Expressionale Berlin 2008

Berlin is the contemporary-art hub (world-class institutes + museums + 500 galleries+) of Europe. Amazingly it's the bohemian charm that draws artists to Berlin. The expressionist movement that characterizes the city's cosmopolitan feel is very much alive and engaging. Many of the works—by current as well as early 20th-century masters—are for sale, and at prices the average art lover can afford. A must-visit.

Useful link:
www.expressionale.de

Pay It Forward

Small-business owners are tapping the expertise of people they might not otherwise meet, especially those who live hundreds or thousands of miles away via online mentoring saving time by allowing people to quickly get to the point. For many mentors, who were previously mentored by others feel they need to pay it forward. Brilliant!

Useful links:
www.micromentor.org
www.mercycorps.org
www.score.org
www.imantri.com
www.aspeninstitute.org

Copenhagen Consensus Conference

I found the dispatch from the 2008 Copenhagen Consensus Conference interesting and insightful. I think the experts views should be discussed and challenged. Since we live in a world of scarce resources, how can we do the most good?

Useful link:
www.copenhagenconsensus.com

Royal Game Of Ur

(via Wiki) The Royal Game of Ur refers to two game boards found in Royal Tombs of Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. The two boards date from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BC, thus making the Royal Game of Ur probably the oldest set of board gaming equipment ever found. One of the two boards is exhibited in the collections of the British Museum in London. A board game known with some certainty to be older than The Royal Game of Ur is the ancient Egyptian game Senet, the existence of which possibly dates as early as the 33rd century BC. Also, recent excavations of a sixty piece set in the "Burnt City" located in Iran has shown that a very similar board game existed five thousand years ago, slightly edging out the age of the Ur set. The Royal Game of Ur was played with two sets (one black and one white) of seven markers and three pyramidal dice. The rules of the game as it was played in Mesopotamia are not known but there is a reliable reconstruction of gameplay based on a cuneiform tablet of Babylonian origin dating from 177–176 BC. It is universally agreed that the Royal Game of Ur, like Senet, is a race game. Both games may be predecessors to the present-day backgammon. A grafitto version of the game was recently discovered scratched by Assyrian guards onto one of the human-headed winged bull gate sentinels from the palace of Sargon II (721 - 705 BC) in the city of Khorsabad, now in the British Museum in London. Similar games have since been discovered on other sculptures in other museums.

Useful links:
Irving Finkel: http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/about_us/staff/middle_east/irving_finkel.aspx
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815665,00.html

Iving Finkel is the world's foremost expert on the game.

Team Of Rivals

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a multiple biography of the entire team of personal and political competitors that Abraham Lincoln put together to lead America through its greatest crisis. A great read.

Useful link:
www.doriskearnsgoodwin.com

Vietnam Diamond Market

I found the article on the state of the diamond industry in Vietnam @ http://english.vietnamnet.vn/biz/2008/06/789254 interesting.

Making and trading diamond jewellery proves to be profitable business. However, the fat profit made by companies is not mentioned, because this is always considered a ‘sensitive’ issue. The diamonds on sale in Vietnam come from different sources, and a big proportion of the diamonds come through unofficial channels.
How true!

Diamond Empowerment For Africa's Future

I think the new public service announcement by Russell Simmons' Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF), titled 'Diamond Empowerment for Africa's Future', is an excellent medium to educate consumers understand that diamonds do help Africans.

Useful links:
www.diamondempowerment.org
www.simmonsjewelryco.com
www.russellsimmons.com

First Stop In The New World

First Stop in the New World by David Lida is an in-depth study of Mexico city, from the high arts to the sex industry; from the dense jungle of urban politics to the interactions of everyday commerce; from one end of this five-hundred-square-mile city to the other.

Useful link:
http://davidlida.com

I think Mexico city is truly one of the world's greatest and misunderstood city on earth.