Posts
17/06/2005
Nice going, Ma'am!
Replicators & law
Remarkable! Some of the most interesting stories in the still current issue (the next one comes today, I think) of the Economist are freely available - good for you non-subscribers out there!
Read this story from the Technology Quarterly about fab labs, or personal fabricators. Think of a fab lab as a relatively inexpensive device akin to a printer, but with the important difference that it's output comes in three dimensions - a bit like the replicator. And now start imagining ...
Somewhat more down to earth is this very enlightening backgrounder on the relationship between US law and international law.
Read this story from the Technology Quarterly about fab labs, or personal fabricators. Think of a fab lab as a relatively inexpensive device akin to a printer, but with the important difference that it's output comes in three dimensions - a bit like the replicator. And now start imagining ...
Somewhat more down to earth is this very enlightening backgrounder on the relationship between US law and international law.
15/06/2005
Quality newspaper
Now that the high drama surrounding the court proceedings concerning a strange US pop star's even stranger personality seems to have blown over in a huge non-sequitur, it is time to evaluate your preferred newspaper's attitude towards it and infer its quality orientation. There are three rough approaches:Go with the flow irrespective of what the flow is worth. Consequently, aforementioned affair is frontpage material. Recognise that the subject matter is next to irrelevant and certainly not international news, but be cognisant about the general public's interest in a past world star's fate and thus relegate it to Miscellany. Ignore it altogether due to its irrelevance. Being a bit of a fundamentalist occasionally, I personally sympathise with the last approach, but I can see that a quality paper (or editor) should go for the second one. Needless to say that my paper (NZZ) did and earned itself yet another mark of distinction. The prize for editorial ridicule goes to Telebasel, our (successful) backwater local TV station which did indeed think it necessary to regurgitate the topic, too! How do you rate your paper?
ArtCast Basel
Art|36|Basel is up and running (until Monday), and I still don't feel quite up to half a day of walking & talking after my three days in bed with a nasty summer flu!
Meanwhile, I enjoy the fair in form of a podcast: ArtCast is a most commendable initiative by Barbara Strebel & Patrik Tschudin who allow us to listen in on their Art experience in a pretty unadulterated way. Great stuff! There's just one small thing: the mp3 file resides on their .mac homepage and is not in an RSS enclosure, or whatever those things are called, so my RSS reader is unable to deal with it directly. Unfortunately, I am not knowledgable enough to tell them what to do to put it right, but maybe somebody else could give them a hand? If I can ramp up my energy level to actually partake of the event, I'll certainly be on the lookout for some folks running about with a mike'd iPod! Perhaps you'll hear me soon?
Oh yeah, lest I forget: the soap is gone - sold! Interestingly, it hasn't gone "south", we're told ... but il Cavaliere certainly has a good selection of front men.
Meanwhile, I enjoy the fair in form of a podcast: ArtCast is a most commendable initiative by Barbara Strebel & Patrik Tschudin who allow us to listen in on their Art experience in a pretty unadulterated way. Great stuff! There's just one small thing: the mp3 file resides on their .mac homepage and is not in an RSS enclosure, or whatever those things are called, so my RSS reader is unable to deal with it directly. Unfortunately, I am not knowledgable enough to tell them what to do to put it right, but maybe somebody else could give them a hand? If I can ramp up my energy level to actually partake of the event, I'll certainly be on the lookout for some folks running about with a mike'd iPod! Perhaps you'll hear me soon?
Oh yeah, lest I forget: the soap is gone - sold! Interestingly, it hasn't gone "south", we're told ... but il Cavaliere certainly has a good selection of front men.
14/06/2005
Betting the farm
... or not! In the current issue of Esquire (British edition), there's an article about financial spread betting which enables holders of UK real estate to hedge the value of their assets (and do many other, less adviseable things, really) by betting against, i.e. selling short the appropriate amount of their regional house index. Fascinating - why isn't that available in Switzerland?! Well, it's certainly worth looking into if I ever got that country manor in the Shires ... but then again, some due diligence of the counter party would be in order first.
P.S. On second thought, though there is probably a cheaper way to achieve the same effect in the financial market directly since that spread betting bookmaker doesn't take any risk of its own, so it has to hedge it somewhere.
P.S. On second thought, though there is probably a cheaper way to achieve the same effect in the financial market directly since that spread betting bookmaker doesn't take any risk of its own, so it has to hedge it somewhere.
Microsoft bans "human rights"
... and so does Yahoo & Google, according to this BBC story. Apparently, those firms actively support the Chinese government in its efforts to censor the internet, which also applies to blogs, of course. This is scandalous, especially for Google, which owns Blogger and has some interesting commandments. Democracy on the web works? BS (& I know it's out of context, but it works)!
11/06/2005
Marmalada Skies
Interesting! I just read this NYT story on Apple's latest big move. As a departing shot, the story refers to the name of Steve Jobs' business jet's holding company as an example of his capacity to set himself apart from other corporate execs: the name is Marmalada Skies. A search of the web for that term reveals that this term appears to be closely connected to the Beatles. And what's the Beatles' label? Correct: Apple Corps Ltd. So now Jobs is coming full circle. And if you don't find this quite as funny as I do, then that's probably got to do with the nice summer cold that I am suffering from just now, complete with a lost voice, sore throat and raised temperature ...
09/06/2005
Mani pulite
Next week, the world's most prestigious contemporary art fair Art Basel will be opening its doors. Here's a sneak preview of what is likely going to be the most talked about exhibit (via Weltwoche.ch):
Si non e vero, e ben trovato ...
Si non e vero, e ben trovato ...
Gallipoli
I've always been wondering about the peculiar rôle that the Gallipoli campaign still holds in the British mind after 90 years, and even more so in the Australian and the New Zealander's of course. That's why I went to see the new Turkish documentary Gallipoli with T tonight.
The movie is an old fashioned incarnation of the documentary genre. Knowing me, you'll be well aware that old fashioned is not a pejorative in my vocabulary. It is very carefully done, explaining the campaign's political & strategic background, using a lot of original quotes from participants on both sides of the battle line. While I do not know the details of course, I don't think it can be classified as partisan at all. They also resisted the temptation to turn this into a historic action movie - maybe with a little help from budgetary restrictions. The harrowing battle scenes were only alluded to ever so delicately - a quality that's hardly ever seen any more.
Unfortunately, they were showing the original language version (Turkish) with German subtitles, and not the English language one. While I enjoyed listening to the Turkish narration from an accoustic point of view (naturally I didn't understand a word of it), the quality of the subtitles was quite horrendous. There has to be a way of punishing subtitle translators for what they're putting us through, isn't there?
So, I still don't know much more about Gallipoli's peculiar rôle, but I know a lot more about its circumstances. I'll be looking out for more in the new Churchill Museum which I intend to visit on my next trip to London. But who knows, perhaps we'll get some insights from our English Kiwi correspondent before then?
The movie is an old fashioned incarnation of the documentary genre. Knowing me, you'll be well aware that old fashioned is not a pejorative in my vocabulary. It is very carefully done, explaining the campaign's political & strategic background, using a lot of original quotes from participants on both sides of the battle line. While I do not know the details of course, I don't think it can be classified as partisan at all. They also resisted the temptation to turn this into a historic action movie - maybe with a little help from budgetary restrictions. The harrowing battle scenes were only alluded to ever so delicately - a quality that's hardly ever seen any more.
Unfortunately, they were showing the original language version (Turkish) with German subtitles, and not the English language one. While I enjoyed listening to the Turkish narration from an accoustic point of view (naturally I didn't understand a word of it), the quality of the subtitles was quite horrendous. There has to be a way of punishing subtitle translators for what they're putting us through, isn't there?
So, I still don't know much more about Gallipoli's peculiar rôle, but I know a lot more about its circumstances. I'll be looking out for more in the new Churchill Museum which I intend to visit on my next trip to London. But who knows, perhaps we'll get some insights from our English Kiwi correspondent before then?
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