Archie Andrews

I am a longtime Archie fan. I hope Archie and his gang goes the extra mile global.

Useful links:
www.archiecomics.com
http://icv2.com

Diamond Market Update

Global polished diamond prices seem to be stuck in a very narrow price range. There is certainly not enough demand to push prices higher, and while they haven’t moved lower, our sense is that any minor shock or surprise could send polished diamond prices skidding lower.

- Ken Gassman
www.kennethgassman.com

So true. As Ken rightly put it American market is the key.

Turin Shroud

The Shroud of Turin has been reproduced by an Italian scientist in another attempt to prove that the cloth bearing an image of Christ's face is a fake. What's amazing is the shroud mystery refuses to go away. I truly believe it's an imitation.

If they don't want to believe carbon dating done by some of the world's best laboratories they certainly won't believe me.
- Luigi Garlaschelli

Useful links:
www.sindone.org
www.cicap.org

Art News Update

Kate Taylor's viewpoints on Jackson Pollock's iconic Mural was interesting and insightful.

The whole point of Mural was to declare that Jackson Pollock was a great painter. The painting is essentially a big billboard for Jackson Pollock.
- Henry Adams

A hundred people might find 50 different words—and hundreds of different images—in this or any of Pollock’s later work.
- Steven Naifeh

Chris Guillebeau

Chris Guillebeau shares helpful travel tips for free on his site. Check it out.

Useful link:
http://chrisguillebeau.com

Pop Life: Art In A Material World

Few people come to museums. The museum is kind of old-style media, like opera. I’m really interested in making merchandise for ordinary people.
- Takashi Murakami

Check out Pop Life: Art in a Material World at Tate Modern. www.tate.org.uk

Vertebrate Palaeontology

Anthony Barnosky (University of California, Berkeley) + Elizabeth Hadly's (Stanford University) viewpoints on creating whole new ecosystems was interesting. Their proposal to learn from the past environments that went through climatic changes similar in scale to those happening today wasn't such a bad idea. It might work.

Useful links:
www.vertpaleo.org
www.stanford.edu/group/hadlylab

Random Thoughts

Being accepted is the biggest challenge. Every time you stand in front of a new orchestra, you are on trial.

- John Eliot Gardiner

Spot on.