Top people for Big Pharma

There are no statistics on how many drug representatives are former or current cheerleaders, but demand for them led to the formation of an employment firm [whose principal declares] "The cheerleaders now are the top people in universities; these are really capable and high-profile people" (NY Times)

L'art russe au Musée d'Orsay

Exposition au Musée d'Orsay comportant un nombre impressionnant de tableaux de premier plan. La présentation est centrée sur la "recherche de l'identité russe" et notamment la tension entre libération, modernisation et retour aux sources...

Peut-on se poser la question d'un parallèle sur ce plan avec la France et son attitude schizophrénique par rapport à la mondialisation et l'Amérique?

Veut-on participer à la culture telle qu'elle se fait, en tant qu'individu de son temps? Doit-on garder sa "spécificité" (et laquelle?) mais n'est-ce pas préférer rester dans sa tradition pour ne pas dire sa réserve ou son musée?

Digitizing or Not Digitizing Books

Doing things: Sidney Verba, director of the Harvard University Library, argues that Google's digital project will aid the library's broader mission to preserve academic material and make it accessible to the world. Outsiders have speculated that the company is spending more than $200 million on the entire project to accomplish in a decade a task which would have required a thousand year otherwise (New York Times).

Blocking things: Would Bibliothèque Nationale de France contemplate participation? Not at all. But it will make things more difficult if possible. Its director declares (in substance) that Google's intent is to challenge Europe (according to his book title) which must prevent the U.S. from dominating the view that future generations will form of the word (Amazon.fr).

In the meantime:BNF is investing 2,6€ million a year (www.bnf.fr).