"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything..." (Richard Feynman)
One of the habits of US citizens I cannot stand very much is the production of rubbish my using disposable material whenever eating in a place for less than 50 Dollars/person. Even in the elegant Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles I had to beg to get my Cappuccino served in a porcelain cup instead in one of this disgusting polystyrol containers. I am not knowledgeable enough to decide if the environmental effect of washing all the porcelain cups is more severe than the disposal of all the rubbish, but I just don't like it.
I am Back to the United States. This time on holidays; we picked up Matilde at UCLA (which is the LA part of the same University to which belongs Berkeley) and we will travel California for two weeks. After 3 days in Los Angeles another difference between Europe and the States seems clear to me: The United States are much more "internally globalized". I had read, that going from one neighbourhood of LA to another is like crossing the border between San Diego and Tijuana.
The two months of the E-Conference have come to a fruitful end. This was an extremely valuable opportunity for the whole AGROVOC Team to understand the requirements and needs of the community as evidenced from the extremely useful discussions we have had in each phase of the conference.
During my flight back from Philadephia to Rome I read Rebecca Goldstein's Book "Betraying Spinoza". The book is not only an introduction into the affascinating (and completely unconvincing for me) Philosophy of Spinoza, but it is also an account of the man Baruch Spinoza and the history of the sephardic Jews. Some excerpts:
Sarkozy has called into his cabinet Bernard Kouchner and Rachida Dati (see attached article from the Spiegel on Ms Dati). Why did no government of the left or centre/left in Europa in the last years had the courage to call personalities like them into the government? Yes, there is Emma Bonino with Prodi, but..........
If you want to confirm all your prejudices adverse to the USA, you can do so travelling the rural part of the country and the peripherical areas of bigger towns: oversized cars, bodies, cups, shopping malls...... proposal of food intake from the morning to the evening, hotels directly at the side of the highway- USA today as breakfast companion. But there is no need to stop at such observations. One might also register the 250 million Dollars, Cornell University raised from private donors or the new zero energy building of the Cornell Administration.
