Thursday, March 20, 2008
Games In Economic Development
Games in economic development by Bruce Wydick writes on the origin of game theory + how unique patterns of human interactions could cause cyclical poverty/prosperity + it's an interesting book.
Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group
Here is what the AIDG web site describes what it is they do:
The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) works to provide rural villages in developing countries with affordable and environmentally sound technologies...Through a combination of business incubation, education, training, and outreach, the AIDG helps individuals and communities gain access to technology that will improve their lives. Our model provides a novel approach to sustainable development by empowering people with the physical tools and practical knowledge to solve infrastructure problems in their own communities.
I'm really impressed + what's important is they are designing technologies appropriate to local needs and conditions + I think the concept of grassroots design (s) does make sense.
Useful links:
www.aidg.org
http://apptechdesign.org
The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) works to provide rural villages in developing countries with affordable and environmentally sound technologies...Through a combination of business incubation, education, training, and outreach, the AIDG helps individuals and communities gain access to technology that will improve their lives. Our model provides a novel approach to sustainable development by empowering people with the physical tools and practical knowledge to solve infrastructure problems in their own communities.
I'm really impressed + what's important is they are designing technologies appropriate to local needs and conditions + I think the concept of grassroots design (s) does make sense.
Useful links:
www.aidg.org
http://apptechdesign.org
Plain Stellar Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
Originally the de Guise Brilliant was a Table Cut. In the 1740s it was refashioned into a Stellar Cut Brilliant identical to the so-called Brazilian Cut. This term was originally used in the trade to describe diamonds fashioned in the eighteenth century from Brazilian rough as opposed to the modern round cuts produced from South African rough. However, few, if any, of these diamonds had short, pentagonal culet facets of this sort. In the case of the de Guise, it was simply that, after the small facets had already been applied, the culet was enlarged for some reason and consequently the inner ends of the originally slim culet facets were removed. However, a Stellar Cut, no matter what the size of its culet, should no more be called Brazilian.
When, in 1888, the de Guise was put up for sale with the rest of the French Crown Jewels, its past history was ignored and the entry in the catalogue described it simply as ‘un gros brilliant carré étendu, 29 7/16 ct.’ Tiffany’s of New York acquired it for a mere 155,000 francs.
I have examined three Stellar Cut Brilliants in Dresden. It is almost circular in shape and extremely well made. It compares favorably, in fact, with the best London cuts of the early eighteenth century. With its slight but pleasing lack of rigid symmetry, one could describe it as an excellent Baroque Cut. The only rather interesting factor is that the stone was fashioned with present-day ideal proportions! The second Stellar Cut in the Treasury is unusual in that its eight culet faces, looked at through the table, appear to be doubled, thus possibly increasing the brilliance of the gem. The stone weighs 9 13/16 ct. The smallest of the three stones weighs 6¼ ct and is the only Stellar Cut I have ever come across with a pear-shaped outline. It is flat, but nevertheless very attractive.
Originally the de Guise Brilliant was a Table Cut. In the 1740s it was refashioned into a Stellar Cut Brilliant identical to the so-called Brazilian Cut. This term was originally used in the trade to describe diamonds fashioned in the eighteenth century from Brazilian rough as opposed to the modern round cuts produced from South African rough. However, few, if any, of these diamonds had short, pentagonal culet facets of this sort. In the case of the de Guise, it was simply that, after the small facets had already been applied, the culet was enlarged for some reason and consequently the inner ends of the originally slim culet facets were removed. However, a Stellar Cut, no matter what the size of its culet, should no more be called Brazilian.
When, in 1888, the de Guise was put up for sale with the rest of the French Crown Jewels, its past history was ignored and the entry in the catalogue described it simply as ‘un gros brilliant carré étendu, 29 7/16 ct.’ Tiffany’s of New York acquired it for a mere 155,000 francs.
I have examined three Stellar Cut Brilliants in Dresden. It is almost circular in shape and extremely well made. It compares favorably, in fact, with the best London cuts of the early eighteenth century. With its slight but pleasing lack of rigid symmetry, one could describe it as an excellent Baroque Cut. The only rather interesting factor is that the stone was fashioned with present-day ideal proportions! The second Stellar Cut in the Treasury is unusual in that its eight culet faces, looked at through the table, appear to be doubled, thus possibly increasing the brilliance of the gem. The stone weighs 9 13/16 ct. The smallest of the three stones weighs 6¼ ct and is the only Stellar Cut I have ever come across with a pear-shaped outline. It is flat, but nevertheless very attractive.
The Romantic Movement In France
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Friendship and admiration for Rousseau had a great effect on the life of Virgilio Narcisse Diaz de la Pena (1808-76), commonly known as Diaz. This painter was born at Bordeaux, whither his father, a political refugee, had fled from Spain, and after his death, which occurred soon afterwards, Mme Diaz removed to Sèvres, where she supported her young family by giving lessons in Spanish and Italian. When he was fifteen years old he was apprenticed to learn china painting, but he soon tired of working at the factory, and spent all his spare time in painting romantic Eastern scenes from his imagination. About 1830, while still earning his living by painting on porcelain, Diaz met Rousseau in Paris, and this acquaintance ripened into a lifelong friendship. Taught by Rousseau how to use pure and brilliant colors so that his pictures glowed like jewels, the pictures of Diaz appealed to the public by their subjects and were soon sought after. At first Diaz painted nymphs and bathers, mythological subjects and oriental scenes, the last so brilliant in color that it is difficult to believe Diaz never saw the Orient and never traveled farther than a few hundred miles from Paris.
Though he had little to complain about on his own account, Diaz shared the fortunes of his friend Rousseau, and accompanied him to Barbizon in 1837. There he gave his mind almost entirely to landscape, and made a new reputation by his brilliant forest pictures with light glancing on the tree stems.
Like Diaz and Dupré, the famous cattle painter Troyton (1810-65) began as a painter on porcelain. His father, who had been employed at the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, died early, and while quite young boys Troyon and his brother earned a living by painting on china at the manufactory, and in their spare time sketched from Nature in the surrounding country. It was not till he was thirty-two that Constant Troyon was able to leave Sèvres and commence his studies in Paris, and for some years his progress was hampered by the somewhat niggling style of painting he had acquired from the habit of decorating porcelain, but devoting himself especially to the painting of animals he gradually acquired strength and breadth, though he was nearly forty before he gained the power that has since made him famous. When he did find himself, however, the success of Troyon was immediate. He was speedily recognized by his contemporaries as the greatest animal painter since Cuyp and Paul Potter, and the demand for his work was so great that Troyon sometimes employed other painters to put in backgrounds and accessories. Troyon excelled in showing living beasts in their natural surroundings, and the landscapes in his cattle pictures are not mere ‘back-cloths’ but genuine studies which interpret with sincerity the weather, the time of day, and the season of the year. His most famous masterpiece is his great painting ‘Oxen going to Work’ in the Louvre, in which the superb rendering of the animals is equalled by the splendor with which the artist has rendered the full glory of the early morning landscape.
The Romantic Movement In France (continued)
Friendship and admiration for Rousseau had a great effect on the life of Virgilio Narcisse Diaz de la Pena (1808-76), commonly known as Diaz. This painter was born at Bordeaux, whither his father, a political refugee, had fled from Spain, and after his death, which occurred soon afterwards, Mme Diaz removed to Sèvres, where she supported her young family by giving lessons in Spanish and Italian. When he was fifteen years old he was apprenticed to learn china painting, but he soon tired of working at the factory, and spent all his spare time in painting romantic Eastern scenes from his imagination. About 1830, while still earning his living by painting on porcelain, Diaz met Rousseau in Paris, and this acquaintance ripened into a lifelong friendship. Taught by Rousseau how to use pure and brilliant colors so that his pictures glowed like jewels, the pictures of Diaz appealed to the public by their subjects and were soon sought after. At first Diaz painted nymphs and bathers, mythological subjects and oriental scenes, the last so brilliant in color that it is difficult to believe Diaz never saw the Orient and never traveled farther than a few hundred miles from Paris.
Though he had little to complain about on his own account, Diaz shared the fortunes of his friend Rousseau, and accompanied him to Barbizon in 1837. There he gave his mind almost entirely to landscape, and made a new reputation by his brilliant forest pictures with light glancing on the tree stems.
Like Diaz and Dupré, the famous cattle painter Troyton (1810-65) began as a painter on porcelain. His father, who had been employed at the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, died early, and while quite young boys Troyon and his brother earned a living by painting on china at the manufactory, and in their spare time sketched from Nature in the surrounding country. It was not till he was thirty-two that Constant Troyon was able to leave Sèvres and commence his studies in Paris, and for some years his progress was hampered by the somewhat niggling style of painting he had acquired from the habit of decorating porcelain, but devoting himself especially to the painting of animals he gradually acquired strength and breadth, though he was nearly forty before he gained the power that has since made him famous. When he did find himself, however, the success of Troyon was immediate. He was speedily recognized by his contemporaries as the greatest animal painter since Cuyp and Paul Potter, and the demand for his work was so great that Troyon sometimes employed other painters to put in backgrounds and accessories. Troyon excelled in showing living beasts in their natural surroundings, and the landscapes in his cattle pictures are not mere ‘back-cloths’ but genuine studies which interpret with sincerity the weather, the time of day, and the season of the year. His most famous masterpiece is his great painting ‘Oxen going to Work’ in the Louvre, in which the superb rendering of the animals is equalled by the splendor with which the artist has rendered the full glory of the early morning landscape.
The Romantic Movement In France (continued)
The Brelli
I really liked the Brelli bio-degradable umbrella design + I think it's absolutely unique and beautiful!
Useful link:
www.thebrelli.com
Useful link:
www.thebrelli.com
A Wooden Buddha Sculpture
It has been reported that a newly discovered wooden Buddha, 26-inch sculpture of Dainichi Nyorai, the supreme Buddha, believed to be the work of Unkei, one of the great carvers of the early Kamakura period of the 1190s, has set a new world auction record for Japanese art when it was sold for $14,377,000 @ Christie's to Mitsukoshi Co Ltd.
Shocking price!
Useful links:
www.christies.com
www.mitsukoshi.co.jp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unkei
Shocking price!
Useful links:
www.christies.com
www.mitsukoshi.co.jp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unkei
Amber Fossils
I found the article on Amber fossils from Australia via http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2006/1796778.htm educational + insightful.
Useful links:
www.unsw.edu.au
www.rivsoc.org.au
www.austmus.gov.au
Useful links:
www.unsw.edu.au
www.rivsoc.org.au
www.austmus.gov.au
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