How To Become An Expert In Any Business

To quote Niels Bohr, 'An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field.'

A different perspective: Akira Kurosawa, one of the giants in the movie business, who, when accepting an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at the age of 80 said that he would not accept the award for lifetime achievement, but rather for future work, because he felt he was only just beginning to master his craft.

That's humility.

The Fresh-Roasted Smell Of Success

Matthew Rees writes about Starbucks + its hallowed place in the American landscape + other viewpoints @ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119440173104784754.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Capturing The Artist In Action

Ann Landi writes about Jackson Pollock (America's first art star) + painter and critic Robert Goodnough + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/anniversary/top2.asp

Peter Gabriel

I am a huge fan of Peter Garbiel + he has been the driving force behind the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) movement + Real World Studios + one of the founders of On Demand Distribution (OD2) + human right activist.

Useful link:
http://petergabriel.com

Our Land, Our Life

(via YouTube): Our Land, Our Life (Oxfam America)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffYNzUDR-6k

I liked it.

Better With Their Clothes On

(via The Guardian) Julian Barnes writes about Swiss artist Félix Vallotton + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2204113,00.html

Gorgeous Gorges

Deidre Stein Greben writes about the fortunes in the marketplace of the Hudson River painters (such artists as Thomas Cole, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Fitz Hugh Lane, Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt, Martin Johnson Heade, Francis Augustus Silva, Worthington Whittredge, and Jasper Francis Cropsey) + new collectors (emerging on the West Coast from the computer industry) + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1131

A Pyramidal Cut, Fashioned From Triangular Rough

(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:

No trace of the origin or history of the Dresden Renaissance ring has ever been found. Its main feature is the pointed diamond weighing about 2 ct. This has always been accepted as being fairly normal Point Cut, but if it were so its disproportionate height would have involved an unrealistic reduction in the width.

The exceptionally large internal reflections also suggested to me that the stone merited further investigation. Experiments with rock crystal finally revealed that the gem could only have been produced from a triangular macle or ‘was’. The proportions of the actual diamond are quite remarkable, with its high 60º crown and very shallow 11º pavilion.