Random Thoughts

After several failures, I finally remembered some advice I once got from a golf pro: 'Practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes permanent.' Therefore I received my strategy and tried to buy good business at fair prices rather than fair business at good prices.

- Warren Buffett

How To Detect Art Forgeries

The Economist article on art forgeries + new technological advancements in detection and profiling + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/science/tm/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11877571 was brilliant. A must read.

Useful links:
www.ieee.org
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~wangz/home
www.kmm.nl
http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl

Giant Kites = Renewable Energy

Alok Jha's article on sourcing renewable energy via giant kites + the experimental versions by researchers in Europe/USA @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/03/renewableenergy.energy was interesting and insightful. Who would have thought that childhood pastime of flying kites would become a potential source for renewable energy!

Useful links:
www.makanipower.com
www.bwea.com
www.foe.co.uk
www.lr.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=8d16d19a-e942-45aa-9b52-48deb9312e92&lang=en

The World's Best Airport

According to an annual survey conducted by Skytrax, a U.K-based consultancy, the Hong Kong International Airport (www.hongkongairport.com) was named the world's best for the seventh year.

Congratulations!

Go to www.skytraxresearch.com for further information.

Imitation Jewelry Update

We are seeing a new trend in the jewelry market in India. Price-sensitive rural and middle classes are opting for imitation jewelry, and the market has grown considerably over the years. The choices are there + designs and prices are beautiful and sweet. Thanks to soaring gold prices. Signs of the time, I guess.

Useful link:
www.rangeelaexports.com

Edinburgh Festival

(via Wiki) Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for several simultaneous arts and cultural festivals which take place during August each year in Edinburgh, Scotland. These festivals are arranged by a number of formally unrelated organizations, meaning there is no single event officially termed the Edinburgh Festival.

Useful link:
www.eif.co.uk

A must visit.

Kimberley Process Update

The Kimberley Process has released 2007 statistical data on diamond output, exports and imports. Go to www.kimberleyprocess.com for further information.

Sustainable Energy Solutions: Theory + Practice

Ad van Wijk is the Founder/Chairman of Econcern, an international energy company providing solutions for renewable energy/sustainable energy via solar energy, wind energy, bioenergy.

Ormat is an interesting Israeli company run by husband and wife (Lucien/ Dita Bronicki) dedicated to engineering geo-thermal energy plants and producing power from them, in several parts of the world.

Useful links:
www.econcern.com
www.ormat.com

What's interesting is that both companies are finding ways of creating sustainable energy solutions and putting them in to practice.

Pearl Testing: Analytical Methods

Pearl testing at times can be very difficult. Experts use a combination of different methods for positive identification. For instance freshwater pearls typically may contain high concentration of manganese, and the high manganese concentration in the specimens can be detected by trace element analysis (Laser Ablation ICP-MS) or by X-ray luminescence methods, which may also help differentiate between freshwater and marine pearls. Provenance determination in a pearl can be achieved by Laser Ablation ICP-MS. Infrared/Raman spectroscopy can also be used to identify modifications of calcium carbonate in pearls to identify the origin of pearl color + naturally colored Tahiti cultured pearls and naturally colored freshwater cultured pearls can be distinguished from their artificially dyed counterparts by Raman spectroscopy. Natural pearls can be differentiated from cultured pearls by different X-radiography tests that reveal the internal structures from a manufactured nucleus. Several radiograms may have to be taken to study varying depths within the pearl's internal growth structures to create a profile. It's not always easy. Lately the application of tabletop X-ray tomograms have improved pearl testing dramatically.

Signs Of The Time

I reread David Owen's article 'My Airline' (Shouts & Murmurs column in the New Yorker). For a unique airplane experience go to http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/07/07/080707sh_shouts_owen to read the full text. Funny + Sad.

Endeavor

Endeavor, a non-profit group based in New York, is dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship in emerging economies. I think Endeavor is changing/redefining the concept of entrepreneurship in emerging economies of the world.

Useful link:
www.endeavor.org

David Galenson

Patricia Cohen's article on David Galenson + the quantitative methodology/valuation in the art field + other viewpoints @ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/arts/design/04pica.html?_r=1&oref=slogin was brilliant.

Useful link:
www.davidgalenson.com

In my view ranking artworks is a good idea. If the experts are able to simplify the valuation methodology, then I think it might work. Many in the industry believe that art markets are speculative/manipulative. You have got to be an insider or knowledgeable to understand the whole business.

Synchrotron Light

Synchrotron light is used in cutting-edge research in physics, chemistry and materials sciences + many new areas of research in fields such as medicine, geological and environmental studies, structural genomics and archaeology. The experts are now in the process of developing the so-called fourth generation light sources.

Useful links:
www.desy.de
www.xfel.eu
www.scitech.ac.uk
www.cockcroft.ac.uk
www.srs.ac.uk
www.isis.rl.ac.uk

Baalbeck International Festival

(via Wiki) The Baalbeck International Festival is the oldest and most known cultural event in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. Since 1955, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have flocked to the city of Baalbeck in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon to attend the annual festival. Classical music, dance, theater, opera, and jazz as well as modern world music are performed each July and August in the ancient Roman Acropolis, one of the largest and well preserved Roman temples ever built.

Useful link:
www.baalbeck.org.lb

A must visit. I think the festival is a sign of hope.

Vestas

Denmark is a world leader in wind energy, and produces more than 10% of its power from turbines. The story of Vestas, a homegrown wind company, is impressive.

Go to www.vestas.com for further information.

Clear air + Green living.

Pearl Harvesting In UAE

I found the video on pearl harvesting in the UAE + the pearl trade @ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080731-pearls-video-ap.html interesting.

Colored Stone Market Update

Gem quality emeralds has been found near the town of Lages, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in Brazil. Gem dealers believe it's a new source. The most frequently seen imitations are glass or assembled stones in the gem market. If in doubt, consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.

John Scharffenberger

I found Peter Kaminsky's story on cacao farmers in the rain forest of Guatemala + John Scharffenberger's gift to the cacao farmers + the bountiful ecosystem + the chocolate marketplace @ http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/12749?pageNumber=1&page=0 interesting and insightful.

A must read.

Useful link:
www.scharffenberger.com

Without the rain forest, there would be no cacao; and without cacao, there would be no chocolate; and without chocolate, life would be much less pleasant.
- John Scharffenberger

Random Thoughts

I think as long as there are risks, there will be losses. If the day ever comes when there are no risks, there will also be no profits.

- Robert Rubin

How true!

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

(via Wiki) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist, dramatist and historian. Through his writings, he made the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet labour camp system, and, for these efforts, Solzhenitsyn was both awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 and exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974. He returned to Russia in 1994. That year, he was elected as a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Department of Language and Literature. He is the father of Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a well-known conductor and pianist. He has passed away at the age of 89 (August 3, 2008).

May his soul rest in peace.

Useful link:
http://nobelprize.org