Identity: Eight Rooms, Nine Lives

Check out Wellcome Collection's new exhibition on Identity. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8375000/8375695.stm

The Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson's latest film, The Lovely Bones, is based on Alice Sebold's best-selling novel, a brilliant story told from the perspective of a murdered teenage girl who reaches out to her family from the afterlife + he says Tintin film is finished. I am a huge fan of Peter Jackson, and I can hardly wait to see this movie!

Useful links:
www.lovelybones.com
www.tintin.com

Marange Diamonds

The Rapaport Group/RapNet Diamond Trading Network have implemented an immediate trading ban on all diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields due to severe human rights violations. I think that this was the right thing to do and the ethical thing to do.

Useful links:
www.diamonds.net/Zimbabwe
www.kimberleyprocess.com
www.wfdb.com

The Design Museum Holon

I thought Ron Arad's architecture was stunningly beautiful. The building looks very similar to Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim New York. I liked it.

Useful links:
www.dmh.org.il
www.ronarad.com

Luke Johnson Veiwpoint

Luke Johnson was spot on. How to murder your company in 10 easy steps.

- Take on too much debt
- Choose the wrong business partner
- Become overdependent on one customer
- Get ill
- Make a mess of a major IT project
- Get into a price war
- Sign a burdensome property lease
- Forget your customers
- Never evolve
- Don’t bother investing

Useful links:
www.lukejohnson.org
www.riskcapitalpartners.co.uk
www.channel4.com

Training And Research

Check out the educational programmes designed for CIBJO by AIFOMD.

Useful links:
www.sustainablejewellery.org
www.aifomd.org
www.cibjo.org
www.unitar.org
www.un.org/millenniumgoals
www.antwerpdiamondsymposium.com

Random Thoughts

I should charge 600 euros (for a meal at elBulli), but I do not cook for millionaires. I cook for sensitive people. Creativity comes first; then comes the customer.

- Chef Ferran Adrià
www.elbulli.com

Interesting thoughts, really.

Coral Update

Megan Gambino's story in the Smithsonian about coral spawning was educational and insightful.

To me, coral spawning is like a total eclipse of the sun. You should see it once in your life.
- Nancy Knowlton

Useful links:
http://sio.ucsd.edu/Profile/nknowlton
http://cmbc.ucsd.edu

International Council Of Societies Of Industrial Design Congress 2009

Efficiency to creativity. A call to develop design propositions for a 2050 scenario.

Useful links:
www.icsidcongress09.com
www.icsid.org
www.thedesign2050challenge.com

Reinventing Yourself

Bob Buford's opinion piece in BusinessWeek about halftime impact was brilliant. Thanks Bob.

Useful links:
www.halftime.org
www.activeenergy.net
www.bobbuford.com

Fela!

Jon Pareles's viewpoint in the New York Times about Fela was interesting.

Useful links:
www.felaonbroadway.com
www.felaproject.net

The Farming Game

The Farming Game by Bryan L. Jones is a fascinating book about farm economics and commonsense with wit and insight. A must read.

Random Thoughts

Diamonds are terrifically difficult to value or to audit the value. The only time the value is certain is when it crystallises in a sale.

- Ian Henderson
JPMorgan, London
www.jpmorgan.com

Spot on.

Bill Cunningham Viewpoint

On the Street / Colors. Stylish women are wearing many points of view -- so long as it's black with a touch of white. It was brilliant. Thanks Bill.

India's Richest

Naazneen Karmali's special report in Forbes Asia about India's 100 Richest was interesting.

Centquatre

Check out Le 104 or the Centquatre, a multidisciplinary arts center in Paris. A must visit.

Useful link:
www.104.fr

Diamond Market Update

The Economist story about colored diamonds was interesting. Laurence Graff was right. If you have money to invest, there is no safer haven than something rare. Rarity is the greatest single factor influencing today’s auction prices for superb colored diamonds.

Useful links:
www.graffdiamonds.com
www.christies.com
www.sothebys.com

Art Review

Souren Melikian's viewpoint in the New York Times about Fal-Nameh/Book of Omens was interesting.

Useful links:
www.asia.si.edu
www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr

Random Thoughts

Japanese companies reinvented the process of making cars. That's what we're doing in health care. What health care needs is process innovation, not product innovation.

- Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty
www.narayanahospitals.com

Spot on.

The G20 In 2050

By 2050, the United States and Europe will be joined in economic size by emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. China will become the world’s largest economy in 2032, and grow to be 20 percent larger than the United States by 2050. Over the next forty years, nearly 60 percent of G20 economic growth will come from Brazil, China, India, Russia, and Mexico alone. Read the full report.

Useful link:
www.carnegieendowment.org