October 27, 2007
The Information Revolution
Every once in a while, I find something that reminds me why I still like information technology and how much it changes our lives. Watch this fabulous video by Michael Wesch :
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January 14, 2007
Quote of the day
“The future is here; it’s just not widely distributed yet.”
William Gibson
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May 26, 2006
After Outsourcing, please welcome Crowdsourcing
We have all been confronted with the various "benefits" of outsourcing in this era of globalization. We have had Indian operators answer the phones on various call center tasks and most of our tee shirts and baseball caps are now made in China. We have benefited from this as consumers (cheap goods and services) while we have been questioning this as workers (will my job be next to go?). This is the subject that Thomas Friedman has explained so well in his excellent book: The World Is Flat
The next new thing: Crowdsourcing. Wired, in a typically excellent article, defines it as “The new pool of cheap labor: everyday people using their spare cycles to create content, solve problems, even do corporate R & D ». These spare cycles are even less expensive than the low cost corporations of India or China since what's being sold is something that had no exploited value before. This is again a new way in which the web monetizes society. Welcome to more of Web 2.0 !
Jeff Howe, the author of the Wired article, has devoted a blog to this subject : crowdsourcing.com.
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November 06, 2005
A New Website About Tea
Today, following a lot of research and thought, I have created a new site dedicated to tea simply called About Tea. Here follows the text of the introductory article :
"This site is dedicated to tea. Everything and anything about tea. This will include customs, history, economics, social impact, varieties, grades, objects, cultivation, destinations, news, events, recipes, how-to's, stories, art, literature, legends, book reviews etc... etc...
Tea is a universal beverage. It is a symbol of hospitality in many countries. With that in mind, welcome to this hopefully fascinating journey through the world of tea."
I hope that this will be of interest to some of you and that you will join me in this new adventure !!!
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July 06, 2005
And the losing streak continues...
Paris lost today it's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. The winner is London. The whole country was mobilized behind the bid and as seems to be the trend of late, we lost. Or more accurately, Chirac lost... to Blair ... as usual !!!
I don't really like politicians in general but I have to admit to some envy of the British and the prime minister they have. In France, we have a loser. In Britain, they have a winner. It makes all the difference in the world.
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June 23, 2005
A bottle of milk gives you ... a Royal Family !
According to this Associated Press article, for approximately the price of one bottle of milk per year, in Great Britain, you will get all the pageantry and pomp of the english Royal family. In a communiqué from Buckingham, this is presented as "good value for money". Not cheap mind you, just "good value for money". I wanted to repeat that so it's real clear that in today's world even grand traditions which are very much a part of a specific country's identity need to justify the fact that they're relevant and affordable. I would love to see what stuffy Prince Charles thinks of such a press release ;-)
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June 15, 2005
To alleviate French depression...
We now have a wonderful government in France. The prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, has never faced a voter in his life and the number two man in this government, Nicolas Sarkozy, is only thinking about what he should do (and not do) to get elected president two years from now. The unions, the Left, and every traditional special interest in France are honing their weapons to make sure that the country remains completely static. And to top it all, the european summit scheduled this weekend is already being called a failure even before it has started. Time for a little satirical humor to get us out of this black mood : this illustration does it just fine ;-)
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May 31, 2005
Ridiculous and Idiotic France !!!
I usually don't rant on this blog because there's enough negative stuff in life as it is. However, the results of the referendum held this weekend in France are so disappointing that I can't help but SHOUT MY FRUSTRATION !!!
This country just massively voted against it's own interests and for all the wrong reasons. Partly out of protest, partly out of fear, they have voted against a constitution designed by a frenchman (ex-president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing) with French interests and values at it's core. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. It's totally ludicrous !!!
Chirac has made another historic blunder in calling this referendum (he could easily have passed the constitution in parliament). He will be remembered in history as someone who managed to have a very long political career while making one massive mistake after another. Thank God, he's 72 and can't last much longer. This man is, and has always been, a disaster for France. The only thing he ever cared for is his own political survival and interests and this at the expense of an entire generation who has had to live through the mess he has created time and time again.
As for all the countries out there who have been confronted with French arrogance and high-mindedness (i.e. almost every country in the world) : have yourselves a field day because it doesn't get better then this. There is no end to the ridicule that can and should be piled on the French voters and their political leaders who have just given the entire planet an object lesson in stupidity.
Posted by ridelightning at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2005
The iPod : Fashion Phenomenon
I'm just back from New York (it was Fashion Week...). But the biggest fashion phenomenon going on was without a doubt the iPod. Everywhere I looked there were the white earbuds. At the Apple Store in Soho, I saw them blow out of 100 iPod Shuffles in less than an hour (the 1 Gb version, they didn't have the 512 Mb one in stock). The iPod ads were everywhere. No wonder they've sold more than 4.500.000 of them in the last quarter. It was all really quite cool. There's a vibe surrounding this thing that's plain fun. And it truly feels like run(a)way success for Apple !!!
Here are some links on the net to be part of the iPod tribe :
The iPod Shuffle ad from Apple (the song is great...)
Here you can iPod your photo ;-)
If you want to do it yourself, here's a good tutorial for Photoshop users...
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December 22, 2004
Goudji
An exhibit is taking place in Paris now (ending beginning of January) at the famous Gallerie Claude Bernard of the work of Goudji. Goudji is a Georgian who has been living in Paris for a long time and I consider him to be the finest gold-and-silversmith alive. Building upon millenia of tradition, he literally sculpts timeless masterpieces that, though immediately identifiable as his work, still feel vaguely familiar. One can feel Celtic, Etruscan, Scythian, Egyptian influences in these magical pieces that feel like they have been built upon the bedrock of civilisation. The poetry but also the uniqueness of these one-of-a-kind pieces throw back to a tradition of gold and silver work that I didn't believe still existed. The Art of Goudji captures through it's beauty, rarity, craftmanship something of the true spirit of luxury in the way homonym Gucci never can. A must see if you're in Paris !!!
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September 23, 2004
Chantilly, more than whipped cream ;-)
Last Sunday, on what turned out to be the last sunny day of summer 2004, I visited the Château de Chantilly. Beyond being the place of origin of whipped cream (in french : crème Chantilly), Chantilly, which is about 40 km north of Paris, was also the home of that great line of french nobles : the Princes de Condé. This was where they built their castle. The castle I visited is however the result of the many modifications that a quintessential nineteenth century gentleman brought to it. This gentleman was Henri d'Orléans, Duc d'Aumale and fifth son of King Louis-Philippe d'Orléans. The career of Henri d'Orléans was all that one could expect of a gentleman in his days. He was first a soldier, then a businessman, then a scholar and art collector, and finally a generous donor as, upon his death, he bequeathed the castle and all it's impressive content to the French State. The castle has remained the home of his great collection and is now visitable by the public. Amongst works shown, one can find masterpieces by such great artists as Rafael, Fra Lippo Lippi, Van Dyck and Corot to name but a few. The library is also very impressive and has a very scholarly feel to it with all it's old leatherbound books and gas lighting. Last but not least, the gardens, "à la française" of course, also make for a nice walk.
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August 26, 2004
Mariette Pacha
During my short stay on the Opal Coast, I went to see an interesting exhibit about one of Boulogne-sur-Mer's famous citizens : Auguste Mariette a.k.a. Mariette Pacha. Anyone familiar with egyptology will know the name. He is the father of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and discoverer of quantity of tombs and sites across all of Egypt. He was a sort of visionary pre-Indiana Jones type, a passionate, fearless egyptologist in the early days of egyptology (1850's) where there was as much treasure hunting as archaelogy going on. A teacher who becomes an archaeologist, adventurer and first Bey then Pacha makes for a great story and the exhibit entitled Gods, Tombs and a Scholar - in Egypt in Mariette Pacha's Footsteps tells it well. However it ends next week. The website which is quite informative will hopefully stay up longer.
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August 10, 2004
How about this for Lightning...
I named this blog Ride Lightning mainly as reference to the Metallica album Ride the Lightning and as metaphor for the pace of technological change. I can't however deny that lightning, being part of the title, has become something of a keyword for me, a trigger for my attention. And today my attention was triggered ;-) There is an article in Wired about a place in New Mexico where the artist Walter De Maria has set up a mile-long grid of 400 steel poles to attract lightning. It's a permanent work of land art called Lightning Field and you can actually go there on holiday and wait for lightning to strike (happens often in the summer...). It's apparently quite a spectacle (though I didn't find any pictures).
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August 09, 2004
Tanah Lot Temple (Bali)
Another temple in Bali and a very famous one at that... This temple is in a beautiful scenic location right on the sea (and that's why it's famous). That's also what makes it a tourist trap. This place and Kuta (where the bomb went off...) were the two only places I saw in Bali where one is confronted with mass tourism. Which for me makes both spots places to avoid. To come back to Tanah Lot, once one forgets about the hordes of tourists, one comes away with two distinct impressions : the location is really stunning but the temple is disappointing. There really is not much to see from an architectural point of view and one is not really moved by any palpable sense of spirituality. It's just another place to take pretty pictures...
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July 31, 2004
Petitenget : Temple of the "Secret Box"
In Bali near Seminyak and located almost right on the beach is the temple of Petitenget or Temple of the "Secret Box". Legend has it that a holy man from Java came to Bali to teach. He had brought a box with him. When he returned to Java, he left his box behind. The balinese people, in awe of the holy man and out of respect for his belongings, dared not touch nor open the box and built this temple around it.
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July 30, 2004
The Beauty of Balinese Dance
I will not write too much here because I'm know next to nothing about this but I did have the good fortune to assist to a traditional Balinese Dance spectacle and it was very beautiful. The dances are very graceful and in sync with the complex rythms of traditional indonesian music. The costumes are spectacular. And the whole show is multigenerational with children and adults playing equal parts. These are very sophisticated dances so I guess the children must start very young. Here are some pictures to give and idea.
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