FATF Update

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has developed a guidance document in close consultation with representatives of the dealers in precious metals and dealers in precious stones industries. Go to www.fatf-gafi.org for further information.

InnoCentive

I found the article on Innocentive, a company that links organizations (seekers) with problems (challenges) to people all over the world (solvers) who win cash prizes for resolving them @ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/science/22inno.htmlpagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=df5efa6eea21c9b7&ex=1216958400 brilliant.

Useful link:
www.innocentive.com

Random Thoughts

You give all of your inspiration and everything you want to do to the dancers, and it’s up to them to make it work, actually. The choreographer really depends on the dancers in the end.

- Alexei Ratmansky, Choreographer

How true!

Marcel Tabuteau

Marcel Tabuteau: How Do You Expect to Play the Oboe If You Can't Peel a Mushroom? by Laila Storch tells a remarkable story in an engaging style.

Solar Power From Saharan Sun

Alok Jha's article on solar power from Saharan sun + the impact @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/23/solarpower.windpower was interesting. As Doug Parr (Greenpeace UK) rightly put it, if it's cost-effective, a largescale renewable energy grid is just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change.

Useful links:
www.esof2008.org
http://ie.jrc.ec.europa.eu
www.greenpeace.org.uk
www.jrc.ec.europa.eu

FTC Update

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has rejected a petition from the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) and nine other trade associations requesting that the commission use its industry guides on the use of the term 'cultured' to describe laboratory-created gemstones. The groups that had signed on to the petition included the JVC, American Gem Society, American Gem Trade Association, CIBJO (World Jewellery Confederation), Cultured Pearl Association, Diamond Council of America, Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association of America, Jewelers of America, Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America and World Federation of Diamond Bourses.

Useful links:
www.ftc.gov
www.jvclegal.org
www.americangemsociety.org
www.agta.org
www.cibjo.org
www.cpaa.org
www.diamondcouncil.org
www.dmia.net
www.jewelers.org
www.mjsa.org
www.worldfed.com

The Best Places For Business

Forbes 2008 survey of the best places for business lists the following countries.

1. Denmark
2. Ireland
3. Finland
4. United States
5. United Kingdom
6. Sweden
7. Canada
8. Singapore
9. Hong Kong
10. Estonia

For the complete list, go to www.forbes.com/bestbizcountries

Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.
- Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)

Beyond Orientalism

The exhibition, Beyond Orientalism, opens on 25 July 2008 - 25 October 2008 at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) in Kuala Lumpur. The show highlights Islamic calligraphy, tile designs, beautiful geometrical motifs + the art of M.C. Escher + a rare 19th century Koran, made for a Malay sultan with lashings of gold illumination + Chinese calligraphic wall scrolls with Koranic quotations. A must-visit!

Useful link:
www.iamm.org.my