Miss Kolka

work until you die! | 27 mai 2009

Reading the first newspaper I've read in a looong time I discovered the universe I had forgotten about for a few months: the crazy political world in France. (Reading is not short of a luxury the first months of motherhood, unless you read really fast on the way to the dentist. I find listening to the radio much easier though, and it doesn't distract little Mr. F like the TV does with it's bright lights. He was not happy when I turned if off the other day, Hello, he's only 5 months!)

But back to the story. Apparently there's this guy, called Sarkozy's "stormtrooper" by some, crazyman by others. He wants to make a new work-amendment in the parlement. HE want's people to have the "choice" to work from home while on sick or maternity leave. Yes, because ten weeks of maternity leave are way too long and you don't do anything with your time anyways, you might just as well work from home. (He's clearly not in a equal relationship this man or he would know how much work newborns are, also for the dads!) He says its a matter of choice for the employee, but we all know how that goes, once the pressure is on from the corporation, you better stay at your desk until 8 because nobody else leaves earlier than that. He even has the nerve to imply that this way, people can stay tuned to what is happening at work and with their work collegues. REALLY?! IS this a social benefit? Making people work from home, when they are lying in bed with fever, that's genius. Are they allowed to take a brake to go and throw up in the bathroom? Or will that be amputated of their lunch hour? Like the union leader said; next up: make the dead work from the grave.

This is sad, and one more proof of how people do not trust each other in the workplace in France. If you are sick, it normally means you stay home and sleep, drink hot tea and sleep some more. Not that you run around town having cocktails and fun. But people are paranoid. It wasn't enough that the justice minister thought 6 days of maternity leave was too long, now the whole thing is just unecessary. What does this mean for the children of France?

Publié par Kolka à 21:58:26 dans Miss Kolka | Commentaires (0) | Permaliens

... | 16 mai 2009

My last big birthday was ten years ago. And how much has happened in that time. I have lived in 3 countries,been heartbroken twice, been sad but also been the happiest I've ever been, I finished a university degree, worked for 4 tv stations, lived with boys and girls but also by myself, moved 9 times, learned to love oysters, went to the Ritz, discovered a million songs, met so many great people and kept a few extraordinary friends, adopted 3 brothers and 1 sister, met the father of my child(ren) and realised Im the luckiest person on Earth. Why?

I'm allowed to be corny. Its my birthday.

Publié par Kolka à 12:05:33 dans Miss Kolka | Commentaires (0) | Permaliens

What I would like #6 | 15 mai 2009

So I was going to say "Sunshine for this weekend", a "delicious dessert" or some other useless fashion item but actually no, I would like to talk a little bit about things I learned listening to the radio today.

It happens once in a while that I tune in while brushing my hair or going to the shower. It can be just to kill the silence around me while Mr. F takes his nap or hear about the new movies out this week, nota bene, movies I will NOT be able to see at the cinema. Today I tuned in to France Culture and listened to an interview with France's IT minister (the name in French is so unbelievably complicated: "secrétaire d'Etat chargée de la prospective et du développement de l'économie numérique") so lets say she stands in for economic progress in connective technology. Whatever that means.

Not that her own name is much easier either so at risk of sounding patronising I am going to call Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet only by her first name. And not because she is a woman.

So Nathalie has been chosen to get this country up and running with new technologies and listening to her, she seems quite qualified for the job. A young parlementary, she understands how the internet and technologies around it work (she has her own Facebook and Twitter account) and she sees new oportunities in how to use the web. Nathalie says that the main mistake people make is to try to use the web as just another medium, to advertise products just as on Tv or radio for example. But the trick lies in seeing what the web can do differently from other media and to use it. Focus on how we can use differently. What she also would like to do is to involve citizens more in the IT progress itself, because administration (or governments for that matter) are not always the best qualified to know HOW to USE their data - Therefore, and basing this on similar tactics planned by the Obama administration ("government 2.0" ), she plans to make most government data publicly available (anonymosly of course) and encourage ordinary citizens to come up with ideas of how to use it.

Interesting. How this would work in real life is hard to say. Especially in a big country like France, where you still have to have a million photocopies of all your papers and even sometimes FAX them to their destination. Of course its hard to "computerized" all the data available, and progress is being made (you can even do your tax report online now) but France is still far away from using modern technologies to make everyday life easier for everybody. Your bank could send you text messages for example - and when you get a prescription at the doctor's, he/she should be able to email it directly to the pharmacy (and social security) to avoid all this paperwork. Scanning and documents in email attachements should also be made more available in the system. I dont know how much I have spent on stamps this year -but it's alot.

Other interesting points in the interview are how resources (or investment) in new technologies are now going to ideas and Uses, instead of equipment development before. And France should be quite upfront there, in developing computer games for better uses (such as for Alzheimer patients or work training and progress). Catching up on their own IT bubble perhaps?

You can read more on Obama's "government 2.0" here.

Publié par Kolka à 12:51:15 dans Cinema | Commentaires (0) | Permaliens