Luck: The Essential Guide

Luck: The Essential Guide by Deborah Aaronson + Kevin Kwan is an interesting book on luck, from historical tidbits to more practical tips.

Useful links:
www.societyforfortuitousevents.com
www.theluckguide.com

Michael Specter

Michael Specter is an American journalist who has been a staff writer, focusing on science and technology, at The New Yorker since September 1998. Francesco Vezzoli talks with Michael Specter about cinema, kitsch, celebrity, and democracy @ http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/vezzoli

Useful links:
www.michaelspecter.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKgbO-E_xss

I think Franceso Vezzoli was brilliant!

BIS Standards For Diamonds

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has recently published details of the new Indian Standard (IS) for polished diamonds. The IS – 15766 code covers both classification and testing methods.

Useful link:
www.bis.org.in

I think regulation in the diamond grading sector in India is essential because those consumers in the smaller cities and towns have no knowledge or expertise recognizing international labs and their standards. I hope the BIS Hallmark will prevail.

Prettified Labradorite

I always had my doubts about the new-find labradorite, and now David Federman explains the gemological facts in detail @ http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/may08/sunstone.cfm

A must-read. I think David Federman was spot on.

Jewelers Row

Visit Bangkok, Bombay, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, Antwerp, Amsterdam etc, it makes an interesting study in the economics of marketing to visit the collection of dozens of jeweler shops all crowded into a couple of blocks. Why?

Read this blog @ http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/1071.htm

It must be pretty boring to sit all day every day in a little shop that makes one or two sales a week, except at special holidays. One jeweler I know has a portable computer under the counter and spends a lot of time day-trading , which is buying stocks in the morning and selling them in the afternoon. Although competition in the district goes well beyond vigorous, there is an active fraternity of jewelers in the area, steering customers to each other when they don't have a requested item themselves, eating lunch at one of the local bistros, exchanging gossip of the trade, carefully observing the traffic up and down the sidewalks. And then, you can always have your wife, daughter or neighbor sit on a high stool in front of the counter. Trying on jewelry.

How true!

Surrealist Manifesto

(via Wiki) Two Surrealist Manifestos were issued by the Surrealist movement, in 1924 and 1929, respectively. The first Surrealist manifesto was written by the French writer André Breton in 1924 and released to the public 1925.

The document defines Surrealism as:
Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.

The second manifesto written in 1929 Breton asked Surrealists to assess their 'degree of moral competence', and along with other theoretical refinements issued the Second manifeste du surréalisme.

Useful links:
http://www.screensite.org/courses/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htm
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2281350,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealist_Manifesto

After intense bidding war @ Sotheby's Paris auction house, the nine manuscripts were eventually acquired by Gérard Lhéritier, a noted collector and the founder of the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris, for a total of €3.6m (£2.9m).
www.sothebys.com

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) started as an idea...today big firms are called upon to be good corporate citizens, and they all want to show that they are.....
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10491077

Useful links:
www.corporatephilanthropy.org
www.unglobalcompact.org
www.mckinseyquarterly.com
www.bcccc.net

Heard On The Street

Good people can set their own price tag, and they want jam tomorrow, not in five years.

The Alchemist

(via Newyorker) Harvey Weinstein will produce a movie version of the novel 'The Alchemist,' by Paulo Coelho, directed by and starring Laurence Fishburne. At a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Weinstein said that film adaptations of best-sellers—'pre-sold commodities'—were safer box-office bets.

Useful links:
www.weinsteinco.com
www.paulocoelho.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaybo46kMC8

I liked the book. Paul Coelho is awesome. I love his work.

Art + ASCII

Art and ASCII is intriguing, in fact, I liked it. Detailed review @
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/multimedia/2008/05/mf_hiroyuki_ss?

Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII_art
www.2ch.net (thought to be the largest Internet forum in the world)
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-06/mf_usfans

The Coffee Trader

The Coffee Trader by David Liss is a brilliant historical thriller. I found myself drinking more coffee than usual while reading this novel.

Useful link:
www.davidliss.com

Transparency In The Colored Gemstone Trade?

I found the article titled, Transparency In The Colored Gemstone Trade? interesting because the trade has been so different and secretive for so long, they abhor the thought of transparency and accountability. The colored stone market has no market control. The routes followed by colored stones to the marketplace are tortuous + far more individuals are involved, each with their own interests.

Useful links:
www.fairjewelry.org
www.madisondialogue.org
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0804.frank.html

The Pixar Touch

The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company by David A. Price is a story of technical innovation that revolutionized animation, transforming hand-drawn cel animation to computer-generated 3-D graphics. I think it's an excellent book on a successful entrepreneurial venture. A must-read.

Useful link:
www.pixar.com

Brainstorm Exchange

I found Brainstorm Exchange interesting + I saw it as a unique platform for ideas and solutions. I liked it.

Useful link:
www.brainstormexchange.com

Mobile Marketing Handbook

The Mobile Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaigns by Kim Dushinski is an interesting book on the new trend in business.

Useful links:
http://kimdushinski.com
www.mobilemarketingprofits.com

Eurovision

(via Wiki) The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. Each country participates via one of their national EBU-member television stations, whose task it is to select a singer and a song to represent their country in the international competition. The Contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally.

Useful links:
www.eurovision.tv
www.ebu.ch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest

What interests me is the special skills performing artists display to sway audiences + their ability to read the house and tune their message to engage listeners. I am always amazed watching the magic combination.

Art + Architecture

David Adjaye is a British architect, who makes buildings as if they were conceptual artworks. There is a certain quality in his work that I like, it becomes an emotional incubator, morphs into new fusions.

Useful links:
www.adjaye.com
http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/adjaye

Business Leader = Performance Artist

The article titled, What Rock Stars Can Teach Leaders @ http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2008/ca20080515_689576.htm was brilliant and insightful.

Useful link:
www.accenture.com

It's all about practising = rehearsing = performing, it's amazing, it works. I think listening deeply, testing for understanding, and inspiring others = ultimate goal.

Gold Toothpick, Etc

Experts have found a tiny gold combined toothpick and earwax spoon, believed to be more than 385 years old, during the search for a shipwrecked Spanish galleon off the Florida Keys.

Useful links:
www.bluewaterventureskw.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_on_sc/florida_artifacts

I think the thrill of discovery is always exciting + it's definitely underwater detetive work. Good story with a happy ending.

The Simpsons

(via Wiki) The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical parody of the middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its titular family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield, and it lampoons many aspects of the human condition, as well as American culture, society as a whole, and television itself.

Useful links:
www.thesimpsons.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697
http://www.simpsonsmovie.com

I think The Simpsons is one of the greatest sitcom ever made because it does everything (playful, subversive, funny, intelligent, joyful, etc.), with animated characters. I love it.