannot constrain love to a single day (Notice how I'm waxing poetic lately), Read an E-book should not be restricted to the second week of March... So, read an e-book, save a tree, feed your mind!
vineri, 13 martie 2009
A Little Bit of Promotion
For a Romanian artist: Mihaela Tarhuna, just because I came to fall in love with her decently priced, highly impacting jewelry.
Caveat for the jewelry: Not for the weak...
Caveat for the jewelry: Not for the weak...
joi, 12 martie 2009
marți, 10 martie 2009
On Education
Pros: What the Faculty (as in "the body of teachers and administrators at a school") of any school should be and look like: open-minded, eager to communicate and interact with other like-minded and like-employed (if you may) people, in touch with the current situation of the world. True, worried about financing research, too fundamentally oriented sometimes, definitely too elitist at times: Crooked Timber
Cons: And I will not (following the personal rule of NO RANTINGS on the blog) comment on the fact that I could not find a similar blog from Romania, in order to post the "ray of hope".
Just a few things (personal observations on the education system):
- decrease in the quality of the studies, due to lack of interest, lack of money, flawed quantifiers
- lack of interest of both parties (teachers and students)
- teachers who live just out of a 300$ dollars wage are either protesting, or finding "alternative means of financing", but, in all cases, lacking interest, passion and drive for change
- students are more and more focused on finding a job in the first years of their formal education, therefore their lack of interest is more than obvious
- research is quantified in the number of papers one writes, not in the real impact of those papers, hence the whole industry of creating and promoting journals on applicative science that no business person reads or applies in "real life"
- the paradox of simultaneous lacking and having too much funds (budget versus European)
- the universities are financially autonomous, therefore, they should find more students in order to be able to finance their daily activities. Also note the fact that the "price of studies" is market-driven, the market is international, and the demand is elastic. At the same time, an increase in the number of students causes two things: 1. a decrease in the quality of the students and 2. an increase in the number of needed teachers. The latter causes a decrease in the quality of the studies.
- the huge difference in financing between all education under university level and the universities
In the end, is it just a question of money?
Update: Still on the Con side: At least here (in Ro) Einstein's adage "It is a miracle that imagination survives formal education.” is alive and kicking.
Cons: And I will not (following the personal rule of NO RANTINGS on the blog) comment on the fact that I could not find a similar blog from Romania, in order to post the "ray of hope".
Just a few things (personal observations on the education system):
- decrease in the quality of the studies, due to lack of interest, lack of money, flawed quantifiers
- lack of interest of both parties (teachers and students)
- teachers who live just out of a 300$ dollars wage are either protesting, or finding "alternative means of financing", but, in all cases, lacking interest, passion and drive for change
- students are more and more focused on finding a job in the first years of their formal education, therefore their lack of interest is more than obvious
- research is quantified in the number of papers one writes, not in the real impact of those papers, hence the whole industry of creating and promoting journals on applicative science that no business person reads or applies in "real life"
- the paradox of simultaneous lacking and having too much funds (budget versus European)
- the universities are financially autonomous, therefore, they should find more students in order to be able to finance their daily activities. Also note the fact that the "price of studies" is market-driven, the market is international, and the demand is elastic. At the same time, an increase in the number of students causes two things: 1. a decrease in the quality of the students and 2. an increase in the number of needed teachers. The latter causes a decrease in the quality of the studies.
- the huge difference in financing between all education under university level and the universities
In the end, is it just a question of money?
Update: Still on the Con side: At least here (in Ro) Einstein's adage "It is a miracle that imagination survives formal education.” is alive and kicking.
Sources of info
For a couple of years, a blog on finance and economics has provided me with more than enough info for a clear, sometimes in depth, sometimes in brief, view of the world: Naked Capitalism
Wasn't Haiti supposed to be sun and fun? Apart from the poverty, and the political chaos, and the hunger, that is...
Google the name of the country and this is what you get.
Apparently not everything is white sand beaches, though:
Reason 1: Sex attacks blight lives of Haitian girls
Reason 2: Children in Servitude, the Poorest of Haiti’s Poor
Just heartbreaking.....
Google the name of the country and this is what you get.
Apparently not everything is white sand beaches, though:
Reason 1: Sex attacks blight lives of Haitian girls
Reason 2: Children in Servitude, the Poorest of Haiti’s Poor
Just heartbreaking.....
social entrepreneurs?
Apparently, being an entrepreneur is not good enough. At least in terms of the Good Society. And especially in times of crisis. So, the social entrepreneur emerges, as a solution. For more, check out: Ashoka
PS: How come we don't have any fellows from Romania?
PS: How come we don't have any fellows from Romania?
Abonați-vă la:
Postări (Atom)