Winter postcards and le Mur pour la paix

I love this photo. Zoom into my face. Happiness! :)




Now, do you see what is behind me? No, I'm not referring to the tour Eiffel. I want to talk about the monument for peace (Monument pour la paix). It was "illegalment construit" in 2000 and neighbors have fought for its demolition. I kind of sympathize with a claim for peace just in front of the École Militaire (Military school). There is a political discussion about this subject, but hurry up to take a shot of it before it is finally demolished.



All letters that Rachida Dati (Maire du 7ème) has sent and received related to it can be read in the website of the Mairie of the 7ème. I really recommend the one sent to Mitterrand Jr.

However, if you are a tourist what probably has annoyed you when walking in Champs the Mars (the name of the gardens where it is placed) is an armyt of vendeurs à la sauvette (illegal sellers of souvenirs). Our lovely neighbors also mind about them.

(Illegal) Cycling races in Paris

After two months cycling in Paris I still think it is a very dangerous city and commuting by bike here is not as easy and enjoyable as in other places. I'm always late, so I try to hurry up... and sometimes (very often) I end up being reckless. Ok, I often take "controlled" risks, but I am definetely not a risk-seeking person. However, I just came across with a video of some who put their life at stake for a cycling race in the city... I don't really care if they wanna take more risks (as long as we don't have to pay for their damages), but you will see that they put in danger many others and this is unacceptable.

In a following post another one says he will think about stopping at traffic lights because he got a 90€ fine. It made me think about the law&economics beyond. Why is this fine ridicously small? It has no deterrence effect at all on the traffic lights objective, it has no impact on discouraging the participation in these races!

Take the stairs (and ruin Otis)

I just read the freakonomics column in the NY Times about calories counters. In Lisbon they have written in each stair the equivalent calories burnt.



The Public Health Agency of Canada encourages you to take the stairs by counting how many calories you will burn! I live in a 6th floor without lift, so I have no choice. Apparently, I do 23% of my daily recommended physical activity each time I go out. Yep, I take the positive side of it. Hey, and it is greener. I guess that right now it would be cooler to post the kilowatts saved or directly the contribution to global warming. What worries me is that I could never invite wheelchair friends (but that deserves another post).


So, who to praise? Elisha Graves Otis (a worth reading bio) invented the lift in 1852. "He" is still in business as a major global player. The World market for lifts is estimated in $50 billions and has nice forecasts.


Oh, his descendants are not 'good guys'. The DG Comp fined them in 2007 for price-fixing. The funny story is that even the EC building was affected so the EC switched from a regulatory role to a plaintiff one. You can claim damages too, as the Dutch Collective Injustice Foundation does for 465€+20% of the damages.

Bike chain

Wanna start a business but have no ideas? Consider producing bike chains for winter time, no one has done it yet and demand is out there trying to build home made ones.

Rambouillet (111km from Paris)

A sunny day without lectures (Toussaint holidays), a perfect day to cycle to Rambouillet.

Cycling

The best exit from Paris is Porte de Versailles, then go all the way through Issy-les-Moulineaux, cycle uphill to Meudon, enjoy the downhill to Chaville (don‘t think you are going to cycle it up too in the way back), cross Viroflay and ,once in Versailles, take the second exit to the left in the big avenue of the tiny Château of the uncle Louisi. Straight ahead to Buc. Then, follow the indications to Saint Rémy la Chevreuse (you will pass the airport of Toussus-le Noble and Châteaufort) and then to la Chevreuse. Afterwards Rambouillet is signposted in all the relevant crossroads and you can’t get lost because D906 leads you there. There is another possibility to join D906, the road to Rambouillet, which is D91, the one I had planned to follow because apparently there is less traffic, but in Buc I found myself in the described one.


From Paris to Buc both traffic and landscape suck. It’s all the time in the middle of traffic jams, traffic lights, and urban areas. Traffic from Buc to la Chevreuse is acceptable and much better from la Chevreuse to Rambouillet. Landscape is nice from Buc, actually, you are cycling along a big aqueduct in its exit.


La Chevreuse and Versailles are good stops, nice houses and plenty of shops.

In Google maps and Michelin is 50km each way, but in my compu 111.25 total km have been registered. I don’t really understand the difference, because I didn’t get lost a lot (only a deviation of aprox 1-2km). It took me 6h 24 minutes (av speed 17,37.. I am not fitted, and I haven’t done anything during the last month). Departure place was Hôtel de Matignon.

In one-way, there are 5 long uphills with a considerable slope (followed by equivalent downhills :D). You may also consider taking the train (avoiding the urban aglo or back home), some of the villages are served by train.



Other attractions

The other main attractiveness that lead me there is the Park of la Chevreuse. A big regionally protected forest, one of the closest to Paris. There are other castles in the way. There are supposed to be some big animals (like the signal warns) but I didn’t encounter any.




The Rambouillet castle

I needed a green and historical destination about 50km from Paris. Rambouillet has all! It sounded me familiar due to “the Accords of Rambouillet” related to the war in Kosovo (it was proposed as a peace agreement between Serbia (named Yugoslavia and still with Montenegro as a satellite) and Kosovo (say Albania). The autonomy of Kosovo and Nato in the area) were unacceptable for Milosevic and his refusal allowed NATO (who drafted it) to start the Kosovo war. The other funny thing is that it was not disclosed till several months afterwards. Other historical events have also taken place there. The castle is incomparable to the one of the uncle Louisi, but nice. It can be visited everyday except today: Tuesday. Anyway, that’s not an excuse, I didn’t brought my lockers and my student card on purpose.

Retorn

Altra vegada. L'olla segueix bullint.

L'abstencionisme a Europa i a la Pompeu

Avorrida i desconcertada en una mesa, diumenge passat vaig comptabilitzar que només el 23% dels menors de 50 anys acudien a les urnes, mentre ho feien el 45% dels majors d’aquesta edat. Si hagués tingut temps de registrar la participació dels menors de 30 anys us puc assegurar que la xifra encara seria més esfereïdora, posaria la mà al foc que estaria per sota del 10%. Paradoxalment, la generació més informada i la que més s’ha aprofitat de les oportunitats que ens ha obert Europa és la menys participativa. Què podria arribar a passar amb índexs de participació tan baixos?

Dimarts passat, 9 de juny de 2009, al claustre de la UPF vaig obtenir la resposta. A les eleccions a representants al claustre, igual que a les del rector, només van participar el 14% dels estudiants de grau. Considerant l’elevadíssim nivell d’autonomia universitària i la incidència d’aquesta en els universitaris, resulta una xifra totalment incomprensible. La conseqüència és una composició de claustrals d’una tendència molt radicalitzada, a ningú se li escapa que no representen a la immensa majoria dels estudiants de la UPF. Bolonya i la irrupció dels mossos han anat tensant la corda durant tot el curs, i l’exclusió de 5 mocions d’arrel ideològica a l’ordre del dia va ser l’espurna que va encendre la foguera. El patètic foc de retrets va culminar amb la suspensió de la sessió.

Tot plegat m’ha acabat de convèncer que les distàncies no són geogràfiques. Sense representativitat la democràcia que propugnem no és possible. Assumim la responsabilitat que ens pertoca o reformem el sistema, però no perllonguem més aquest absurd.