Sam Palka And David Vishkover

Isaac Bashevis Singer, born in Poland in 1904, emigrated to New York in 1935, when he began writing in Yiddish for the Jewish Daily Forward. He is the author of many novels and stories and winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for literature. Translated by the author and Dorothea Straus.

3

‘When I was about forty-two or forty-three I was really rich. Once the money starts to flow, you can’t stop it. I bought houses and lots and made huge profits. I bought stocks and they rose overnight. Taxes were nothing in those days. I owned a limousine and wrote checks for all kinds of charities. Now women swarmed around me like bees around honey. I got more love in a week than I could make use of in a year. But I am not a man who fools himself. I knew what they wanted was my money, not me. As they kissed me and tried to make me believe I was the great lover, they talked about what they would get out of it: trips to Florida, to Europe; mink coats; diamonds. It was all bluff. You lie in bed with them and they don’t let you forget that what you really are is a sugar daddy. I wished I could meet a woman who did not know about my money or an heiress so rich that in comparison I would seem poor. But where and when? I began to think that true love was not for me. How do they say in Poland? Sausage is not for dogs.
‘Suddenly a miracle happened. I acquired an old house on Blake Avenue in Brownsville. Today Brownsville is full of Negroes and Puerto Ricans; then it was the land of Israel. You couldn’t find a Gentile to save your life. I wanted to put up a new building, but first I had to get rid of the tenants. Often these things went easily, but this time some them balked. I didn’t believe in going to court; I preferred to settle with them myself. I had a free Sunday and decided to go and see what could be done. My car happened to be in the garage, so I took the subway. After all, I wasn’t born a Rockefeller.
‘At the house I knocked on a door, but in Brownsville they didn’t know the meaning of that. I pushed the latch, the door opened, and I saw a room that looked exactly like one in the old country. If I hadn’t known that I was in Brownsville, I would have thought that I was in a Konskowola: whitewashed walls, a board floor, a broken-down sofa with the stuffing sticking out. Even the smells were from Konskowola—fried onions, chicory, moldy bread. On the sofa sat a girl as beautiful as Queen Esther. One difference. Esther was supposed to be greenish and this girl was white, with blue eyes and golden hair—a beauty. She was dressed like a greenhorn who had just arrived: a long skirt and shoes with buttons. And what was she doing? Reading a story book: Sheindele with Blue Lips. I had read it years before on the other side. I thought I was dreaming and I pinched myself, but it was no dream.
‘I wanted to tell her that I was the landlord and had come to make move out. But some power stopped me. I began to play a role as if I were an actor in the theater. She asked me who I was and I said I was a salesman of sewing machines. I could get one for her cheap. She said, ‘What do I need a sewing machine for? When I want to sew something, I use my own ten fingers.’ She spoke a familiar Yiddish.
‘I could sit with you until tomorrow and not tell half of it, but I will make it short. She had been in this country only two years. Her father had been a Talmud teacher in Poland. He was brought to this land of gold by an uncle. Three days after the father and daughter left Ellis Island, the uncle died. Her father became a beadle for some little rabbi here. I asked her how old she was and she said twenty-six. ‘How does it happen,’ I asked her, ‘that such a beautiful girl is unmarried?’ She answered, ‘They offered me many matches but I refused to marry through a matchmaker. I have to be in love.’ What she said was not silly; she was like a child and her talk was also like that of a little girl. She was not retarted—just naïve. She had lived for twenty-four years in a tiny village in the hinterland—Wysoka. Her mother died when she was still young. Each word she uttered was the pure truth. She could as much lie as I could be the wife of a rabbi. I asked her name and she said, ‘Channah Basha.’ Why drag it out? I fell in love with her—head over heels. I couldn’t tear myself from her. I was afraid she would make me go, but she asked, ‘Aren’t you hungry? ‘Yes, I am hungry,’ I said and I thought, For you! She said, ‘I cooked burned-flour grits and I have full pot of it.’ I hadn’t heard the words ‘burned-flour grits’ for goodness knows how long and, believe me, no aria sung by an opera singer could have sounded sweeter.
‘Soon we were seated at a broken-down table, eating the burned-flour grits like an old couple. I told her that I too read storybooks. I could see that she had a whole pile of them, all brought over from the old country: The Story of the Three Brothers, The Tale of Two Butchers, The Adventures of the Pious Reb Zadock and the Twelve Robbers. She asked me, ‘Do you earn living by selling sewing machines?’ I said, ‘I manage to scratch together a few dollars.’ She asked, ‘Do you have a wife and children?’ I told her about my wife and poured out my bitter heart to her. Channah Basha listened and she grew pale. ‘Why do you hold on to such a shrew?’ I said, ‘Here in America when you divorce a wife you have to pay alimony. If not you go to jail. The alimony amounts to more than a man earns. This is the justice in the land of Columbus.’ She said, ‘God waits long but He punishes severely. She will soon come to a bad end.’ She cursed my wife. She said, ‘How do you live if she takes away your last bite?’ I said, ‘I still have enough for a piece of bread.’ She said, ‘Come to me. I often cook more than I need for my father and myself. I am always alone because my father comes home late, and with you it will be cozy.’ It was the first time that someone showed compassion for me and wanted to give instead of take. We ate the grits with fresh bread from the bakery and we washed it down with watery tea while we babbled about the Three Brothers of whom the first took upon himself the good deed of ransoming innocent prisoners, the second of helping poor orphans to marry, and third of honoring the Sabbath. Then I told here a story about a young man who found a golden hair and traveled all over the world in search of the woman from whose head it had fallen. He found her on the island of Madagascar and she was the queen herself. Channah Basha listened eagerly to every word.
(continued)

I love this story. This hilarious portrait of everyday Main Street characters rings as true today as it did when it was first published back then. The basics are the same and how little things change.

Jon Stewart Vs Jim Cramer

Cramer Grilled on Jon Stewart
http://seekingalpha.com/article/125804-cramer-grilled-on-jon-stewart
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/15/usa-tv-jon-stewart-economy

Useful links:
www.thedailyshow.com
www.cnbc.com/id/15838459

It's a must-see. It took Jon Stewart to explain to investors how things really work on Wall Street. Jon was brilliant.

European Fine Art Fair 2009

The European Fine Art Fair kicks off in a blaze of discoveries
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/13/arts/melik14.php

Useful link:
www.tefaf.com

It's amazing the fair pulls in an attendance that grows every year, crisis or no crisis. Thank you Souren for the latest update.

Camila Batmanghelidjh

Charity founder portrait unveiled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7941839.stm

Useful links:
www.kidsco.org.uk
www.npg.org.uk
www.schwabfound.org

As a psychotherapist/social entrepreneur + founder/director of Kids Company, she has been an inspiration for children marginalised by society. Hats off to Camila!

Plácido Domingo Forever

45 Roles, 628 Performances. Why Stop?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/arts/music/13domi.html?_r=1

Useful links:
www.metoperafamily.org
www.placidodomingo.com

I think Domingo is in good shape and should continue his performance forever. I am a huge fan.

Engagement Ring Story

The Lure of the Engagement Ring
http://www.yourtango.com/print/3183

Useful links:
www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14234.html
www.debeers.com
www.unusualweddingrings.com

Great essay. I loved it.

Pippa Small

A Fashionable Jeweler With a Conscience
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/fashion/08DIARY.html?_r=1

Useful link:
www.pippasmall.com

Inspiring story.

Diamond Windows

Diamonds: A fighter pilot's best friend?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29677221

Useful links:
www.wpafb.af.mil
www.apollodiamond.com
www.gemesis.com

It takes about 10 years for new materials or technology to make it into commercial or military devices. That's what I have been told before by the experts. What's intriguing to me is diamond's optical and thermal properties + its physical strength, and its wider application. It's really amazing.

The Crash

Federico Garcia Lorca, in his lecture on Poet in New York, described Wall Street in the aftermath of the Great Crash of 1929.

The Crash

The terrible, cold, cruel part is Wall Street. Rivers of gold flow there from all over the earth, and death comes with it. There as nowhere else you feel a total absence of the spirit: herds of men who cannot count past three, herds more who cannot get past six, scorn for pure science, and demoniacal respect for the present. And the terrible thing is that the crowd who fills the street believes that the world will always be the same, and that it is their duty to move the huge machine day and night forever. The perfect result of a Protestant morality that I, as a (thank God) typical Spaniard, found unnerving. I was lucky enough to see with my own eyes the recent crash, where they lost various billions of dollars, a rabble of dead money that slid off into the sea, and never as then, amid suicides, hysteria, and groups of fainters, have I felt the sensation of real death, death without hope, death that is nothing but rottenness, for the spectacle was terrifying but devoid of greatness. And I, who come from a country where, as the great poet Unamuno said, ‘at night the earth climbs to the sky,’ I felt something like a divine urge to bombard that whole shadowy defile where ambulances collected suicides whose hands were full of rings.

That is why I included this dance of death. The typical African mask, death which is truly dead, without angels or ‘resurrexit’; death as far removed from the spirit, as barbarous and primitive as the United States, which has never fought, and never will fight for heaven.

Spot on.

Sam Palka And David Vishkover

Isaac Bashevis Singer, born in Poland in 1904, emigrated to New York in 1935, when he began writing in Yiddish for the Jewish Daily Forward. He is the author of many novels and stories and winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for literature. Translated by the author and Dorothea Straus.

2

‘Where should I begin? I was born in a pious home. My parents were old-fashioned Jews, but even when I was still a cheder boy I heard about love. Does one have to look far for it? It’s right in the Torah. Jacob loved Rachel, and when Laban, the cheat, substituted Leah in the dark night Jacob labored another seven years. Well, and what about King David and King Solomon with the Queen of Sheba and all that stuff? Book peddlers used to come to our village and they brought story books—two pennies to buy a book, one penny to borrow it. I was a poor boy, but whenever I could get hold of a penny I spent it on reading. When I came to America and I earned three dollars a week, I spent my last cent on books or on tickets for the Yiddish theater. In those times actors were still actors and not sticks of wood. When they appeared on stage, the boards burned under their feet. I saw all of them! Adler, Mme. Liptzin, Schildkraut, Kessler, Tomashevsky—every one of them. Well, and the playwrights of those times—Goldfaden, Jacob Gordin, Lateiner! Each word had to do with love, and you could have kissed each one. When you read my book you will see that I had no luck in my marriage. I fell for a rotten woman—a bitter piece, a bitch. How she ruined my days and how she set my children against me is all there. As long as I was young and poor I worked in a sweatshop, and then I took to peddling. I had no time for love. I lived in a dark alcove and I couldn’t afford to buy clothes. We worked then fourteen hours a day, and when it was busy even eighteen. When it became slack we had barely a crust to eat. If your stomach is empty you forget above love.

‘I built my first bungalow quite a number of years after I married, and I soon became so successful it was as though Elijah had blessed me. One day I had nothing and the next money poured in from all sides. But I still worked hard, perhaps even harder than ever. No matter how successful a man is, he can slip in no time from the top of the heap to the very bottom. You have to be on the watch every minute. As long as I had a job or carried a pack on my shoulders and peddled, at least I rested on the Sabbath. With prosperity, my Sabbaths too were gone. My wife got wind that I had spare dollar and began to tear pieces off me. We moved from the Lower East Side and took an apartment uptown. The children came one after the other and there were doctors, private schools, and the devil knows what else. My wife—Bessie was her name—bedecked herself with so much jewelry you could hardly see her. She came from petty and mean people, and when these get the smell of money they lose their heads. I was in my later thirties, and I still had not tasted real love. If I had ever loved my wife it was only from Monday to Tuesday. We quarreled constantly, and she threatened me with jail and judges. She kept reminding me that in America a lady is something so special you have to bow to her as though she were an idol. She carried on until I couldn’t look at her any more. When I heard her voice I felt like vomiting. She indulged in all sorts of trickery, but she still expected me to be a husband to her. Impossible! We no longer shared a bedroom. By this time I had an office, and secretly I got a little apartment in one of my buildings. I’m sorry to admit it, but if you hate a wife you’re bound to care less for the children. After Bessie, that fishwife, realized we would never be close again, she began to look for others. She did it so crudely men were afraid to start anything with her. She snatched at their sleeves like Potiphar’s wife. I know what you want to ask me—why didn’t I get a divorce. First of all, in those times to get a divorce you had to jump through hoops, knocking on the doors of the courts and so on. Today you fly to Reno and in six weeks you are as free as a bird. Secondly, she would have set a bunch of shysters on me and they would have fleeced me of my last penny. Besides, one gets a divorce when one is in love with someone else. If no one is waiting for you, why look for more headaches? I had partners in the business, and even though they had good wives they kept company with loose women. Today these women have become fancy call girls, but a whore is a whore. They all did it—the manufacturers, the jobbers, anyone who could pay. For them it was a game. But if these prostitutes were all you had, you realized your misfortune. It happened more than once that I just looked at one of these sluts and lost my appetite. I would give her a few dollars and run away like a yeshiva boy. I would go to a movie and for hours watch the gangsters shooting one another. So the years passed, and I thought that I would never learn what love was. Do you want to hear more?
‘Yes, of course.’
‘This alone would make a book. When you write it, you will know how to embellish it.’
‘Why embellish? As you tell it is good enough.’
‘Well, writers like to embellish.’
(continued)

I love this story. This hilarious portrait of everyday Main Street characters rings as true today as it did when it was first published back then. The basics are the same and how little things change.

Heroic Entrepreneurs

Global heroes
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13216025

Useful links:
www.kauffman.org
www.tie.org
www.howardstevenson.com

Great essay. I think globalisation of entrepreneurship is raising the competitive stakes for everyone. It's good, really.

Surfing For Life

Surfing For Life
www.surfingforlife.com

Surfing for Life is such a positive and uplifting movie that it should be seen by all.

Arab Culture

Arab culture goes stateside
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7929643.stm
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/festivals/08-09/arabesque

Useful link:
www.kennedy-center.org

Extraordinary performances + fresh interpretations. A must visit.

Coral Lab

'Coral lab' offers acidity insight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7939452.stm

Useful links:
www.globalcoral.org
www.biu.ac.il/faculty/finema
www.iui-eilat.ac.il

I think mass coral extinction is possible due to acidification + global warming + lack of action.

The World's Biggest Diamond Heist

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/17-04/ff_diamonds

Useful link:
www.joshuadavis.net

Intriguing story. These things happen.

Chaim Even Zohar Viewpoint

A Banker’s Doublespeak
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Useful links:
www.diamondintelligence.com
www.mine2mistress.com

Spot on.

Sam Palka And David Vishkover

Isaac Bashevis Singer, born in Poland in 1904, emigrated to New York in 1935, when he began writing in Yiddish for the Jewish Daily Forward. He is the author of many novels and stories and winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for literature. Translated by the author and Dorothea Straus.

Sam Palka sat on the sofa—stocky, a tuft of white hair on each side of his bald head, his face red, with bushy brows and bloodshot eyes that changed from pale blue to green to yellow. A cigar stuck out between his lips. His belly protruded like that of a woman in late pregnancy. He wore a navy-blue jacket, green pants, brown shoes, a shirt with purple stripes, and a silk tie on which was painted the head of a lion. Sam Palka himself looked to me like a lion by which by some magic had turned into a rich man in New York, a Maecenas to Yiddish writers, a supporter of the Yiddish theater, president of an old-age home in Bronx, the treasurer of a society that supported orphans in Israel.
Talking to me, Sam Palka shouted as though I were deaf. He lifted a thick manuscript from the coffee table and yelled, ‘Over a thousand pages, huh! And this is not one-hundredth part of what I could have written. But fix it up the way it is.’
‘I will do what I can.
‘Money doesn’t matter. Even if I should live a thousand years, I have enough. I will pay you three thousand dollars for the editing, and when the book comes out and they write about it in the papers I will give you—what do they call it? – a bonus. But make it tasty. I can’t read the books writers bring me—three or four lines of a novel and you have to fight to stay awake. In my day a book grabbed you. You began to read a novel and couldn’t put it down, because you wanted to know what happened. Dieneson, Spector, Seifert! And there were thoughts that took you who knows where. They contained history, too. Samson and Delilah, Jepthah’s daughter, Bar Kochba. They hit the spot. Today you read half a book and you still don’t know what it’s about. These scribblers write of love, but they know as much of love as I know of what’s going on on the moon. How should they know? They sit all day long and half the night in the Café Royal and argue about how great they are. They have sour milk and ink in their veins, not blood. I haven’t forgotten Yiddish. The man I dictated this book to tried to correct me all the time; he didn’t like my Polish Yiddish. But he didn’t bother me. I would dictate an episode and he would ask, ‘How can that be. It’s not realistic.’ He came from Ishishok, some godforsaken village, and to him what he hadn’t experienced didn’t exist—a bookworm, an idiot.

‘Now, I want you to know that even though I dictated over one thousand pages I had to leave out the main thing. I could not describe it because the heroine is alive and she reads. She does one thing in her life—she reads. She has heard of all today’s writers. Wherever a new book can be found, she gets it and reads it from cover to cover. My life wouldn’t be worth living if I were to publish the truth and she should learn about it. What I am going to tell you can be written only after my death. But who is there to do it? You are still a young man, you know your way around, and when I kick the bucket I want you to add this story to the book. Without it the whole thing isn’t worth a damn. I will provide for your additional work in my will.
(continued)

I love this story. This hilarious portrait of everyday Main Street characters rings as true today as it did when it was first published back then. The basics are the same and how little things change.

Wall Street, 1835

Philip Hone (1780-1851) was a New York businessman, Whig leader, member of social and literary societies, and Mayor of the City between 1820 and 1824. After he finished his term of office he kept a diary for the remainder of his life which is an invaluable record of social and political developments in the city in the period leading up to the Civil War.

Wall Street, 1835
October 14. The gambling in stocks in Wall Street has arrived at such a pitch, and the sudden reverses of fortune are so frequent, that it is a matter of everyday intelligence that some unlucky rascal has lost other people’s money to a large amount, and run away, or been caught and consigned to the hands of justice. It is one taken from the mass; there is some swearing among the losers, some regret on the part of the immediate friends of the defaulter, but the chasm on the face of society which his detection and removal occasions is filled up in a day or two. They go to work again to cheat each other, and the catastrophe of Monday is forgotten by Saturday night.

It is every bit as true today as it was back then + a reminder of the constancy of human behavior in the face of temptation.

Management Innovation Survey

The Future of Management
http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/1549g38fd2

Useful links:
http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org
www.managementlab.org
http://blogs.wsj.com/management

Africa Slow Down BBC

BBC teams' report across Africa on the changes being felt on the ground
www.bbcafricaslowdown.com

Chinese Art Market Update

Chinese art waits out the market plunge
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/11/asia/artists.php

Useful links:
www.longmarchspace.com
www.artprice.com
www.f2gallery.com
www.ullens-center.org
www.pacewildenstein.com
www.798space.com
www.acquavellagalleries.com
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk

In the future, the market will recover. That's what dealers are saying about the state of the art market. I hope they are right.

South India Jewelry Show 2009

The third edition of South India Jewellery Show will be held at the Lalit Grand Ashoka hotel in Bangalore, March 14 - 16, 2009.

Useful links:
www.sijs.in
www.gjf.in
www.gold.org
www.jewellersassociation.org.in
www.ficci.com

Pearl Market Dubai

According to Statistics Department of Dubai World the value of the loose pearl trade in Dubai grew from AED 22 million in 2007 to over AED 95 million during 2008 representing a total year-on-year growth of 324%. That's a significant growth curve!

Useful links:
www.dubaiworld.ae
www.dpe.ae
www.dmcc.ae

Top Tips From Africa's Entrepreneurs

Top tips from Africa's entrepreneurs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7934763.stm

Interesting insights. It is important to say to yourself - I am as good as the other person. If that person can do it, then so can I.

Huge Pearl Farm

Saudis plan $200m pearl farm, fuel plant in WA
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=129133

Useful links:
www.williecreekpearls.com.au
www.fish.wa.gov.au

It’s a really significant project. Pearls + tourism.

Mandalay Gem Market

Chinese Traders Scooping Up Mandalay Gems, Precious Stones
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=15230

The Mandalay gem market includes jade, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones that come from six areas of Burma: Mogok in Mandalay Division; Mongshu in Shan State; Khamti in Sagaing Division; and Moe-Nyin, Hpakant and Namya in Kachin State.

Useful links:
www.myawaddytrade.com
http://myanmarrubyenterprise.com

Emerald Market Update

Emeralds: Market Effect of Origin & Treatments, Pricing & Disclosure
http://www.gemguide.com/news/AGTAMar2009.html

Useful links:
www.gemguide.com
www.agta.org

Gemologists and gem dealers should take note of the interpretations on treatments and pricing of emeralds by the experts.

The 50 People

Future of Capitalism: 50 people who will frame the debate
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f6f08da-0d7d-11de-8914-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Useful link:
www.group30.org

Influential/Impressive line-up.

Art Fair

The Way an Art Fair should be
http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/fountain-river

Useful links:
www.leokesting.com
www.thearmoryshow.com
http://fountainexhibit.com/blog
www.mccaigwelles.com
www.suckerchump.com
www.selftaughtart.org.nz
www.donnacleary.net
www.faile.net
www.elbow-toe.com
www.howlingprint.com
www.chrisstain.com
www.deitch.com
www.switchbacksea.org
www.berkoy.com
www.experimentaltvcenter.org
http://dianedwyer.com

Great essay.

Gold Disposal

How to Make a Killing in Gold Disposal Without Killing Your Conscience or Your Customers
http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/mar09/gold-fever.cfm

Interesting perspective. Gold is the life blood of the jewelry industry.

Art Update

France's Artistic Mettle in Metal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123663508450676221.html

Useful link:
www.metmuseum.org

Outstanding works of art. A must visit.

Nouriel Roubini Viewpoint

Economist Nouriel Roubini's viewpoint
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1882729,00.html

Useful link:
www.rgemonitor.com

Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Luc Besson

Luc Besson's Growing Film Empire
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2009/gb2009039_713997.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_global+business

Useful links:
www.luc-besson.com
www.europacorp.com
www.europacorp-corporate.com

It's the chemistry of the moment. How true!

Top 10 Graphic Novels 2009

Top 10 Graphic Novels 2009
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1883296_1883291,00.html

Useful links:
www.neilgaiman.com
www.barclayagency.com/spiegelman.html
www.tintin.com
www.alanmooreinterview.co.uk
www.alanmoorefansite.com
www.dykestowatchoutfor.com

Great review.

Wallace Chan

Meet gemstone and jewelry artist Wallace Chan
www.wallace-chan.com

His designs are innovative + stunningly beautiful.

Open House Day

The South Australia Chamber of Minerals and Energy runs a uranium open day with the hard-to-resist promise: 'See radioactivity with your own eyes'. Check out the link www.resourcessa.org.au

Janice Dorn Viewpoint

Dorn: Three Simple Trading Lessons
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29595027

Useful links:
www.thetradingdoctor.com
www.ingenieux.com

Inspiring essay. Thank you Janice.

Photo-Morphosis

Model-morphosis Christian Dior
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/model-morphosis

Useful link:
www.kesslerstudio.com

Amazing transformation. Brilliant photography. Layers of meaning.

Bill Cunningham Viewpoint

On the Street Slush Fun
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/07/fashion/20090308-substreet-feature/index.html#

Brilliant commentary. Thank you Bill.

The Extraordinary World Of Ants

Six legs good
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/09/ants-nature-research
http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/research/behavior/AntLab/index.htm

Useful links:
www.eowilson.org
www.bio.bris.ac.uk

Great essay. I loved it. Thank you Alok.

William Shakespeare Portrait

Original Bard portrait unveiled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7932901.stm

Useful links:
www.shakespeare.org.uk
www.npg.org.uk

This is a very fine painting indeed.

Random Thoughts

The economy will be in shambles throughout 2009 — and, for that matter, probably well beyond — but that conclusion does not tell us whether the stock market will rise or fall.

- Warren Buffett
www.berkshirehathaway.com

Spot on.

Film-Like 3-D Images

Film-Like 3-D Images via Ray-tracing = Caustic Graphics
www.caustic.com

Mae Sot Gem Trade

Trying to get its sparkle back
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/12909/trying-to-get-its-sparkle-back

The market is teeming with Thais and foreigners shopping for gemstones at shops on both sides of Prasatvithi road in downtown Mae Sot. There are also a lot of gem brokers hired to buy and sell gemstones for profit on behalf of others. The brokers include Thais, Burmese and Nepalese. Gemstones on the market include uncut lumps of stone varying in size and price. The Rim Moei gem market in Mae Sot is also popular among shoppers and tourists. It is located near the Thai-Burmese Bridge in Ban Rim Moei in Tambon Sai Luad. The gem trade in Mae Sot is also linked to trade in Mae Sai in Chiang Rai and Chanthaburi. Many gem traders from Chanthaburi have moved and now run gem businesses in Mae Sot.
- Supamart Kasem, Bangkok Post

The gem markets in Bangkok, Chantaburi, Mae Sot are very quiet. Customers are very few and many are going out of business due to economic crisis.

The Institute For Large Scale Innovation

The Institute for Large Scale Innovation = Deloitte + John Kao Project
www.largescaleinnovation.org

Kerala's Gold Rush

Kerala is Gold’s Country: World's No.1 gold jeweller
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Kerala-is-Gold’s-Country-Worlds-No1-gold-jeweller-15835-3-1.html

Useful links:
http://kalyansarees.co.in
www.houseofalapatt.com
www.tbztheoriginal.com
www.ageeripai.com
www.bhimajewellery.com
www.alukkas.com
www.francisalukkas.com
www.malabargoldindia.com
www.joscogroup.com
www.goldsoukindia.com

I completely agree. Keralites are addicted to gold/jewelry + gold rules.

Inconvenient Truths

Inconvenient Truths
http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2640

Useful links:
www.petgo.de
www.jmberlin.de
www.lootedart.com
www.english.imjnet.org.il

Interesting info. Thanks Robin.

Random Thoughts

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.

- William Penn
www.williampenn.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Penn

Spot on.

Artist As An Avatar

Portrait of an Artist as an Avatar
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/magazine/08fluno-t.html?_r=1

Useful links:
www.jeffreylipskyarts.com
www.secondlife.com
http://minskyreport.com
www.filthyfluno.blogspot.com

Great review. Hats off to Jeffrey Lipsky.

Fespaco Film Awards 2009

Delights of Africa's chaotic film festival
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7931321.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/2009/02/000000_fespaco2009.shtml

Useful link:
www.fespaco.bf

It's Africa's answer to the Oscars.

Amrapali

Amrapali = ethnic/contemporary Indian jewelry = conversation jewelry
www.amrapalijewels.com

Green Union

Style/Sustainable Celebrations = Green Union
www.greenunion.co.uk

Best advice: Be conscious of consumption. Become aware of your carbon footprint and make changes in your lifestyle. Practice.

Gold In The Closet

Cash In A Mattress? No, Gold In The Closet.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188138

On the day I held the gold bar in my hand, it was worth nearly $100,000. My companion—an established, accomplished, affluent businessman of retirement age—had bought it as a hedge against the sinking Dow and his fear that Obama's stimulus package will inevitably trigger wild inflation. We had picked it up in the basement of an HSBC bank branch in midtown Manhattan. When I handed it back to him, he put it in his briefcase. We went upstairs, past guards, through metal doors. Out on the street, we said goodbye and I watched him go, a tall, thin man carrying a $100,000 briefcase. He doesn't want me to tell you his name—or, really, anything about him—because he's keeping the gold in a safe in his basement. His friends, he says, are doing the same thing.
- Lisa Miller

Useful links:
www.thegartmanletter.com
www.gold.org
www.apmex.com
www.dailyreckoning.com
www.monex.com
www.1stfederalcoin.com
www.amnumsoc.org
www.kitco.com
http://goldmoney.com

People are buying/hoarding gold in case the unimaginable happens. It's a state of mind. Old habits die hard.

Greg McCoach Viewpoint

Greg McCoach: Gold — $2,000/oz. by Year’s End?
http://www.theaureport.com/pub/na/2318

Useful links:
www.miningspeculator.com
www.theaureport.com

Interesting perspective. Gold has already become headline news with real opportunities and big returns. I think the gold honeymoon will become a learning situation for many.

Larry Gagosian

Pulling Art Sales Out of Thinning Air
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/business/08larry.html

Mr. Gagosian, in short, is a one-man Nasdaq, an exchange where he helps set the price, not to mention the size of his commission. Unlike an actual stock exchange, though, this one is always open for business, and when it doesn’t get expected trades, it gets loud and profane. Mr. Gagosian has been known to pepper art consultants contemplating the terms of a deal with 20 calls in a single day, and if the answer isn’t the one he wants, you’re advised to keep the children away from the phone.
- David Segal

Useful link:
www.gagosian.com

The curious story of Larry Gagosian was interesting. Thank you David.

Johan van der Dong Project

Dutch leave messages on God phone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7929799.stm

Useful links:
www.johanvanderdong.nl
www.radionetherlands.nl

Brave new art project, really. I hope Johan van der Dong isn't misunderstood.

Creativity + Art

A New Creativity?
http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2641

I’d say the bohemian fantasy is sweet and sentimental, but rather insulting to artists. In my experience, artists do what they do, market or no market. During the ‘80s boom, terrific work was being made by artists who barely got the time of day, and some of them were artists we simply started to look at in the ‘90s as the dust settled from the crash. That will happen again.
- Christopher Knight, Art critic, Los Angeles Times

You sometimes need five to seven years to learn your craft, to pull it together, and you live off the crumbs of a vigorous market. When the market closes down, the crumbs disappear and a lot of artists are pretty much destroyed or really seriously hampered.
- Alex Katz

Useful links:
www.alexkatz.com
www.vmfa.state.va.us
www.moca-la.org
www.performa-arts.org
www.lacma.org
www.galerielelong.com
www.bard.edu/ccs
www.tate.org.uk
www.ps1.org
www.queensmuseum.org
www.sfmoma.org
www.aldrichart.org
www.schoolofvisualarts.edu
www.newmuseum.org
www.labiennale.org
www.philamuseum.org
http://art.yale.edu
www.mocanomi.org

Spot on. I think 2009 = 1989 + the boom/bust cycle will continue forever. Ann, Thank you for the insightful article.

Where Are The Customers' Yachts?

Where Are the Customers' Yachts? or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street by Fred Schwed is a delightful classic + provides breezy and funny 1940 perspective on investing. A must read.

Small Business Podcasts 2009

100 Best Small Business Podcasts 2009
http://www.smbtrendwire.com/2009/02/16/100-best-small-business-podcasts-2009

Useful links:
http://smallbiztrends.com
http://anitacampbell.com

Inspiring. Anita, Thank you.

Graphic Books Update

Introducing The New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller Lists
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/introducing-the-new-york-times-graphic-books-best-seller-lists

Useful link:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com

Random Thoughts

The burnt customer certainly prefers to believe that he has been robbed rather than that he has been a fool on the advice of fools.

- Fred Schwed
Author, Where Are the Customers' Yachts?

Spot on.

Art Market Update

Landmark Paris sale raises major issues for dealers and Drouot
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/06/arts/melik7.php
http://www.iht.com/indexes/special/melikian/index.php

For more than two decades, gallery attendance has been relentlessly shrinking. Strolling around a city in search of art is no longer the pleasurable pastime it used to be in major Western capitals, plagued by pollution and noise, and the rewards are scarcer. At the same time, connoisseurship recedes because the best experts are only as good as the sum total of objects on which they have trained their eyes. Rather than visiting galleries, inexperienced buyers prefer auctions, which they find less intimidating. Add the illusion that public competition guarantees a fair price, and that explains why dealers have seen the number of visitors dwindle.
- Souren Melikian

Useful links:
www.pba-auctions.com
www.sothebys.com
www.tefaf.com
www.drouot.com
www.christies.com

Great review.

Reading Books

I love books. They not only enlighten you but also connects the dots.

Useful links:
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
www.gutenberg.org
www.bartleby.com
www.bookbrowse.com
www.childrenslibrary.org
www.dailylit.com
www.dearreader.com
www.librarything.com

India's Rural Jewelry Market

India’s $9.6 Billion Rural Jewelry Market
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullMazalUbracha.asp?id=32005

Useful links:
www.gold.org
www.titanindustries.in
www.harikrishnagroup.com
www.ciemmejewels.com
www.gjepc.org

India’s rural markets are growing and the report on the state of the jewelry landscape in rural India was insightful. The market is wide open for smart and innovative players.

How to Buy Art In 2009

How to Buy in 2009
http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2642

I’ve always felt that the art market marches to a different drummer than financial markets. People who are really interested in art are a little bit like smokers. You just can’t give it up. It becomes intrinsic to your life and you go and delve into resources that you might not have thought you had to continue collecting.
- Raymond J. Learsy

As painful as this contraction is, it’s a welcome time for the art market because the inflationary conditions in the market in the last few years have seen their final days. I welcome that. Collectors welcome it. The speculation, at least for the moment, has seen its demise. We have moved away from appreciating the language of art toward treating art as a commodity, and as long as you treat it that way you lose the value of the language. I think we will also see better art produced. I think in times like these artists will spend more time considering the art they are creating, instead of being driven to produce art for the marketplace. Artists in many cases have spread themselves very thinly over the last decade.
- Roland Augustine

Useful links:
www.mfa.org
www.acquavellagalleries.com
www.sothebys.com
www.christies.com
www.phillipsdepury.com
www.waddington-galleries.com
www.luhringaugustine.com
www.artdealers.org
www.rubellfamilycollection.com
www.artbaselmiamibeach.com
www.marlboroughgallery.com
www.miandn.com
www.winkleman.com
www.metmuseum.org

Spot on. It's correction in full swing. Prices have to adjust to invite people back in. Thanks Milton for the insightful article.

Shapes

Shapes: Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts by Philip Ball is a brilliant book that examines possible causes of the shapes and forms (physical, chemical and evolutionary processes) we observe in nature. A must read.

Useful link:

www.philipball.com

Jeff Koons Project

What Recession? Jeff Koons' $25M Sculpture Forges Ahead
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/jeff-koonss-25-million-sculpture-goes-forward

Useful links:
www.jeffkoons.com
www.carlsonandco.com

Koons is one-of-a-kind neo-pop artist and he has been survivor all along.

Nespresso

What is Nespresso? Perplexed?
Click www.nespresso.com

This brand has a cult-like following. It's very elegant and easy to use.

Baibakova Art Project

Maria Baibakova's Art Project
http://baibakovartprojects.com

A must visit.

The Pyrite Effect

Swedish Solar Car Runs on Fool's Gold
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/quantum-mechani.html

Useful links:
www.koenigsegg.com
www.nlv-solar.com

Interesting info on the photovoltaic properties of Pyrite (also known as fool's gold) in solar technology.

Chaim Ever Zohar Viewpoint

The Return of the Industry Custodian
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Useful links:
www.diamondintelligence.com
www.debeersgroup.com

Spot on.

Sony World Photography Awards 2009

Sony World Photography Awards 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/feb/25/sony-photography-natural-history?picture=343786634

Useful link:
www.worldphotographyawards.org

Stunningly beautiful/immersive, really.

Heard On The Street

There is shock, anger, fear, hurt, defensiveness, blame + raw fear again on Main Street.

A Social Solution

A Social Solution, Without Going the Nonprofit Route
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/business/smallbusiness/05sbiz.html?_r=1&8dpc
http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/global-x/archive/2007/08/07/sam-goldman

We could have done it as a nonprofit over a hundred years, but if we wanted to do it in five or 10 years, then we believed it needed to be fueled by profit. That’s the way to grow.
- Sam Goldman, D.Light

We came from a strong business background and we developed a business plan. By doing that, we discovered that we were offering something that no one else was offering. We got our first client even before we incorporated and within a few hours we had to form a company to be able to put together a contract. It was just easy to form an S corporation. In this nation, we equate success with profit. We wanted to be profitable while also doing something that was right and giving back to the community.
- Conchy Bretos, MIA Consulting Group

Useful links:
www.socialedge.org
http://socialcapitalmarkets.net
www.goodcap.net
www.miaconsulting.com

I completely agree. I think businesses should be good stewards of the environment and society.

Jewelry Information Center Update

The Jewelry Information Center is providing free marketing materials for its members (Jewelers of America/JIC members) to inspire/drive reluctant customers into retail stores even in tough times. Great initiative, really. Want to know more? Check out the link www.jic.org

Diamond Exchange Canada

The Diamond Bourse of Canada has been set up by 10 founding members, in Toronto on March 3, 2009 to facilitate/promote Canadian diamonds, both rough and polished, to the local and Northern American markets. Great initiative. I wish them all the best.

Useful links:
www.diamondbourse.ca
www.wfdb.com
www.canadianjewellers.com
www.gov.nt.ca

Luke Johnson Viewpoint

The hot money is in live performance
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e771af6-0813-11de-8a33-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Be they music, comedy, literature or theatre, stage shows of all varieties seem to be in decent health, considering the overall state of discretionary spending. In spite of the ubiquity of video and music online, audiences still appreciate the experience of being there in person – witnessing an artistic happening in the flesh – and are willing to pay for the privilege.
- Luke Johnson

Useful links:
www.lukejohnson.org
www.riskcapitalpartners.co.uk

Spot on. I-was-there effect is immersive and many go the extra mile to experience it, even in hard times. I have done it.

Jeffrey Milstein

Meet Jeffrey Milstein. His photographs are exhibited and collected throughout the United States and Europe.

Useful link:
www.jeffreymilstein.com

Once Valued, Now Unwanted

OC's rich rush to cash in on gold
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7920895.stm

Interesting story. Gold parties = Easy liquidity. Amazing.

Penny Newman

The numbers game
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/04/penny-newman-fifteen-foundation

Useful links:
www.fifteen.net
www.ccaej.org
www.cafedirect.co.uk
www.socialfinance.org.uk

Great interview. Inspiring, really.

Charles Darwin + Natural Science + Visual Arts

Tracing Darwin's impact on visual arts
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/03/arts/darwin.php

Useful links:
http://ycba.yale.edu
www.peabody.yale.edu
www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk
www.nga.gov

Remarkable exhibition, really.

College Campuses = Affordable Travel Destinations

College Campuses as Affordable Travel Destinations
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/travel/01journeys-1.html?8dpc

Useful links:
www.yale.edu/visitor
www.yale.edu/ycba
www.artgallery.yale.edu
www.library.yale.edu/rsc/sml
www.library.yale.edu/beinecke
www.studyhotels.com

Great idea. I liked it. It's living in the moment, really.

Coral Reinterpreted

Coral Reinterpreted
http://www.tooprecioustowear.org/_storage/0_CoralReinterpretedRelease2009_02_23.pdf

Useful links:
www.seaweb.org
www.tooprecioustowear.org
www.charitybuzz.com
www.tiffanyandcofoundation.org
http://kingfisherfoundation.org
http://nmsfocean.org
www.oceanfdn.org
www.cites.org
www.livingoceansfoundation.org

I completely agree. There are numerous alternatives to real coral, and jewelry designers should educate consumers via their works-of-art the need to protect corals from extinction.

Once In A Blue Moon Collection

Argyle Diamond Mine is to showcase its rare blue diamonds via Once in a Blue Moon collection comprising premium/commercial diamonds featuring single cuts/matching pairs + a selection of smaller diamonds. Bids close on April 8, 2009.

Useful links:
www.argylediamonds.com.au
www.riotinto.com
www.argylepinktender.com

I think the rare blue diamond collection will definitely attract a lot of attention worldwide because of its rarity.

Plus Belle La Vie

Plus Belle la Vie = Life Is So Sweet
http://plus-belle-la-vie.france3.fr
www.plusbellelavie.org

Tune in to follow the fates of various families in the multicultural confusion of Marseille, France’s second largest city. Great story.

Global Business BBC

The Cisco Kid
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/global_business.shtml

Useful link:
www.cisco.com

Great interview. I loved it. Thank you Peter.

Broadway Musicals

Part 1: The Economics, the Talent and the Audience
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/answers-about-broadway-part-1

Part 2: The Best, the Overrated and the Overlooked
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/answers-about-broadway-part-2

Part 3: The Future
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/answers-about-broadway-part-3

Useful link:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com

Great interview.

Random Thoughts

We ask a lot of questions about what can go wrong, at both a portfolio and individual-stock level. That’s consistent with our philosophy that if we’re able to limit losses, the gains will take care of themselves. This is hard for young analysts out of school to understand – they’re trained to look almost exclusively at upside potential.

- Charles de Vaulx
www.ivafunds.com
www.valueinvestorinsight.com

Spot on.

Tracking Location

A Trillion Points of Data
http://www.newsweek.com/id/186970

Our cell phones have become the neurons in an emerging—and truly global—nervous system.
- Professor Sandy Pentland, MIT Media Lab

Useful links:
www.media.mit.edu
www.forrester.com
www.inrix.com
www.sensenetworks.com
www.mapquest.com

Mobile technology = The next frontier. Thank you Barrett.

De Beers Diamond Jewellers

De Beers Diamond Jewellers 2008 Report
http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=25546

Useful links:
www.debeers.com
www.lvmh.com
www.dtc.com
www.adiamondisforever.com
www.diamdel.com
www.brides.com
www.theweddingreport.com

The bridal market is amazingly resilient. People are always going to get married. I don't think the current crisis is having any impact in the wedding industry because getting married is one of the biggest days of people's lives.

Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds

Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds
http://www.pacweb.org/e/images/stories/documents/18_zimbabwe-diamonds_march09-eng.pdf

Useful link:
www.pacweb.org

If diamonds are mined violently, there is nothing clean about it, really.

Art Review

Bull for a night
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13209598

It’s the funeral of my collection. Everyone would like to attend their own funeral, but it’s impossible. This is the closest thing.
- Pierre Bergé

Art market functions well by its own rules.
- François Curiel

Useful links:
www.christies.com
www.pba-auctions.com
www.waficsaid.com
www.musee-orsay.fr
www.cnac-gp.fr
www.moma.org
www.louvre.fr
www.musee-renaissance.fr
www.metmuseum.org
www.guggenheim.org

Mediatised artworks does sell well. It was an invigorating auction with play of words and action.

Escaping The Rat Race

How I fled the suburbs for the hills of Tuscany
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/mar/01/working-abroad

Useful links:
www.artistinitaly.com
www.tuscanyandumbria.typepad.com
www.whalewatchwestcork.com
www.snowmotions.com
www.rosalieforest.com
www.travellersrestoldchurchdevon.co.uk

It's one thing to have a dream, another to have the chance to achieve it, but quite a different thing to sell that dream to other people. I think life is work in progress anyway. Inspiring + Great life experiences, really.

Uruguay's Arty Gems

Can art save Uruguay's gem mines?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7899713.stm

Useful links:
http://artigasstones.en.ecplaza.net
www.dinamige.gub.uy

Amethyst sculptures are precious stones and they shouldn't be perceived as ornamental products.

Natural World Designs

Wild Things
http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/mar09/jewelry-naturalism.cfm

Useful links:
www.kbrunini.com
www.annaruthhenriques.com
www.stephenwebster.com
www.levian.com
www.ericacourtney.com
www.nafcogems.com
www.crevoshay.com

The focus on natural elements via jewelry was stunningly beautiful + colored stones were the perfect choice to breathe life into these breathtaking creations. Thank you Deborah for the insightful article.

About J

About J
http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=25522

Useful link:
www.aboutjevent.it

It's really amazing to see people buying luxury jewelry to commemorate weddings and other special occasions despite the financial crisis.

Heard On The Street

You have to go back to go forward.

New Mobile Mapping Technology

Mapping a New, Mobile Internet
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_10/b4122042889229.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

Useful links:
www.sensenetworks.com
www.citysense.com
www.rim.com
www.skyhookwireless.com
www.onstar.com

The new data collection of people's movements and behavior via sophisticated technology is innovative, interesting and may be good for business, but the privacy impact will always be an issue. Where do you draw the line? Only time will tell.