News for today's 2018: 02/09/13

28 in 28 #9: Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights

6:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.010.nl/catalogue/book.php?id=817"><b><i>Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights</i></b></a> edited by Netherlands Architecture Institute<br />nai010 Publishers, 2012<br />Hardcover, 304 pages<br /><br /><img alt="28-28_dutch.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/28-28_dutch.jpg" title="Book cover" /><br /><br />The 250 Dutch highlights of the book's title are culled from the archives of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (<a href="http://www.thenewinstitute.nl/">The New Institute</a> as of the first of this year) in Rotterdam. The drawings, models, and photographs that date from the early 1600s to the recent past are split into six chapters: Experimental, Restrained, Curious, Together, Makeable, and Open. Not all are self-explanatory, like the chapter on experiments in form and technique. Restrained refers to rational and business-like design; Curious documents overseas travels and inspiration; Together is about the creation of community at various scales; Makeable deals with grand urban plans; and Open focuses on public buildings. Yes, these chapters provide themes for the various archival objects to fit into, but they also help structure the book—each chapter, sub-chapter, and piece gives a combined number that then keys each one of the 250 highlights to its place in the much larger NAi archive. A helpful index and timeline, both illustrated with thumbnails of the works, provide numerous ways of looking through the book, as well as realizing, for example, how the highlights cluster in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1960s.<br /><br />While the book is focused on revealing how the 250 works express Dutch architecture, culture, and history, it also places a strong emphasis on drawings (by hand), and this is refreshing. I'd say 3/4 of the book is made up of drawings, with the rest comprised of models and photographs. Of course the drawings are varied in terms of media, format (orthographic, perspective, sketch, etc.), and other variables, but they illustrate how the primary Dutch ideas come across through a media that is rarely found in the presentations of architects today. The book can be seen merely as a history of times when architects articulated ideas through hand drawing, but it can also be seen as an embrace of ideas in their fruition. Hand drawing has the ability to convey what ideas are important, leaving out lots of things that can be left to the imagination, unlike the renderings and other drawings created with the help of computers. Sure, there are presentation drawings that make up part of the 250 highlights (what would now be computer generated renderings), but they are accompanied by looser formats that are more rich and rewarding. In this approach to looking at the book, I can't help but wonder what an archive that starts at the beginning of the 21st century will look like in a couple hundred years.<br /><br /><b>US: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9462080097/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9462080097" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan.gif" /></a> CA: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/9462080097/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9462080097" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.ca" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-ca.gif" width="90" /></a> UK: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/9462080097/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9462080097" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.co.uk" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-uk.gif" width="90" /></a></b>

28 in 28 #9: Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights

Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights edited by Netherlands Architecture Institute nai010 Publishers, 2012 Hardcover, 304 pages The 250 Dutc...

ARGENTINA and ITALY

2:56 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_WxBQKXbPiaHY7iSgalzmw4p2VaGvXVqShJ_9L9k6BwK2WtGAtn8Yx9ST-rdNU6H9EdPRPgmP6BJtaqzq4QAfuDdCH8IJv0lP85fyv8voM2EjOPGPakI7qenX_PRkPrN4bChViftMG_X/s1600/Flag-Pins-Argentina-Italy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_WxBQKXbPiaHY7iSgalzmw4p2VaGvXVqShJ_9L9k6BwK2WtGAtn8Yx9ST-rdNU6H9EdPRPgmP6BJtaqzq4QAfuDdCH8IJv0lP85fyv8voM2EjOPGPakI7qenX_PRkPrN4bChViftMG_X/s320/Flag-Pins-Argentina-Italy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ARGENTINE LEADERS’ ‘CREATIVE LIES’ ACCORDING TO A LEADING ITALIAN NEWSPAPER</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Via Mercopress</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A leading ITALIAN newspaper has published a very critical piece on ARGENTINA, its honesty and what it describes as the succession of ‘creative lies’ in the country’s recent history going back to the myth about Evita Peron, the blood thirsty generals, Maradona, Carlos Menem one peso/one dollar, Cristina Kirchner and the latest clash with the IMF over manipulation of official inflation and GDP stats.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span><span class="watch-title  yt-uix-expander-head" dir="ltr" title="Chronicle of a debt foretold: IMF & Argentina">Chronicle of a debt foretold: IMF & ARGENTINA   </span></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rpkGhy7BxXw?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Under the heading of “Creative lies from ARGENTINE friends Maradona, Kirchner and false stats”, the <i>Corriere della Sera</i> begins the article in the front page with the IMF ‘declaration of censure’ and enumerates a succession of events including the famous ‘1 dollar equals 1 Peso’ from President Carlos Menem time that led to the massive default of 2001 and heavy losses, among others, to 300.000 Italian pensioners holders of ARGENTINE sovereign bonds: the so called in ITALY, ‘tango-bonds’.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“ARGENTINE candidates lie to the people, and they know it. They also lie if elected during and after leaving office, and the long tradition of exaggerations, omissions, conspiration and hearsays which always crop up are considered matters of State”, writes Rocco Cotroneo who works for the Italian daily from BRAZIL.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">See: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/argentina-country-without-visible.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/argentina-country-without-visible.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrHSvY0WOscMgvm8GWCsbHzIxhioWtgiAd9Zxfsl-kthhxJXHy4Ce2TcC6ascgQWNs07IrHiQaotitAIyBa0zE1KjzGxGTzbVnEgvuHWI2uTwRc3Q0fYVVg3HqryeQ5R-loGxFAK-rvvK/s1600/cfk-italy-newspaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrHSvY0WOscMgvm8GWCsbHzIxhioWtgiAd9Zxfsl-kthhxJXHy4Ce2TcC6ascgQWNs07IrHiQaotitAIyBa0zE1KjzGxGTzbVnEgvuHWI2uTwRc3Q0fYVVg3HqryeQ5R-loGxFAK-rvvK/s400/cfk-italy-newspaper.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“Cristina Kirchner as her husband Nestor, have been cheating with the inflation stats for years, plus the refusal to publish some stats that are key to the economy, ‘unconceivable for a democracy’ “.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The article then quotes the great ARGENTINE writer Jorge Luis Borges who referring to the Peronists (the largest (<b>only!!!</b>) political movement in ARGENTINA) See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism</a>and the spiritual mentors of Cristina Fernandez said: “they are not good or bad, they are simply incorrigible”.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rocco points out to the current history revisionism, involving Evita Peron, “Cristina Fernandez maximum myth”, full of white lies beginning with her age: “she was not born in 1922, but in 1919 and the Broadway musical exaggerated her background, she was not of a miserable origin but rather belonged to a middle class solid family; however official propaganda did the job”.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As to the military dictatorships they lied to the country most of the time and to the world: the blood-thirsty generals denied torturing and massacring their own people, declared victory over the UK during the Falklands’ war…and Carlos Menem did not lose the habit. He made the ARGENTINE believe during ten years that One Peso was the same as One Dollar until the tragic end with the ‘tango-bonds’</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/82enAuv9gX8?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">And let’s not forget the famous hand of God of Maradona during the match with ENGLAND at the World Cup in 1986, who denied having scored with his fist but rather that it had been ‘the hand of God’.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">However in an honest admission Rocco says that in all these lies and cheatings, ITALIANS have a share of blame: “over 70% of the blood circulating in the River Plate comes from our backyard”. See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Argentine">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Argentine</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">See: <b><span style="color: blue;">ARGENTINA’S MAIN IMMIGRANT BACKGROUND WAS MOSTLY ITALIAN</span> at: </b><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/argentine-evolution.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/argentine-evolution.html</a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Read more articles related to ARGENTINA:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/argentina-and-bitcoin.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/argentina-and-bitcoin.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/share-of-cake.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/share-of-cake.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

ARGENTINA and ITALY

ARGENTINE LEADERS’ ‘CREATIVE LIES’ ACCORDING TO A LEADING ITALIAN NEWSPAPER Via Mercopress A leading ITALIAN newspaper has published a very...

ISRAEL AND CYPRUS: A COMPARISON

1:48 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YQiRosJfhK8sv2kIh0BDK46-RZwAt3whe6EEx1ecY_OnEF0bMSfnSYOhclnlLgn84qqpTflAoKtTG1vVvWhOtFdkwPCfUM8lPDgWabYMRlfSvmt9YVTQiN4MDQfN3T9H4DPLCvpDQOLK/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YQiRosJfhK8sv2kIh0BDK46-RZwAt3whe6EEx1ecY_OnEF0bMSfnSYOhclnlLgn84qqpTflAoKtTG1vVvWhOtFdkwPCfUM8lPDgWabYMRlfSvmt9YVTQiN4MDQfN3T9H4DPLCvpDQOLK/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WHY ISRAEL SUCCEEDS AND CYPRUS FAILS </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A COMPARISON THAT APPLIES FOR MANY SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES</span></b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Theodore Panayotou via Cyprus Mail</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE TWINS of innovation and entrepreneurship, expressed in innovative enterprise are the only tools that could sustainably get us out of the economic recession and set us on the road to recovery and growth. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Technological and business innovation is the ultimate source of productivity growth and competitiveness. ISRAEL has a fraction of the resources per capita we have and fewer than almost any other country in the world and yet it has managed to become the start-up nation of the world. It thrives in the midst of economic crisis, while we wander about aimlessly unable to even pay people’s wages.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL with its technological sophistication and business acumen has managed not only to survive in an area surrounded by enemies that threatened its very existence, but also to become the envy of even the developed countries of EUROPE and AMERICA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL’S LACK OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSISTENT THREATS FROM EXTERNAL FORCES. – A STIMULANT TO INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP?</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In per capita terms, ISRAEL has more start-ups than any other country in the world and attracts 30 times more venture capital than the whole of EUROPE, in addition to the number of companies it has listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, the second largest in the world.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The ISRAELIS attribute their tremendous technological, business and economic success to the lack of natural resources and to the outside threat.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CYPRUS is facing similar threats to its national survival but we do not see similar dedication and effort to raise our international competitiveness through research, innovation and entrepreneurship.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Now that we have discovered natural gas, we celebrate madly, while the ISRAELIS are worried that the discovery might undermine what they have achieved through hard work, research, innovation and entrepreneurship.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">They fear that it may lead them to new adventures. Could it kill the incentive for continued progress and distort the economy? Could it bring easy riches, complacency and corruption as happened with their ARAB neighbours. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">They are debating ways to handle this double-edged sword in order to make it more of a blessing than a curse. They are not prepared to sacrifice even 10 per cent of their research, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship at the altar of the natural gas. If anything, they plan to invest much of their gas revenues in redoubling their research and technological innovation efforts.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Thus, in ISRAEL necessity and adversity gave birth to creativity and entrepreneurial culture, but not so in CYPRUS, despite the proximity and similarities of the two countries. Why did ISRAEL do it while we did not?</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“ISRAEL VERSUS CYPRUS”</span></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMUasLhAvJCWirD3IozBf1LOLuG5jgDbYJU7QLqLlt-3J7CPIAvHNEHTNyJjPHdfE4lTdmC6H36mO6Ho7Fv0UM1cwL7UZ8VjRuCNP8F6k0QZ4JGrlU8VPC5LssHx1GsJPcqcPLnzCbtYk/s1600/Innovation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMUasLhAvJCWirD3IozBf1LOLuG5jgDbYJU7QLqLlt-3J7CPIAvHNEHTNyJjPHdfE4lTdmC6H36mO6Ho7Fv0UM1cwL7UZ8VjRuCNP8F6k0QZ4JGrlU8VPC5LssHx1GsJPcqcPLnzCbtYk/s320/Innovation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The reasons are many but almost all have to do with the different mentality and culture which has developed in the two nations since gaining their statehood, basically the past half century.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, an insatiable questioning of authority and an anti-hierarchical ethos dominates political and economic life. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS the 'deification' of power and hierarchy dominates all aspects of life. In ISRAEL, a man is defined by what he can do and how well he does it. In CYPRUS a man is defined by title or position, and based on who you know rather than what you know. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, the teacher acquires appreciation for the student and the manager for the employee. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS, it’s the opposite: the student owes respect and allegiance to the teacher, the employee to the manager, and the soldier to the officer regardless of ability, competence and performance.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The ISRAELIS from infancy are trained to challenge the obvious, to ask questions, and to debate and criticise everything, to think creatively and to innovate. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS, children are trained to accept what the grownups (parents and teachers) say and not to question it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL 80 per cent of the students ask questions; they challenge everything. In CYPRUS, if you're lucky 20 per cent rarely asks questions and hardly anyone challenges the teacher. Our centralised education system is investing in routine, extrinsic incentives, standardisation and conformity, while in ISRAEL it promotes diversity, intrinsic motivation and spontaneous creativity and imagination, just those skills required by the connected and globalized international economy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, if you're the manager, your authority will be constantly challenged: why should you be the manager of me and not me the manager of you? Therefore, you must constantly prove by your decisions and actions that you deserve the position you hold. Even army officers are challenged by their soldiers. Blind obedience is not required; actually it is frowned upon.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS the opposite happens. Many of the officers in the security forces, and the managers of the wider public sector and  even the private sector, have obtained their position by political favor and connection or based on the number of years of service and not through their own merit. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It is then not surprising that they impose their authority by discipline rather than earn it with their performance. Their subordinates know that the only way to climb the ladder is to follow their example, buttering up their superiors and investing in personal and party connections and not in performance and creativity.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WILLINGNESS TO TAKE RISKS</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In contrast to the usual practice in CYPRUS, in ISRAEL subordinates do not run to their superiors to solve problems, but they assume the risk and the responsibility to invent imaginative solutions in real time and on the go. Textbook answers are discouraged and imaginative solutions are sought.  Thus, most innovations are bottom-up, not top-down.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, military service has become an incubator of innovative companies (startups). Those who haven’t served in the army have a hard time finding work in government and business because they are considered to be "problematic"  and immature, having lost the opportunity of technological training and operational experience offered by military service.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS, military service is considered a necessary evil and a waste of time since neither technological training nor professional development of soldiers takes place, while exemption from service can be achieved with the right connections.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Another important factor in creating innovative enterprises in ISRAEL is the willingness to take risks and an accepting attitude towards failure which entices failed entrepreneurs to use their experience and try again instead of stigmatising and marginalising them. Without tolerating a large number of failures it is impossible to achieve real innovation.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But the failures should be "smart failures". We must distinguish between a well-planned experiment and RUSSIAN roulette. Risks undertaken intelligently and not recklessly result in useful lessons even if the enterprise fails.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Studies have shown that entrepreneurs who failed in their previous company are twice as likely to succeed the next time around compared to those who are starting their first business, and almost the same chance with those who succeeded the first time. Whether they succeed or fail, entrepreneurs make their contribution to the economy. If they succeed, they create new valuable products and services; if they fail, they keep the established entrepreneurs under constant pressure to innovate. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Unfortunately, in CYPRUS failure is stigmatised and the unsuccessful businessman is marginalised. The bankruptcy law is unforgiving and works proactively as a deterrent against any attempt at innovation and entrepreneurship. When profit from success is demonised and failure stigmatised, it is not surprising that high-risk, high-return innovative entrepreneurship is rare in CYPRUS while in ISRAEL it is commonplace and produces miracles.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div>

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