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Saturday, May 23, 2009

The REFRACT House

I was really impressed with the REFRACT House, an innovative solar project created by Team California (CCA + University of Santa Clara architecture and design students) for the 2009 Solar Decathlon. Check out the link www.cca.edu/academics/architecture/refract

Useful link:
www.solardecathlon.org

A very nice story indeed.

Spoleto Festival 2009

Spoleto Festival 2009 is a 17-day feast of cultural events, ranging from rock opera to chamber music. Check out the link www.spoletousa.org

Random Thoughts

Crooks, scandals, and scalawags are good. Con artists of all forms offer us a sort of perverse education. They are a key ingredient to avoiding stagnation and achieving a constantly evolving Wall Street, for without them we would never learn the often-costly lessons of excessive greed and blind trust that prompt change and reform. In the way a child learns not to touch a red-hot stovetop, the stock market has learned—sometimes over and over again—to be skeptical of just-too-good-to-be-true investment opportunities and the people promoting them. Because the root of all swindles, greed, is inherent to human nature, Wall Street will never lack for its share of con artists and con games, regardless of what drastic measures Washington might think it's taking. So, rather than condemn such swindlers, we can easily learn from their stories.

- Ken Fisher
www.kenfisher.com

Spot on.

Ai Weiwei

The Collector: Ai Weiwei
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124287520377742255.html

Useful links:
www.aiweiwei.com
http://blog.sina.com.cn/aiweiwei

Interesting character. He was spot on collecting. You need a better appreciation of art to understand it.

Bert + John Jacobs

A fortune coined from cheerfulness
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80274aa0-448a-11de-82d6-00144feabdc0.html

Useful link:
www.lifeisgood.com

Inspiring story. A great business name + selling a message of optimism and an appreciation for the small pleasures of life makes all the difference in a day. The little things in life are the big things. Hats off to Bert + John.

Art Market Update

Reconstructing the Afterlife in a Vanished Religion
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/arts/23iht-melik23.html

Useful link:
http://www.louvre.fr

Great review.