Worldviews

On State monopoly of power

Submitted by admin on

..Schoolchildren are currently fed the disinformation that Native Americans and other peoples in pre-state societies were inherently peaceable, leaving them uncomprehending, indeed contemptuous, of one of our species greatest inventions, democratice government and the rule of law.....

But

Steven Pinker: The Blank Slate

Submitted by admin on

Steven Pinker's importance

I think that Steven Pinker's theories are an important part of a keyset to rethink the concepts of "Freedom and Progress". The existence of a "human nature" also justifies something as a concept of "humanity" but thought very severly only in a "non-transcendental"way. But there are global human values - from evolution and civilization.

https://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/conlaw/pinkers.html

Paper on Merging of FAODOC and CDR accepted by GIL Management

Submitted by admin on

https://gilw028/GILWS-Library/papers/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20FAO-Repository-Project_2006-07-04.pdf
The paper on merging the metadata workflow of FAODOC and the Corporate Document Repository has been accepted by GIL Senior Management. The paper has been written commonly by people in my Group and GILWW. It paves the way to a more efficient management of FAO publications metdata.

This Blog links to the paper but it is available only FAO internatlly

Essen in der Maremma

Submitted by admin on

Es is bekannt, dass dies ein Ort fuer Schlemmer ist. Auch das Restaurant Coq, das zum schlecht beleumundeten Hotel La Palma gehoert, ist excellent (40 € zu zweit mit Bistecca Fiorentina).
Ein Produzent, der gute Fleischwaren produziert (Cinta Senese!!!!!) ist Capal-Bio, Strada Pescia Florentina 23, cell.333-2153630, auch Schafskaese kann man bekommen.
Bekannt ist La parrina in Albinia, aber ihr Rotwein gefaellt mir nicht.

The rich, the poor and the growing gap between them

Submitted by admin on

"AMERICANS do not go in for envy. The gap between rich and poor is bigger than in any other advanced country, but most people are unconcerned. Whereas Europeans fret about the way the economic pie is divided, Americans want to join the rich, not soak them. Eight out of ten, more than anywhere else, believe that though you may start poor, if you work hard, you can make pots of money. It is a central part of the American Dream.

The political consensus, therefore, has sought to pursue economic growth rather than the redistribution of income"

CGIAR and FAO Working together in Knowledge Sharing

Submitted by admin on

It is only through the transfer and exchange of knowledge , both explicit and tacit, that research organizations can really have an impact on the global issues that are facing mankind in the third millennium. Towards this end, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have joined forces, working collaboratively on several projects.

Meeting with Kevin Painting

Submitted by admin on

I met today Kevin Painting from CTA to get briefed about CTAs RSS project and to brief Kevin about the AGRIS Content Management Taskforce. Main points
- Kevin will write a short report to the AGRIS content managment group about the CTA RSS project. This is a project about aggregating and selecting feeds. They have done a tender and are evaluating the tender at the moment. I briefed Kevin about our project of a high level description of working with feeds and the pilot on Early Warning Systems discussed in Nairobi

More than just Bangalore

Submitted by admin on

Second, India is producing far more world-class companies than China. The best known are the wizards of software and “business process outsourcing”—Indian firms have two-thirds of the global market in offshore IT services and nearly half that in BPO. But now they are being joined by manufacturers. Again, unlike China, this manufacturing boom cannot be explained by cheap labour, but by the efficient use of technology. India's merchandise exports grew by a quarter last year.

Kenya 2006-05

Submitted by admin on

In May 2006 I participated in the founding conference of the IAALD Africa chapter in Nairobi. Together with Hugo Besemer I organized during the conference a meeting of the Agris Content Management Taskforce. I also visited KARI (Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute)

Meeting at UNESCO about the future of CDS ISIS

Submitted by admin on

There has been a meeting at UNESCO about the future fo the CDS ISIS software family. The outcome is more or less a request to UNESCO to act
Citation:
i) UNESCO is expected to take a clear political decision regarding the future of the
CDS/ISIS project and the ISIS family of software. The community should be informed
that there is a future for the CDS/ISIS databases.
ii) To support the development of a Free/Libre and Open Source solution for information
management that is based upon the CDS/ISIS concept and the ISIS family, with

China, Guangzhou Province, May 2006

Submitted by admin on

On invitation of the Guandong Acadamy of Agricultural Science, I visited in May 2006 the Academy in Guangzhou and various institutions in Guangdong Province. I took the oppportunity also for a backstopping mission to Beijing regarding the AGROVOC mapping project.

The presentations held in Beijing and Guangzhou are attached.

Europe, America , Value Differences

Submitted by admin on

I agree completely with Timothy Garton Ash about the stupidness of constructing a contraposition between good Europe and bad America, or the other way round. But this should not lead to the conclusion that there are no differences of opinions, values and prospects. These differences are not between Europe and America but within both of them . I also feel uncomfortable between the division of the world in " liberal democracies" and the others. ALso within the liberal democracies there is debate about the direction of development.

Pages