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Showing posts from March, 2021

The Stories of Oscar #16: Remembering Gianni Agnelli

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  Centenary of Gianni Agnelli.  Those who have had the good fortune to know him live cannot forget him.   In April 1974 Gianni Agnelli was elected president of Confindustria ( the Italian employers' federation) . At that time the writer was assistant to Luigi Orlando, president of the Italian Metallurgical Society, better known as 'The King of Copper', Orlando was vice-president over all of Confindustria. The assistants of the three 'noble' fathers of Italian industry (Pirelli, Agnelli and Orlando) were allowed to stay in the second row behind their bosses who sat around the large oval table of the boardroom. The meetings of the highest body of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs were characterized by the monologues of small and medium-sized industrialists who, galvanized by the possibility of having those characters as interlocutors, intertwined often boring and inappropriate interventions. Agnelli, half-undreamed in the armchair, eyes closed, every now and th

The Oscar's stories # 15: sexual harassement

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 I made the second Pfizer vaccine. While the girl at Sibley Memorial Hospital was preparing the mini syringe I discovered my left shoulder and it occurred to me a distant episode that occurred in January 1995, when I had just been appointed head of IRI for America. I have to say, I'm a vaccine veteran. As soon as the polio one came out I made it inoculate, then it was the turn of the Asian (bad experience) and since then every year I have had the flu vaccine syringed. Then the one against pneumonia, measles and vaccines to go to India to my son Marco. As soon as I landed in D.C., I asked the young doctor, who had been following my co-workers for a long time, where I could submit to this flu vaccine. Dr. Smith pointed me to a medical building in Massachusetts Ave where he would book me. So one morning of a cold January I went to that building used only for medical studies and laboratories. To tell the truth, it is not that at first glance the main entrance of that palace was the hei

Le storie dei Oscar #15: sexual harassement

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  Storia #1   Ho fatto il secondo vaccino Pfizer. Mentre la ragazza del Sibley Memorial Hospital stava preparando la mini siringa ho scoperto la spalla sinistra e mi è tornato in mente un lontano episodio avvenuto nel gennaio del 1995, quando ero stato appena nominato responsabile dell'Iri per l'America. Devo dire che sono un veterano dei vaccini. Appena uscito quello della poliomielite me lo sono fatto inoculare, poi è stata la volta dell'Asiatica (brutta esperienza) e da allora ogni anno mi sono fatto siringare il vaccino antinfluenzale. Poi quello contro la polmonite, il morbillo e i vaccini per andare in India da mio figlio Marco. Appena sbarcato a Washington ho chiesto al giovane medico,che da tempo seguiva i miei collaboratori, dove potevo sottomettermi a questo vaccino antinfluenzale. Il dottor Smith mi ha indicato un medical building sulla Massachusetts Ave dove avrebbe provveduto a farmi la prenotazione. Così una mattina di un freddo gennaio mi sono recato in quell

Must instead be inflated .....

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   "Look, I have to go with my camper for a month to Africa. Can you give me some suggestions on how to maintain tire pressure?" This is my question to the Roman tire dealer who had been serving me for years. "To decrease the friction you have to keep them inflated well to the maximum ... this reduces the contact surface. However, I recommend that you bring two spare tires, many times ..." The appointment for the African tour participants was in Algeciras (Spain) where we were supposed to take the ferry to Ceuta, the last Spanish outpost on Moroccan soil. (from Rome 2700 km). For months 2C magazine had been bringing the latest updates to this demanding African tour that was supposed to go as far as Tamaranset after crossing the desert and then returning to Tunisia and from there embarking for Sicily. For a total of 9700 kilometers for those departing from Rome. None of the 15 participants in the demanding African program could boast experiences of consistent desert