Luca's Blog

Biotech social networking illustration

Here's an interesting site with a cool graphic tool to illustrate the interconnectedness of directors at top biotechs across the nation ...

http://www.recap.com/

Chavez plans to offer oil to aid U.S. poor

Good morning, everyone.

Here's a quick news flash from the Chicago Tribune on el Sr. Chavez.  Hmmmm ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508300139aug30,1,5132447.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

'Don't kill talents' by lip-synching, says president of Turkmenistan

Here's an interesting post from la dott.ssa Elena Fiorenza .... http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-lip24.html 'Don't kill talents' by lip-synching, says president of Turkmenistan August 24, 2005 ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan -- He has outlawed opera and ballet and railed against long hair and gold teeth, but now Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov is determined to wipe out another perceived scourge: lip-synching. Niyazov has ordered a ban on lip-synching performances across the tightly controlled Central Asian nation, citing "a negative effect on the development of singing and musical art," the president's office said Tuesday. "Unfortunately, one can see on television old voiceless singers lip-synching their old songs," Niyazov told a Cabinet meeting in comments broadcast on state TV on Tuesday. "Don't kill talents by using lip-synching... Create our new culture." Under Niyazov's order, lip-synching is now prohibited at all cultural events, concerts, on television -- and at private celebrations such as weddings. Niyazov has led the former Soviet republic for 20 years, creating a vast personality cult around himself and issuing decrees regulating behavior in all walks of life. In 2001, Niyazov banned opera and ballet as not corresponding with the national mentality. Last year, he called for young people not to get gold tooth caps and urged authorities to crack down on young men wearing beards or long hair. AP Copyright © The Sun-Times Company

A Touch of 'Indian-ness' Amid the Glass and Steel

Could this portend a shift in India's industrial evolution?.... _

www.nytimes.com

A Touch of 'Indian-ness' Amid the Glass and Steel

By SARITHA RAI

BANGALORE, India, Aug. 21 -

Drivingfrom the airport into this city thathas become India's technology
hub,visitors are struck by the gleam ofsteel-and-glass high-rise office
andapartment buildings with names likeGolden Enclave and Diamond
District.Farther along, dozens of box-shaped,glass-encased buildings
carrysignboards of the biggest Westernhigh-tech companies.In contrast to
these unabashed clonesof buildings in Palo Alto or San Jose isa 37-acre
campus in the heart of thecity whose granite- and terracotta-adorned
buildings are setamong decades-old trees and paintedin vibrant Indian
shades of brick redand deep green. The buildings havenames from the ancient
Indianlanguage of Sanskrit, while the roomswithin are named after the
ancientbooks of learning, the Vedas. Everymorning the Indian flag
isceremonially hoisted on a centralflagpole, an unusual practice
forbusinesses here. At lunchtime, thechirping of birds mixes with
thechatter of workers in the open spaces. Young men in jeans and polo
shirtsand women in colorful salwar kameez(an Indian tunic and trouser
suit)linger along the stone-pavedavenues.The campus, with its
distinctivearchitecture, is the headquarters ofa four-year-old
outsourcingcompany called ITC Infotech. With4,000 employees and $55 million
inrevenues, the company's professedphilosophy is not to let its workplacebe
an imitation of countless modernbuildings. Flouting the local fashionfor
buildings with names like Hi-TechTower or Software Techcity, thecompany
calls its campus simply theITC Infotech Park. As its managingdirector,
Sanjay Verma said, "Thiscampus reflects our Indian-ness."The tranquil
expanse that blends theold and the new provides relief amidthe concrete and
glass structures inBangalore, a city that the World Banklists as among the
fastest growing inthe world. The country's biggestdomestic outsourcing
companies likeInfosys Technologies and Wipro areheadquartered here, as are
theIndian branches of multinationals likeIntel and Texas Instruments.In the
last decade, the boom in theoutsourcing of services fromWestern countries
has brought abouta construction explosion in the oncequiet and orderly
Bangalore. Callcenter and software servicescompanies have grabbed
whateverhigh-rise buildings that havesprouted up, as if overnight,
withscant regard to urban planning ordesign."Companies say, 'We need a
millionsquare feet of space,' then go totheir laptops and slap aluminum
andglass over the million square feet,"said Bob Hoekstra, head of
thesoftware division at Philips ElectronicsIndia.Mr. Hoekstra, who is
campaigning forthe local government to improvefacilities like roads,
traffic systemsand public transport, saidmultinationals like Intel and SAP
AGhad given little thought to aesthetics."Intel's campus looks like a
parking lotwith a building in the middle; SAP'sresembles the Frankfurt
airport," hesaid.In the new buildings of Bangalore, andother outsourcing
centers likenearby Chennai or Gurgaon in thesuburbs of New Delhi, academics
seean eagerness to conform to what isperceived here as the Western
taste."Companies psychologically feel thattheir Western clients want to
comehere and see something that looksfamiliar and efficient," said
AparnaNarasimhan, an architect at theBangalore-based firmVenkataramanan
Associates, whichhas designed buildings for Infosys andGeneral
Electric.When ITC Infotech set out threeyears ago to plan its campus,
itbucked such trends. Opportunely, itsparent, ITC Ltd., a
100-year-oldcigarette maker with interests inhotels, apparel and food
products,offered its defunct tobaccomanufacturing complex in
centralBangalore. But one architect afteranother suggested the same
plan:bulldoze the 36 tobacco warehousesand replace them withglass-and-steel
high-rises. Mr.Verma, ITC Infotech's top executive,who first joined the
parent companyas a young shift engineer at thistobacco complex in 1981,
found thisidea repugnant. Finally, the companycame to the
Bangalore-basedarchitect Krishnarao Jaisim, whoagreed with Mr. Verma that
the oldstructures and environment wereworth preserving.Mr. Jaisim, whose
firm is namedJaisim Fountainhead, in reference tothe Ayn Rand novel, said
his work hadalways been defined by the book'scentral character, the
architectHoward Roark."I read the book in the 1960's; it hasbeen my moral
guideline ever since,"he said. The book influenced him towork on his own
terms and abhorcommercialism, he said.For ITC Infotech, Mr. Jaisim said
hewanted to come up with a plan thatwould retain the character of the
oldwarehouses while upgrading them."When I started, the warehousesstank of
tobacco and every road wascovered with asphalt," he said.Three years later,
two dozen of thewarehouses have been modified toseat hundreds of workers
each, andmost of the streets have been pavedwith local stone. The
architectretained the shell of the oldhigh-ceilinged warehouses. Besidesthe
strikingly minimal use of glassand steel, these buildings haveunusual new
touches: walls made ofhollow terra-cotta blocks, flat stonetables and
acoustic-friendly ceilingsthat are fashioned out of earthenpots. The giant
century-old chimney,ancient trees and even an old firestation have been
left standing.One jarring note is the unusualnumber of smokers on the
campus.Unlike other outsourcing firms,where smoking is frowned upon, atthis
subsidiary of India's biggestcigarette maker the practice is
notdiscouraged.The distinctive marks of thecompany's ideas have paid off
for ITCInfotech in unexpected ways."Many employees feel a strongsense of
pride in their uniquecampus," said Anirvan Mukherjee, asystems analyst who
joined ITCInfotech nearly three years ago."One of the high points of
workinghere is the campus," said Mr.Mukherjee, adding that his workplacewas
the envy of all his friends.Mr. Verma said that in Bangalore,where
competition for skilled talent isintense, "Our campus is a
greatdifferentiator."It is a refreshing change from the"clipped, almost
Californian,presentation of the typical campus"said Simon P. Bentley, vice
presidentfor application development at DHL,one of ITC Infotech's
customers. Mr.Bentley said it is a "beautiful oasis inthe midst of the
daily noise anddifficulty" of life in Bangalore. It wasas comfortable and
efficient as hisown offices in Scottsdale, Ariz., hesaid, but with a "more
enviable"natural environment.Aesthetic examples such as ITCInfotech are
rare, said Kamal Sagar,a Bangalore architect whose firm,Total Environment,
prides itself oncreating structures that incorporategreenery and local
building materials."Every company wants to outdo theother," said Mr. Sagar,
citing thespaceship- and Sydney OperaHouse-inspired food courts atInfosys's
headquarters and its plansto build origami-shaped buildings innearby
Mysore. "Companies likeInfosys and Wipro have the power toshape Bangalore's
skyline," he said,"and so they should."

Blogging grows in influence

August 22, 2005 www.nytimes.com

For the Niche Film Audience,Studios Are Appealing by Blog

By JOEL TOPCIK

Movie studios typically advertise ontelevision and in newspapers in searchof the biggest possibleopening-weekend audience. For a newfilm, "The Constant Gardener," FocusFeatures is intent on building itsaudience in a different way: bytaking aim at readers of niche Websites and blogs.Focus, an art-house unit of UniversalPictures, has purchased ads for "TheConstant Gardener" on the politicalblog Wonkette, as well as the Websites of politically orientedpublications like Harper's, The Nationand National Review.James Schamus, a co-president ofthe studio, says that such sites drawthe sort of people most likely toappreciate the film, a conspiracythriller based on a John le Carré novelabout pharmaceutical companiesoperating in Africa."We looked for the places thatsophisticated moviegoers seek out tofind things that interest them," Mr.Schamus said. "These are the peoplewho are engaged with the world, whoare informed about the bigconspiracies going on out there."Ever since the release of "The BlairWitch Project" in 1999, movie studioshave strived, and failed, to replicatethe groundbreaking Internetcampaign that made that film amarketing phenomenon. These newad campaigns on the Web suggestthat studios are becoming moredetermined to identify and reachniche audiences online.An independent distributor,ThinkFilm, has taken a similarapproach with the dirty-jokedocumentary "The Aristocrats,"buying prominent banners at thebawdy gossip sites Gawker.com andDefamer.com, as well as on sites likeThe Onion and CollegeHumor.com.ThinkFilm's vice president formarketing, David Fenkel, said: "Somemovies just lend themselves to onlineadvertising. 'The Aristocrats' is dirty,it's obscene and it's unrated, which issort of like the Internet itself."Seth Godin, an author and speaker onmarketing, said that Focus was"clearly ahead of the curve" inseeking an audience based on onlinebehavior. Mr. Godin cited a reportfrom comScore Media Metrix, sayingthat blog readers visit almost twiceas many Web pages as the averageInternet user. "We know that peoplevisiting a blog are more likely to takeaction" he said, "to click on a link orbuy online."In particular, the ads for "TheConstant Gardener" seem to seekout people who distrust multinationalcorporations. The banner containsthe taglines "The corruption iscontagious" and "The conspiracy isglobal," and links to the film's Website, where snippets of dialogueabout "payoffs, cover-ups,unmarked graves" can be heard inthe trailer.Joseph Jaffe, the president of JaffeL.L.C., a marketing consulting firm inWestport, Conn., agreed. "The movieis about getting people to talk abouta social issue," he said. "Blog readerswant to be able to respond and addtheir own points of view."The goal is to find and engage avery small subset of influentialthinkers and opinion leaders."The "Aristocrats" ad also invitesvisitors to submit their own versionof the film's unprintable joke.ThinkFilm, which has an advertisingbudget well below the $30 million thatmajor studios typically spend, ishoping that this interactivecomponent can propel an adthroughout the Web, creating acost-effective campaign.Mr. Fenkel would not disclose thebudget for the "Aristocrats"campaign but said Web advertisingcame in at roughly 5 percent of thetotal ad budget, higher than theindustry average of 2.2 percent in2004.But as Mr. Jaffe noted, even studioswith ample budgets have usedinteractive strategies, as New Linedid for "Wedding Crashers" with itsTrailer Crashers game allowing usersto insert images of themselves intothe movie trailer. "You can be surethat a good percentage of peoplewho saw the movie came across thisgame online," Mr. Jaffe said.Web advertisements will not eclipseprint and broadcast ads anytimesoon. But at a time when blanket adpurchases seem ready to decline intandem with box office receipts,studios may look more and more tothe Internet to find audiences. "It'sthe opposite of buying a spread in anewspaper or a slew of 30-secondslots on TV," Mr. Jaffe said. "Studiosneed to stop trying to reach themost people and focus on reachingthe best people."

Chavez Gives Land Titles to the Indigenous

An interesting story forward by l'avv. Alfredo ....

Chavez Gives Land Titles to the Indigenous

By THAIS LEON, Associated Press WriterTue Aug 9,10:02 PM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050810/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_indigenous_lands

Six of Venezuela's indigenous communities received title to their ancestral lands on Tuesday in a ceremony that Venezuela's president said reversed centuries of injustice.

President Hugo Chavez said he hoped the government would be able to turn over titles to 15 other indigenous communities by the end of the year.

"What we're recognizing is the original ownership of these lands," Chavez said during the ceremony. "Now no one will be able to come and trample over you in the future."

He was joined by Kari'na Indians wearing traditional dress, face paint and strings of colored beads.

But Chavez warned that the process of granting legal ownership must respect Venezuela's "territorial unity," and he urged other indigenous groups not to ask for "infinite expanses of territory."

"Don't ask me to give you the state's rights to exploit mines, to exploit oil," Chavez said. "Before all else comes national unity."

The documents recognize land ownership by six indigenous communities with some 4,000 people and territory covering 314,000 acres in the eastern states of Anzoategui and Monagas.

One woman from the Kari'na community thanked Chavez, saying: "He has been the first president who has kept his word to a people who have been stripped of their lands."

An estimated 300,000 Venezuelans belong to 28 indigenous groups, many living in the country's sparsely populated southeast.

South American countries have made various efforts to grant indigenous groups legal ownership and control over their traditional territories.

In neighboring Colombia, indigenous groups in officially recognized communities can administer justice, receive state funds and have their own government.

Brazil has set aside more than 12 percent of its territory for indigenous communities, and in Peru various laws declare the rights of indigenous groups to ancestral territory in the Amazon.

But problems have arisen in some countries as miners and loggers have moved onto Indian lands. And in various countries, a key debate has revolved around the state's rights to what lies underground, such as oil and mineral wealth.

Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough

And here's a cool post forwarded by la dott.ssa Daniela Francesca in Bruxelles ....

August 14, 2005
Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough
By JESSICA PRESSLER
PHILADELPHIA

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/fashion/sundaystyles/14PHILLY.html?ei=5070&en=9dc6d40e4b7a9659&ex=1124856000&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

JHU Is First in R&D Spending

An interesting article pointing to a strong impetus for continued life sciences growth in the Baltimore/DC area ....

JHU Is First in R&D Spending
NSF ranking puts Johns Hopkins at top for 25th year in a row

By Lisa De Nike
Homewood

http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2005/08aug05/08rand.html

The Johns Hopkins University performed $1.24 billion in scientific, medical and engineering research in fiscal year 2003, making it — for the 25th year in a row — the country's leading academic institution in such expenditures, according to a new National Science Foundation ranking.

The university was also first on NSF's list of federally funded research expenditures, spending $1.107 billion in FY2003 on research funded by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, NASA, NSF and the Department of Defense.

Johns Hopkins remains the only university ever to cross the $1 billion threshold on either list. It became the first to do so in FY2002, when it recorded $1.140 billion in total research and $1.023 billion in federally sponsored research.

Research funding at Johns Hopkins supports projects exploring everything from the genetic underpinnings of disease to robotics to the early history of the universe. Among the many advances reported by Johns Hopkins scientists in FY2003 were the use of stem cells to improve movement in paralyzed rats, the discovery of a massive gaseous cloud in the same orbit around Jupiter as the moon Europa and the creation of a form of pure copper metal six times stronger than normal.

Federal and other funding sources support research at the School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Whiting School of Engineering, School of Nursing and Applied Physics Laboratory.

"Discoveries that expand knowledge, improve our world and help people are the primary focus of the medical, scientific and engineering research we do at Johns Hopkins," said William R. Brody, president of the university. "But there's a side effect of this research spending that should never be forgotten: We bring outside money into Maryland and spend much of it here, and that's a key to the strength of the state's economy."

The university, when taken in combination with its sister institution the Johns Hopkins Health System, is the state's largest employer, and many of its jobs are directly or indirectly related to research. The university's economic impact also includes purchases from local vendors and the use of its discoveries to promote private enterprise through the licensing of technology to new and existing businesses. In fiscal 2003, Johns Hopkins researchers applied for 541 patents and were granted 95. During that year, the university also concluded 159 licensing or option agreements with businesses.

Johns Hopkins has led the NSF's research expenditure rankings each year since 1979, when the agency's methodology was revised to include research spending by the Applied Physics Laboratory in the university's totals. In FY2003, the Howard County-based APL reported $607 million in total R&D expenditures, of which $582 million was federally funded.

On the FY2003 total research expenditure list, released in July, Johns Hopkins is followed by University of California, Los Angeles, which spent $849 million in research and development in FY2003. The University of Michigan (all campuses) ranked third, with $780 million in expenditures, followed by the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with $721 million. The University of Washington completed the top five with $685 million in research and development.

The total funding ranking includes not only research support from federal agencies but also support from foundations, corporations and other sources.

GO TO AUGUST 8, 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE FRONT PAGE.

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