Global Business BBC

Peter Day's talk about the standards-setters; what they do, and why it matters on BBC World Service was insightful. Many thanks.

Useful links:
www.zyen.com
www.nottingham.ac.uk
www.baesystems.com
www.intertek.com
www.bsigroup.com
www.spiraltd.com

Reorganise For Resilience

Q: How can companies grow their business even in these difficult economic times?
A: Improved customer insight.

Useful link:
www.ranjaygulati.com

Random Thoughts

How do investment crowds get started? There is no single right answer to this question. But I think it is accurate to say that most investment crowds find their genesis in the deaths of other investment crowds. I like to use a very apt cosmological metaphor to help understand this process. Investment crowds are the stars of the financial universe. The stars in the Milky Way and in the much larger cosmos have limited lifetimes, which typically end in a massive explosion called a supernova. But new stars are being born (i.e., starting their own process of nuclear fusion) all the time. What is the source of the material that is the stuff of a new star? Well, it is just the cosmic debris left by the explosions of old stars! In much the same way, investment crowds bum brightly in the financial universe and are responsible for much of the observed price fluctuation. But they have finite lifetimes (a few months to a few years). The inevitable disintegration of any investment crowd causes a big run-up or drop in prices and lots of commotion and confusion in the marketplace. But the debris associated with the disintegration of a crowd is the stuff from which the next crowd forms. The change in price associated with the disintegration of an investment crowd is powerful advertising. It attracts the attention of investors, especially of those whose portfolios have been directly affected by the rise or fall in asset value.

- Carl Futia
http://theartofcontrariantrading.blogspot.com
http://carlfutia.blogspot.com

So true!

Bill Viola

Take a look at Bill Voila's The Night Journey, an experimental video game. It's immersive. Many thanks to Hilarie M. Sheets for sharing the info.

It's a game that rewards you for slowing down and for introspection. You're alone and you're not even told why you're there. You just fall out of the sky into the middle of this amazing landscape with mountains, sea, desert, and forest, and go wherever you want. The more you do things mindfully, the more is revealed to you.
- Bill Viola

Useful link:
www.billviola.com

Surround Vision

Take a look at MIT Media Lab's Surround Vision. www.media.mit.edu

Peter Gabriel Update

Devin Leonard's viewpoint in BusinessWeek about Peter Gabriel's recommendation technology was interesting. He is a brilliant technology thinker and entrepreneur.

Useful links:
www.thefilter.com
www.petergabriel.com

Art Market Update

Souren Melikian's opinion piece in New York Times about “La Voie du Tao” (The Tao Path) was insightful. Many thanks.

Useful link:
www.grandpalais.fr

Blind Sculpture

I thought the performances by a group of blindfolded artists was brilliant.
www.greenenaftaligallery.com