Archive for budget
Universités en danger
Posted in Kids, University life with tags Assemblée Nationale, budget, confidence vote, deficit, French government, French Parliament, French politics, French State, French universities, institutional crisis, public universities, vote of confidence on December 3, 2024 by xi'an
French universities in poor conditions
Posted in Kids, University life with tags budget, COVID, French universities, Le Monde, student fees on June 8, 2024 by xi'an
Le Monde is sketching a pessimistic picture of the budgetary woes of (most) French universities, unable to maintain their buildings and even less to expand to accommodate an ever growing student population. Or to increase their faculty population. Meaning that more than half of the courses are delivered by temporary teachers. Budgets are now going down because of reductions decided by the current government to recoup the post-COVID spending frenzy. Not a single mention is found in these articles about the connection with essentially negligible fees, as well as with an unrestricted access to higher public education that results in wasted years for both students and institutions…
LPPR or not?!
Posted in Statistics with tags Agence Nationale de la Recherche, budget, French politics, French universities, Le Monde, LPPR, public funding on March 12, 2020 by xi'an
the witcher
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures with tags Andrzej Sapkowski, BBC, budget, fantasy, Game of Thrones, HBO, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Netflix, sword and sorcery, The Witcher, Tor Books, TV series, videogames, witchery on January 11, 2020 by xi'an
As I read (some of) Andrzej Sapkowski‘s books, and then watched my son play the derived video game, I took the opportunity of the break to watch the eponymous Netflix series. Which I found quite decent and entertaining, given that the books were not unforgettable masterpieces but enjoyable and well-constructed. The New York Times was quite dismissive in its review of the show, seeing as a cheap copycat of Game of Thrones when the books were written earlier than Martin’s unfinished no-end-logy. The Blaviken battle scene in the first episode is certainly on a par with GoT most fighting moments, while lasting a few seconds. And the actor playing Geralt manages to convey much more in a few grunts than, say, Kit Harington’s permanent cocker spaniel sad face!!! The budget here is clearly not the same as HBO’s investment, with some exterior scenes looking a wee bit bare (just as in the BBC’s rendering of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel). But, again, nothing there to dim the appeal of the series (although they could have cut on the definitely gratuitous softporn moments!) and a plot gradually rising from the fragmented time line and the apparently unrelated subplots, which is also a feature of the books, made of short-stories vaguely glued together. I am hence looking for the second season, hoping the GoT curse does not extend to this series. (Tor.com also published a highly critical review of the show. And of the books, which are incidentally not published by Tor!)
humanitarian project in Madagascar
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel, University life with tags amazon associates, budget, Evadeh, humanitarian projects, Mada Tsatsaka, Madagascar, medical school, support, tsatsaka, Université Paris-Sud on March 15, 2017 by xi'an
As the budget of the humanitarian trip to Madagascar our daughter organises with other students of the Paris-Sud Medical School next summer is still short of several thousand euros, I repost the call for support I made a few months ago.
Their project is called Mada Tsatsaka, mada for Madagascar and tsatsaka for a local lizard. The team plans to bring basic drugs and educational material and to work in a dispensary, an orphanage, as well as a shelter for women victims of violence. (More below!)
I thus bring this project to the ‘Og’s readers’ attention in case they wish to support. The best approach is use this web site for donations (in English) to Evadeh Mada Tsatsaka. (Evadeh is the mother association for all humanitarian projects in the medical school.) A free-of-charge (!) alternative is to shop on amazon.com following this associate link as I vouch to transfer all my associate gains in the next four months to the project.
Upon request, more details on the project:
- 2 weeks in Maventibao working in a clinic : Mada Clinics, helping two nurses with free medical examinations and providing extra medical equipment and drugs. And also helping with drinking water improvement. The team further hopes to help with the purchase of a car associated with the clinic and linking with the hospital in Diego (4h away) and with hiring a doctor in the nearby clinic of Amboangamamy.
- 2 weeks in an orphanage in Antananarivo, Ankanifitahiana, in collaboration with BLOC Léo Madagascar, helping in financing and installing a library and a music room, and participating in classes and games with the children. Depending on the funding, the team would also like to help with installing a solar oven.
