Since I've long admired Honda, having owned about 1/2 dozen, both Civic's and Accord's, and Forbes just decided to "Archive" pieces like this, even though I'm a long time print subscriber, I'm going to post the text here.
Engineers Rule: Finance Guys And Marketers Rise to the Top. Not at Honda
Forbes
By Jonathan Fahey and Tim Kelly
Sept. 4, 2006
At American auto companies, finance guys and marketers rise to the top. Not at Honda.
Of all the bizarre subsidiaries that big companies can find themselves with, Harmony Agricultural Products, founded and owned by Honda Motor, is one of the strangest. This small company near Marysville , Ohio produces soybeans for tofu. Soybeans? Honda couldn't brook the sight of the shipping containers that brought parts from Japan to its nearby auto factories returning empty. So Harmony now ships 33,000 pounds of soybeans to Japan .
An inveterate tinkerer, Honda also set up a center nearby to develop better soybean varieties and improve agricultural processes.
This is from a company that sold 21 million internal combustion engines for cars, motorcycles, lawnmowers and boats last year. But there's nothing Honda hates more than waste, and there is nothing Honda likes more than an engineering problem. Indeed, how else to explain why Honda has studied the maddeningly evasive cockroach (for anticollision technology), decoded the rice genome (to increase crop yields and create more-productive crops for biofuels) and developed a robot that can get instructions by reading human brain waves (to learn how machines and humans can better coexist).
Honda's engineering obsessions have the Japanese company better prepared than perhaps any other automaker for high oil prices and roiled energy markets. Most auto companies have placed big bets on one or two alternative propulsion technologies while they dabble or play catch-up in others. General Motors, for example, has focused on fuel cells, Toyota on hybrids, DaimlerChrysler on diesels. Honda, the world's eighth-biggest automaker, has developed a panoply of technologies: hybrids, fuel cells, clean
diesels, natural gas vehicles and the world's most sophisticated mass-market gasoline engines. It even announced in July it will sell a small, fuel-efficient jet (see box, p. 116).
Honda's ability to juggle these technologies successfully is perhaps a matter of survival. It competes in the mass market against companies, such as Toyota , General Motors, Ford and Nissan, that are either bigger or in alliances with other automakers. Other small carmakers like Porsche and BMW flourish by selling high-margin luxury cars. So that leaves Honda, with just 9 percent of the U.S. market, on its own and adamant that it remain unattached.
The trick: "You need to give people the freedom to spend and the freedom to make mistakes," says Takeo Fukui, Honda's 61-year-old president. "If management oversight is too strong, then it's difficult to innovate."
Longtime auto analyst John Casesa, who now runs a consulting company, says, "There's not a company on earth that better understands the culture of engineering."
The strategy has worked thus far. Honda has never had an unprofitable year. It has never had to lay off employees. In the fiscal year that ended in March, profit grew 12 percent, to $5.1 billion, on $84 billion in sales. In the U.S. , which accounts for 43 percent of Honda's sales, vehicle sales are up 7 percent through July, even as the industry slipped 5 percent. The company sold more vehicles in July than one member of the old Big Three, the Chrysler Group.
The lean and compact Fukui , like all of his predecessors, is an engineer who started in R&D and later ran the subsidiary. While other auto chief-executives-to-be were punching keyboards in an accounting office, Fukui ran the company's motorcycle racing operations. He's still racing. He hikes the stairs to his tenth-floor desk–tenth floor so he's in the middle of things at Honda's 16-story Tokyo headquarters and a desk because executives at Honda don't have offices. Honda doesn't disclose executive pay in detail, but the sum of salaries and bonuses that Fukui shares with 36 board members, $13 million, is just about enough for the boss at a big
American company.
Honda traces its resourcefulness to the 1960s, when the Japanese government tried to keep Honda, then just a motorcycle maker, from building cars because it feared there were too many carmakers. Honda quickly produced a tiny car driven by a chain, like a motorcycle, called the S-500. This led Honda to adopt perhaps the sappiest slogan in corporate history: "To be a company that society wants to exist."
"It's not just words," Fukui swears. "It's something that has always been at the core of our company." Whatever the case, Honda believes that society does not cotton to companies that melt ice caps and kill coral reefs. Cars that create less pollution also cost less to fill up. Honda's recent growth has been fueled by a pair of small cars, the newly redesigned Civic that sells for $15,000 to $22,000 (and gets 34 miles per gallon) and an even smaller car, the Fit, that sells for about $15,000.
Gunnar Lindstrom, who is charged with marketing Honda's alternative fuel vehicles in the U.S. , believes that by 2020 six fuels will split the market: gasoline, diesel, biofuels, hydrogen, natural gas and electricity, perhaps working side by side in a single vehicle. "It's risky to have just one fuel strategy," he says. "In the event of a crisis of any sort, we would like to be flexible. These are insurance policies that have some realistic assumptions behind them."
Honda spent $4.4 billion on R&D last year, 5.2 percent of sales, but, like most carmakers, it won't disclose how much is for basic research. One big investor says: "The good news is that they are run by engineers. The bad news is that they are run by engineers."
Honda announced in June that, by 2009, it will market an all-new hybrid vehicle, the company's fourth, and offer a clean diesel passenger car that will likely get 45 miles to the gallon. Honda has sold 141,000 hybrids since 1999 in the U.S. , second to Toyota 's 273,000.
The hype about hydrogen fuel cell cars has died down in the last year or so, but Honda hasn't noticed. Fuel cells are twice as efficient as combustion engines, and that is enough for Honda. Honda was the first to certify fuel cell vehicles for private use in the U.S. and is already leasing a few to individuals in California . Yozo Kami, Honda's fuel cell chief, promises to solve all of fuel cell vehicles' technical problems by 2012 and to have the cost of fuel cells to "Accord-level" by 2020. GM's goal is to to build a prototype by 2010 that could be reasonably priced if mass-manufactured. Toyota doesn't make any public predictions about its hydrogen fuel cell efforts.
And if Honda needs to be the one to solve the issue of creating
infrastructure to enable hydrogen-powered vehicles, so be it. In back of Honda's Torrance , Calif. research campus are a pair of prototype appliances designed to produce hydrogen at home. Engineers have built a contraption of water heater size that strips hydrogen out of natural gas while burning the carbon to provide heat for the home.
Then there's a wall of solar panels attached to an electrolysis unit that turns water into hydrogen. This thing is just a wee bit cumbersome: 700 square feet to create enough hydrogen to run a fuel cell car 10,000 miles a year and supply electricity for the house. Engineers like to point out that it takes just one-and-a-half gallons of water–one toilet flush–to create enough hydrogen for an average day's driving, 30 miles. The thin-film solar panels, developed by Honda, are more efficient than current solar panels,
so Honda will market them on their own to homes and small businesses.
Also this year, Honda became the first to offer a natural gas-powered vehicle to the public. The Civic GX is $7,000 more expensive than a gasoline Civic (before the effect of a $4,000 federal tax credit), the range of the vehicle is just 250 miles, and there are only 800 public natural gas refueling stations in the country.
Ah, but Honda thought of that too. As a test case for hydrogen refueling, Honda will also offer to Civic GX buyers in California and New York a home refueling unit cheekily called Phill. The backpack-size Phill, costing $3,500, fills up the car overnight in your garage from your utility's gas pipe, at a gasoline-equivalent cost of $1.20 per gallon. (Buyers get a $1,000 federal tax credit to boot plus, sometimes, state subsidies.)
Honda's sales target for the car is a modest 1,000 per year. It's easy on the conscience: Most natural gas is domestically produced. And, over its lifetime, the Civic will emit less pollution than is produced by spilling a teaspoon of gasoline on the ground. Maybe this is what Fukui means when he talks about society wanting Honda to stick around.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Whoooooo
Headed out to a party, Shirley had spotted this earlier, I just happened to have a camera ... so we "gave it a shot"
Barred Owl ("Bard" ?)
Not that I didn't stoop to Hooter jokes ...
Here's a closer look... eyes caught the flash and reflected
Barred Owl ("Bard" ?)
Not that I didn't stoop to Hooter jokes ...
Here's a closer look... eyes caught the flash and reflected
Friday, September 01, 2006
We'll Sail Away
Evening cruise on Inland Seas Education Association & the Great Lakes Schoolship with Shirley, my folks and friends.
Wonderfull evening, modest breezes (about 7knots), clear skys, moon came up...
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wisdom of Crowds
Or "Crowdsourcing" and my evolving thinking.
The following is interesting, but mostly, to me as to the application of AI.
"This turns out to be the perfect division of labor between man and machine: Evaluating content is easy for people, and analyzing large data sets is easy for computers."
Google Revealed: The IT Strategy That Makes It Work - Management News by InformationWeek:
Collective Insight
"VP of engineering Adam Bosworth last year wrote that Google's success in making a more relevant search was based on "leveraging the wisdom of crowds," referring to the company's PageRank algorithm. (James Surowiecki's book, The Wisdom Of The Crowds, was published in 2004 by Random House.) Company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin built the business on PageRank, which analyzes the human-generated link structure of the Web to determine the relative importance of a Web page. As PageRank sees it, the more people link to a given page, the more important that page is likely to be.
This turns out to be the perfect division of labor between man and machine: Evaluating content is easy for people, and analyzing large data sets is easy for computers. By marrying collective intelligence with automation, Page and Brin built a company fueled by artificial intelligence. "AI is a great tool for helping people make better decisions," Merrill says. "It's not so good at making complex decisions."
The wisdom of the crowd, farmed and refined by machine, remains critical to Google. As Merrill puts it, "All of us together are smarter than any of us individually." That insight may not be as surprising now that it has been reinforced by the likes of Wikipedia and Digg.com, but it's still mostly lip service at many other companies."
I'm pondering the difference(s) between "Crowdsourcing" as applied to Intangibles, such as software, vs. Tangibles, such as ... Cars. Hardware has a much longer amortization period, much harder to change once the design is set. Software, esp. in the case of Google, is very much an evolving product, and there is virtually no "installed base" (on the customer's machine/device/interface)
The following is interesting, but mostly, to me as to the application of AI.
"This turns out to be the perfect division of labor between man and machine: Evaluating content is easy for people, and analyzing large data sets is easy for computers."
Google Revealed: The IT Strategy That Makes It Work - Management News by InformationWeek:
Collective Insight
"VP of engineering Adam Bosworth last year wrote that Google's success in making a more relevant search was based on "leveraging the wisdom of crowds," referring to the company's PageRank algorithm. (James Surowiecki's book, The Wisdom Of The Crowds, was published in 2004 by Random House.) Company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin built the business on PageRank, which analyzes the human-generated link structure of the Web to determine the relative importance of a Web page. As PageRank sees it, the more people link to a given page, the more important that page is likely to be.
This turns out to be the perfect division of labor between man and machine: Evaluating content is easy for people, and analyzing large data sets is easy for computers. By marrying collective intelligence with automation, Page and Brin built a company fueled by artificial intelligence. "AI is a great tool for helping people make better decisions," Merrill says. "It's not so good at making complex decisions."
The wisdom of the crowd, farmed and refined by machine, remains critical to Google. As Merrill puts it, "All of us together are smarter than any of us individually." That insight may not be as surprising now that it has been reinforced by the likes of Wikipedia and Digg.com, but it's still mostly lip service at many other companies."
I'm pondering the difference(s) between "Crowdsourcing" as applied to Intangibles, such as software, vs. Tangibles, such as ... Cars. Hardware has a much longer amortization period, much harder to change once the design is set. Software, esp. in the case of Google, is very much an evolving product, and there is virtually no "installed base" (on the customer's machine/device/interface)
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Likely one Bad-Ass team
If the image is right, looks like it's centered near the Ionia Maximum Security Prison
Friday, August 25, 2006
The REAL Real Estate story
From the WSJournal we have a story about home sales:
"Sales of newly built homes tumbled last month, but a firm reading on orders for big-ticket factory goods suggests the economy will continue to grow moderately despite head winds from a slumping housing market and high energy prices.
Home for Sale, by Anxious Owner - New York Times
"In California, the Northeast, South Florida and parts of the Southwest, deal sweeteners like these are playing an increasingly important role in supporting home prices. From large national home builders to individual homeowners, many sellers are offering thousands of dollars in perks, including straight cash, so they do not have to slice deeply into asking prices.
"Mr. Zandi, the economist, said he believed that the use of perks was now approaching its peak and that sellers would soon be forced to cut list prices more heavily. He predicted that the home-price data released by the Realtors association would show a year-over-year decline, relative to the same month a year earlier, before the end of this year. If so, that would be the first such drop since 1993. The Realtors have never reported a drop in the annual average of national home prices, a fact frequently cited by real estate analysts.
“The reason the Realtors’ data has never showed an outright decline” before, he said, “might be that they’re not measuring the effective price.”
"Sales of newly built homes tumbled last month, but a firm reading on orders for big-ticket factory goods suggests the economy will continue to grow moderately despite head winds from a slumping housing market and high energy prices.
The Commerce Department said sales of new homes in July fell 4.3% from June to a rate of 1.07 million units, a pace that is 21.6% slower than a year ago. The inventory of unsold homes on the market rose to a supply of 6.5 months, up from 4.2 months a year earlier, while the median price fell to $230,000 in July and is essentially flat compared with a year ago."
But the actual situation may be worse than it looks from the numbers.Home for Sale, by Anxious Owner - New York Times
"In California, the Northeast, South Florida and parts of the Southwest, deal sweeteners like these are playing an increasingly important role in supporting home prices. From large national home builders to individual homeowners, many sellers are offering thousands of dollars in perks, including straight cash, so they do not have to slice deeply into asking prices.
But these discounts are almost entirely missing from the statistics on new-home prices reported by the government and on existing-home prices reported by the National Association of Realtors. As a result, home prices may now be falling, despite what the official numbers show, many economists say.
The use of rebates helps home builders and individual sellers by making the real estate market look healthier than it may truly be and by preventing a snowballing decline in home prices. It also keeps commissions for real estate agents higher than they would otherwise be."
and:"Mr. Zandi, the economist, said he believed that the use of perks was now approaching its peak and that sellers would soon be forced to cut list prices more heavily. He predicted that the home-price data released by the Realtors association would show a year-over-year decline, relative to the same month a year earlier, before the end of this year. If so, that would be the first such drop since 1993. The Realtors have never reported a drop in the annual average of national home prices, a fact frequently cited by real estate analysts.
“The reason the Realtors’ data has never showed an outright decline” before, he said, “might be that they’re not measuring the effective price.”
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Another Karl Rove Plot
Must be nefarious plot to discredit Al Gore and his new movie.
Weather Street: 2006 Atlantic Tropical Storm Season Below Normal (August 21):
"Global Warming?
The slow hurricane season and the cooling sea surface temperatures might be somewhat surprising to the public. Media reports over the last year have suggested that, since global warming will only get worse, and last year's hurricane activity was supposedly due to global warming, this season might well be as bad as last season. But it appears that Mother Nature might have other plans."
"Part of the reason for the slow season is that tropical western Atlantic sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are running about normal, if not slightly below normal (see graphic below, which shows SST departures from normal).
In contrast, at the same time last year SSTs in the same region were running well above normal.
The cooler SSTs in the Atlantic are not an isolated anomaly. In a research paper being published next month in Geophysical Research Letters, scientists will show that between 2003 and 2005, globally averaged temperatures in the upper ocean cooled rather dramatically, effectively erasing 20% of the warming that occurred over the previous 48 years."
Weather Street: 2006 Atlantic Tropical Storm Season Below Normal (August 21):
"Global Warming?
The slow hurricane season and the cooling sea surface temperatures might be somewhat surprising to the public. Media reports over the last year have suggested that, since global warming will only get worse, and last year's hurricane activity was supposedly due to global warming, this season might well be as bad as last season. But it appears that Mother Nature might have other plans."
"Part of the reason for the slow season is that tropical western Atlantic sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are running about normal, if not slightly below normal (see graphic below, which shows SST departures from normal).
In contrast, at the same time last year SSTs in the same region were running well above normal.
The cooler SSTs in the Atlantic are not an isolated anomaly. In a research paper being published next month in Geophysical Research Letters, scientists will show that between 2003 and 2005, globally averaged temperatures in the upper ocean cooled rather dramatically, effectively erasing 20% of the warming that occurred over the previous 48 years."
Edler Bloggers?
Found via Doc (The Doc Searls Weblog):
An effective alternative to retirement
Earlier post :
Talk about getting hard on a guy
An effective alternative to retirement
| AARP covers blogs. Ronni Bennett is featured. Here she catches us up on other elderbloggers. |
Earlier post :
| Wednesday, August 16, 2006 |  |
Talk about getting hard on a guy
| Ariel: Old Men Can't Get It Up, Erect Blogs Instead. |
| On the other head, maybe we've kept it up longer than the rest of ya'll. |
Just because I trimmed my service?
Front page WSJournal:
Sprint said Chief Operating Officer Len Lauer will leave the cellphone carrier, which is grappling with lower subscriber growth than rivals and a slumping stock.
Maybe it's more than just my trimming of service...
Sprint said Chief Operating Officer Len Lauer will leave the cellphone carrier, which is grappling with lower subscriber growth than rivals and a slumping stock.
Maybe it's more than just my trimming of service...
Buffett on Media
Excerpt from Warren Buffett on newspapers:
"Charlie and I think newspapers are indispensable. I read four a day. He reads five. We couldn’t live without them. But a lot of people can now. This used to be the ultimate bulletproof franchise. It’s not anymore."
"Charlie and I think newspapers are indispensable. I read four a day. He reads five. We couldn’t live without them. But a lot of people can now. This used to be the ultimate bulletproof franchise. It’s not anymore."
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Can you believe your eyes?
Came across this while keying in http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/ for my morning giggle
Fake or Photo?
Autodesk "quiz" to see if you can differentiate CG from Photo's.
Pretty interesting
I missed one, which I wasn't sure about, so would give myself "partial points"
All in all, a lot better than the Reuter's crap: (Bloggers Bash Bogus Photos )
Fake or Photo?
Autodesk "quiz" to see if you can differentiate CG from Photo's.
Pretty interesting
I missed one, which I wasn't sure about, so would give myself "partial points"
All in all, a lot better than the Reuter's crap: (Bloggers Bash Bogus Photos )
Further on Blogging
Different spin on blogging, from (The Doc Searls Weblog : Friday, August 18, 2006)
I had a prior post was about economists...
Looney Dunes: Why Blog?
Back to Doc's piece.
Is blogging just about getting rank, promotion, and therefore just about advertising?
Not necessarly.
Doc rebuts the following "...in the end, that¹s what the A-list is all about: directing traffic. They are the traffic cops of the blogosphere and they are not as easily replaced as some would like to make us believe. They are brand names and we tend to trust them, even if they let us down sometimes."
and (excerpt)
"
---
Back to my "voice"...
Can blogging be commercial? Damn right it can, and it can be a powerfull tool for those that know how to use it. But that discussion is for another time/place/
But it can also be simply a means of communicating with friends (know and unknown) and a broader community.
I personally "work" from a home on a lake in NW Mich, surrounded by a National Park.
We have our circle of friends here, but I also have friends, business associates and other contacts from coast to coast. I can work the hours I want, post ideas (good, bad or indifferent) at any/all hours of day or night.
This blog is public, others are private - family/friends only.
Now back to anger management practice ... (VBG)
I had a prior post was about economists...
Looney Dunes: Why Blog?
Back to Doc's piece.
Is blogging just about getting rank, promotion, and therefore just about advertising?
Not necessarly.
Doc rebuts the following "...in the end, that¹s what the A-list is all about: directing traffic. They are the traffic cops of the blogosphere and they are not as easily replaced as some would like to make us believe. They are brand names and we tend to trust them, even if they let us down sometimes."
and (excerpt)
"
| As the blogophere has become more rigidly hierarchical, not by design but as a natural consequence of hyperlinking patterns, filtering algorithms, aggregation engines, and subscription and syndication technologies, not to mention human nature, it has turned into a grand system of patronage operated - with the best of intentions, mind you - by a tiny, self-perpetuating elite. A blog-peasant, one of the Great Unread, comes to the wall of the castle to offer a tribute to a royal, and the royal drops a couple of coins of attention into the peasant's little purse. The peasant is happy, and the royal's hold over his position in the castle is a little bit stronger. |
| Bullshit. |
| Want to succeed in the blogosphere, or the Web in general? Easy. Do search engine optimization. Here's how: |
|
| That's it. |
| I can't promise royalty, because there isn't any. But I can promise a rewarding relationship with the readers you'll get, regardless of how many there are. |
---
Back to my "voice"...
Can blogging be commercial? Damn right it can, and it can be a powerfull tool for those that know how to use it. But that discussion is for another time/place/
But it can also be simply a means of communicating with friends (know and unknown) and a broader community.
I personally "work" from a home on a lake in NW Mich, surrounded by a National Park.
We have our circle of friends here, but I also have friends, business associates and other contacts from coast to coast. I can work the hours I want, post ideas (good, bad or indifferent) at any/all hours of day or night.
This blog is public, others are private - family/friends only.
Now back to anger management practice ... (VBG)
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Utilities ?
1) Sprint Long Distance
You dial up the 800 number, confirm the balance due and key in the credit card number and expiration.
OK, all of this is straightfoward.
Bot voice, which sounds like a stern grade school teacher, reads back the information with query if this is correct press 2.
You key 2
Then the bot reads your confirmation number and asks if you want it either repeated or "if this is correct press 2"
Huh?
Does not compute ... Sprint gives me confirm number with no further information and expects me to confirm their confirmation.
2) Charter Communicatons, my internet provider, via cablemodem
So ... service is out.
Dial the 800 number, before you get series of decision trees to get to service information, there is an offer to let Charter be your phone service.
Decision tree almost invariabley all Bot's
Message that they are either out of service or down for maintiance...
Sooo ... I want to call Charter to check service and they offer to have a service that may not work?
Huh.
Almost as good as the our Electric Utility website that offers estimated time to be back in service during an outage .... which most likely knocks out my internet service.
Who dreams this stuff up?
You dial up the 800 number, confirm the balance due and key in the credit card number and expiration.
OK, all of this is straightfoward.
Bot voice, which sounds like a stern grade school teacher, reads back the information with query if this is correct press 2.
You key 2
Then the bot reads your confirmation number and asks if you want it either repeated or "if this is correct press 2"
Huh?
Does not compute ... Sprint gives me confirm number with no further information and expects me to confirm their confirmation.
2) Charter Communicatons, my internet provider, via cablemodem
So ... service is out.
Dial the 800 number, before you get series of decision trees to get to service information, there is an offer to let Charter be your phone service.
Decision tree almost invariabley all Bot's
Message that they are either out of service or down for maintiance...
Sooo ... I want to call Charter to check service and they offer to have a service that may not work?
Huh.
Almost as good as the our Electric Utility website that offers estimated time to be back in service during an outage .... which most likely knocks out my internet service.
Who dreams this stuff up?
Oil - right
Well, for the moment, I'll claim to be right
Looney Dunes: Alaskan Oil Aug 7th 9:30 AM, and Dec Crude was trading around $79.50 up from 77-78 the previous Friday.
As of about 8:45 this AM it was trading under $74.
So why didn't I take this trade?
Chicken I guess ...
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Oil Future(s)
Good leader from The Economist on NOC's (National Oil Companies) and why they should be privatised to improve efficency.
"WHEN activists, journalists and others speak of “Big Oil”, you know exactly what they mean: companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Royal Dutch Shell. These titans have been making lots of money for their shareholders; their bosses enjoy vast pay packets; and their actions affect us all. BP's decision to shut down Prudhoe Bay, America's biggest oilfield, to repair leaking pipes is a case in point, outraging many and pushing petrol prices even higher (see article).
Yet Big Oil is pretty small next to the industry's true giants: the national oil companies (NOCs) owned or controlled by the governments of oil-rich countries, which manage over 90% of the world's oil, depending on how you count. Of the 20 biggest oil firms, in terms of reserves of oil and gas, 16 are NOCs. Saudi Aramco, the biggest, has more than ten times the reserves that Exxon does. Those with misgivings about oil—that its price is too high, that reserves are running out, that it damages the environment, that it is more a curse than an asset for countries that produce it—must look to NOCs for reassurance.
These companies are certainly sitting on a reassuring amount of oil. Saudi Aramco's proved reserves alone could keep the world supplied for several decades. But it is only exploiting ten of its 80 or so fields, so will be able to pump at the present rate for about 70 years even if it never discovers another drop of oil. In fact, Aramco and other NOCs are likely to find plenty more if they look, since their territory has not been very thoroughly explored. Only 2,000 wildcat wells have ever been dug in the countries around the Gulf, according to Leonardo Maugeri, an Italian oilman, compared with more than 1m wells in the United States."
Hybrid future?
So not directly about Hybrid's, but the talk of Li-ion battery packs might give one pause...
"Dell plans to recall more than four million laptop batteries with components from Sony that can pose a fire hazard. It is the largest PC-related recall in Consumer Product Safety Commission history...
Dell's move follows a series of smaller recalls of lithium-ion batteries, and comes at a time of intense scrutiny of the battery technology -- particularly on airplane flights. Now that lithium-ion-powered laptops and MP3 players have become favorite carry-ons for many air travelers, transportation officials are evaluating the safety risks posed on airliners and whether tighter restrictions are required. The dangers of battery-related fires in laptops aboard airlines were the subject of a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday."
I do trust that the problems will be worked out, but no easy answer.
More Here: Need for Battery Power Runs Into Basic Hurdles of Science - New York Times
"But scientists are running into some basic hurdles of chemistry and physics. The more energy they store in a small package, the more volatile and dangerous that package becomes.
The volatility of batteries in laptops, and those powering millions of portable consumer devices from cellphones to power drills, was made apparent Monday with Dell’s recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries. Dell said the batteries, made by Sony, could catch fire because of a problem in the manufacturing process.
Though the chance of a flaming notebook is small, the number of incidents involving burning batteries is rising each year because there are so many more devices using small and powerful power sources.
There is another pressing reason for the quest for improvements: battery-powered cars. An electric car needs a power source that is 2,000 times as powerful as a laptop battery. “That size would be extremely dangerous,” said Sanjeev Mukerjee, a chemistry and chemical biology professor at Northeastern University. “This technology has a downside, and that is that it is very sensitive to how it is manufactured.”
The potential for fire in a lithium-ion battery is a result of its chemical composition. Contained in that small package are all the elements needed for a fierce blaze: carbon, oxygen and a flammable fluid. The battery is made of a thin layer of lithium cobalt oxide, which serves as the cathode, and a strip of graphite, the anode. These are separated by a porous insulator and surrounded by fluid, a lithium salt electrolyte that happens to be highly flammable."
"Dell plans to recall more than four million laptop batteries with components from Sony that can pose a fire hazard. It is the largest PC-related recall in Consumer Product Safety Commission history...
Dell's move follows a series of smaller recalls of lithium-ion batteries, and comes at a time of intense scrutiny of the battery technology -- particularly on airplane flights. Now that lithium-ion-powered laptops and MP3 players have become favorite carry-ons for many air travelers, transportation officials are evaluating the safety risks posed on airliners and whether tighter restrictions are required. The dangers of battery-related fires in laptops aboard airlines were the subject of a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday."
I do trust that the problems will be worked out, but no easy answer.
More Here: Need for Battery Power Runs Into Basic Hurdles of Science - New York Times
"But scientists are running into some basic hurdles of chemistry and physics. The more energy they store in a small package, the more volatile and dangerous that package becomes.
The volatility of batteries in laptops, and those powering millions of portable consumer devices from cellphones to power drills, was made apparent Monday with Dell’s recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries. Dell said the batteries, made by Sony, could catch fire because of a problem in the manufacturing process.
Though the chance of a flaming notebook is small, the number of incidents involving burning batteries is rising each year because there are so many more devices using small and powerful power sources.
There is another pressing reason for the quest for improvements: battery-powered cars. An electric car needs a power source that is 2,000 times as powerful as a laptop battery. “That size would be extremely dangerous,” said Sanjeev Mukerjee, a chemistry and chemical biology professor at Northeastern University. “This technology has a downside, and that is that it is very sensitive to how it is manufactured.”
The potential for fire in a lithium-ion battery is a result of its chemical composition. Contained in that small package are all the elements needed for a fierce blaze: carbon, oxygen and a flammable fluid. The battery is made of a thin layer of lithium cobalt oxide, which serves as the cathode, and a strip of graphite, the anode. These are separated by a porous insulator and surrounded by fluid, a lithium salt electrolyte that happens to be highly flammable."
Monday, August 14, 2006
Various Paths to Success
Accidental Tech Entrepreneurs Turn Their Hobbies Into Livelihoods - News by InformationWeek
Maybe not paths to prosperity, but some success
Dooce, Moveable Type, Del.icio.us, Digg & Zoot.
Maybe not paths to prosperity, but some success
Dooce, Moveable Type, Del.icio.us, Digg & Zoot.
Bloggers Bash Bogus Photos
Various coverage of how bloggers exposed fake "news" photos on Reuters:
Washington Post:Blogger Takes Aim At News Media and Makes a Direct Hit
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; Page C01
Like what blind editor would ever fall for this:
Like ... how about the regular pattern on the right - looks like a curling iron was used on the "smoke"...
And :Strategy Page : Information Warfare:
"Pictures That Don't Tell the Story
August 12, 2006: As the scandal around Photoshopped and staged war-in- Lebanon photos used by various mainstream media outlets continues, it is becoming more obvious that what happens in newsrooms is having an effect on the war. Hizbollah, unable to defeat Israel via conventional means, resorted to the use of the Western media – which usually has very few restraints – to increase diplomatic and political pressure on Israel."
Washington Post:Blogger Takes Aim At News Media and Makes a Direct Hit
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; Page C01
"Charles Johnson could tell there was something wrong with the news photo the minute he saw it. Something about the three plumes of black smoke rising over the buildings -- smoke just doesn't curl that way, pirouetting in unison. It was, he wrote Saturday, "blatant evidence of manipulation."
He was right on target.
The Reuters photo showing the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut was doctored. The British-based news service acknowledged as much Sunday, withdrawing that picture and another doctored image, of an Israeli jet, that were taken by freelance photographer Adnan Hajj. The agency subsequently severed its ties with the Lebanese photographer and purged its files of his work.
The exposure of the doctored airstrike photo was a coup for Johnson and his four-year-old political blog, Little Green Footballs. Make that a second coup, of sorts.
In September 2004, not long after "60 Minutes II" seemed to offer damning revelations about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, Johnson was at the forefront of bloggers who raised questions about the CBS report. (Johnson used the Microsoft Word program to retype the memos used in the report and found that his computer could reproduce the same typefaces and line breaks that Dan Rather had said were produced by a manual typewriter in the mid-1970s.) The incident became a historic debacle for the network and contributed to Rather's retirement from the "CBS Evening News" anchor chair."
Bloggers Drive Inquiry on How Altered Images Saw Print - New York TimesLike what blind editor would ever fall for this:
Adnan Hajj/Reuters
A photographer has been accused of doctoring a photo of an Israeli air raid on Beirut. The manipulated image, left, and the original picture, right.
And :Strategy Page : Information Warfare:
"Pictures That Don't Tell the Story
August 12, 2006: As the scandal around Photoshopped and staged war-in- Lebanon photos used by various mainstream media outlets continues, it is becoming more obvious that what happens in newsrooms is having an effect on the war. Hizbollah, unable to defeat Israel via conventional means, resorted to the use of the Western media – which usually has very few restraints – to increase diplomatic and political pressure on Israel."
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Hydrocarbons
Well, I finally decided to stick my neck out.
Long Bets [ 257: Hydrocarbon fuels will be the "fuel of choice" for personal transportation for the next 50 years ]
"Picking up on Danny's argument (#168) about non biogenic sources of hydrocarbons and a belief (faith?) in the market system where higher prices will bring increased exploration for hydrocarbons, I would argue that hydrocarbon fuels will remain "desirable".
The energy density of hydrocabon fuels trumps alternatives for mobile systems.
Note that I'm not arguing about fixed plants, where such systems as fuel cells may well work, only mobile."
I'll add to the argument (later).
Mostly that with the pace of development (slow) in personal transportation, due to the installed base (plant and equipment), as well as the adoptation of technologies such as hybrids, we'll be using hydrocarbon fuels for a long time. Maybe not gasoline, althought this may well be the choice, but bio-diesel, or diesel from Natural Gas are likely.
Long Bets [ 257: Hydrocarbon fuels will be the "fuel of choice" for personal transportation for the next 50 years ]
"Picking up on Danny's argument (#168) about non biogenic sources of hydrocarbons and a belief (faith?) in the market system where higher prices will bring increased exploration for hydrocarbons, I would argue that hydrocarbon fuels will remain "desirable".
The energy density of hydrocabon fuels trumps alternatives for mobile systems.
Note that I'm not arguing about fixed plants, where such systems as fuel cells may well work, only mobile."
I'll add to the argument (later).
Mostly that with the pace of development (slow) in personal transportation, due to the installed base (plant and equipment), as well as the adoptation of technologies such as hybrids, we'll be using hydrocarbon fuels for a long time. Maybe not gasoline, althought this may well be the choice, but bio-diesel, or diesel from Natural Gas are likely.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Hybrid ... cont
I've posted a few times about Hybrid Hype, such as Toyota Prius.
Now here's one that makes more sense... real world vs. image and video game.
Autoweek on Saturn Vue Greenline:
"It’s good to see that people building these vehicles are working toward simple everyday use, with hybrid in mind. This is no super-high-tech setup—just a belt assist via a starter/generator, regenerative braking, a battery pack, fuel cutoff, and some electronic gear to keep it all working together. But overall, it just does its thing—auto stop/start, belt-assisted acceleration, a gauge to report whether you’re using electric power or generating it, and a little green “ECO” light to tell you whether the vehicle is exceeding the EPA mileage estimate. Otherwise it works like a normal gasoline-engine SUV. It doesn’t call attention to fuel economy with some readout on the dash—that’s just the kind of thing that has greenies driving their hybrids as 49.3 mph in the California HOV lanes as they try to squeeze another mile per gallon out of their average miles per gallon readout. That may be green in the extreme, but it’s equal part stupid, and unsafe as well.
Overall, the Vue Green Line is a smart package at a great price for a hybrid with this much utility. This one was decked out with quite a few options—heated power leather seats, DVD entertainment system—and still cost $4,000 less than the last Ford Escape Hybrid we drove. And you’d be well on your way to buying a second Vue Green Line for the money you’d save over a Toyota Highlander Hybrid, which starts at $33,635.
This hybrid trucklet may not thrill the techno-geeks, nor will it calm the hardcore enviro-whackos, but it should please anyone looking for space for five and cargo room, a nice sticker price, and a lot less stress at the gas pump with the big $3.09 per gallon staring you in the face."
Now here's one that makes more sense... real world vs. image and video game.
Autoweek on Saturn Vue Greenline:
"It’s good to see that people building these vehicles are working toward simple everyday use, with hybrid in mind. This is no super-high-tech setup—just a belt assist via a starter/generator, regenerative braking, a battery pack, fuel cutoff, and some electronic gear to keep it all working together. But overall, it just does its thing—auto stop/start, belt-assisted acceleration, a gauge to report whether you’re using electric power or generating it, and a little green “ECO” light to tell you whether the vehicle is exceeding the EPA mileage estimate. Otherwise it works like a normal gasoline-engine SUV. It doesn’t call attention to fuel economy with some readout on the dash—that’s just the kind of thing that has greenies driving their hybrids as 49.3 mph in the California HOV lanes as they try to squeeze another mile per gallon out of their average miles per gallon readout. That may be green in the extreme, but it’s equal part stupid, and unsafe as well.
Overall, the Vue Green Line is a smart package at a great price for a hybrid with this much utility. This one was decked out with quite a few options—heated power leather seats, DVD entertainment system—and still cost $4,000 less than the last Ford Escape Hybrid we drove. And you’d be well on your way to buying a second Vue Green Line for the money you’d save over a Toyota Highlander Hybrid, which starts at $33,635.
This hybrid trucklet may not thrill the techno-geeks, nor will it calm the hardcore enviro-whackos, but it should please anyone looking for space for five and cargo room, a nice sticker price, and a lot less stress at the gas pump with the big $3.09 per gallon staring you in the face."
Good Visit
Well, we finally got together.
Old friend from High School, Brooks Stover, dropped by.
We haven't seen each other for something like 40 yrs.
Yup... dates me/us.
Turns out that he has owned property up here almost as long as I have.
Small world - common good taste (VBG)
Brooks showed up with his H3
His was tan/grey rather than red.
Turns out that he was project manager on this before retirement.
some PR here
Earlier project had been this:
We'd drawn cars all the time in HS.
Good that he made a career out of this passtime!
Old friend from High School, Brooks Stover, dropped by.
We haven't seen each other for something like 40 yrs.
Yup... dates me/us.
Turns out that he has owned property up here almost as long as I have.
Small world - common good taste (VBG)
Brooks showed up with his H3
His was tan/grey rather than red.
Turns out that he was project manager on this before retirement.
some PR here
Earlier project had been this:
We'd drawn cars all the time in HS.
Good that he made a career out of this passtime!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Ongoing on Oil prices
I tried to post a chart of Oil Futures, but it got to large.
Yesterday, despite, seemingly all day coverage on CNBC of Prudhoe Bay and oil prices, the Dec futures closed on the low for the day. I'm following Dec just as it has some time left and starting to get some volume.
Well, overnight we have the airline bombing plot foiled
NYTimes : "LONDON, Aug. 10 — British authorities said today that they had thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up multiple airliners traveling between Britain and the United States and cause “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.”
No link ... yet.
Today oil heads lower.
Chart here : iFS | Interactive Charts
Yesterday, despite, seemingly all day coverage on CNBC of Prudhoe Bay and oil prices, the Dec futures closed on the low for the day. I'm following Dec just as it has some time left and starting to get some volume.
Well, overnight we have the airline bombing plot foiled
NYTimes : "LONDON, Aug. 10 — British authorities said today that they had thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up multiple airliners traveling between Britain and the United States and cause “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.”
No link ... yet.
Today oil heads lower.
Chart here : iFS | Interactive Charts
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Joel comes to NYC
We throughly enjoyed L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon last Summer in Paris.
Now he comes to NYC:
"Mr. Robuchon, a Michelin three-star chef whose creativity and perfectionism have kept him at the pinnacle of the culinary world, has become conspicuously active since he “retired” 10 years ago, expanding the number of restaurants that bear his name and changing his approach so that it’s more casual. He made his first foray into the particularities of the American palate last year in Las Vegas. He describes that venture these days as a warm-up for the scary, tough crowd in New York. 
Now he comes to NYC:
"Mr. Robuchon, a Michelin three-star chef whose creativity and perfectionism have kept him at the pinnacle of the culinary world, has become conspicuously active since he “retired” 10 years ago, expanding the number of restaurants that bear his name and changing his approach so that it’s more casual. He made his first foray into the particularities of the American palate last year in Las Vegas. He describes that venture these days as a warm-up for the scary, tough crowd in New York.
Last week, he was finally seeing his latest restaurant in its completed state — clearly he knew the clock was ticking. His first reaction was general approval.
Then he took a closer look."
Mr. Robuchon slices hanger steak in the kitchen.
"When Mr. Robuchon turned 50 and announced that he would retire at the top of his game, saying he was tired of haute cuisine and all the formal folderol that it involved, it rocked the world of food. Then his announcement in 2002 that he would open L’Atelier, a 36-seat, counter-only restaurant in Paris on the Left Bank, was just as stunning. By 2003 he was back in the restaurant business in France. (He had first tested the waters by opening a version of it a few months earlier in Tokyo.)
Within a year after the opening in Paris, Ty Warner, the owner of the Four Seasons hotel in New York, began to court him for his hotel, as a replacement for the Fifty Seven Fifty Seven restaurant. “Everybody was saying he was the greatest chef in the world, so I ate in all his restaurants and I was convinced,” Mr. Warner said.
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York is a little different from the others. For one thing, it has been incorporated into an existing space with a blond wood, somewhat Art Deco style by I. M. Pei, who designed the hotel. The Atelier’s look, created by the French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon, is sleek black with touches of burgundy. Mr. Pei was consulted on the design and Mr. Robuchon approved every piece of kitchen equipment.
Unlike the other Robuchon restaurants, this one has a counter that seats only 20 and is of blond wood; the others are black. Beyond it, the black open kitchen is typical of the other Ateliers.
The restaurant has another 30 seats, at tables with banquettes. But the menus for both parts of the restaurant are the same, with a list of about 20 dishes served either as small tasting plates ($12 to $78) or larger, conventional portions ($17 to $88), at both lunch and dinner. The restaurant will also offer tasting menus. Desserts are $15."
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Why Blog?
Interesting piece here: Economists' blogs | The invisible hand on the keyboard from The Economist.
Bottom line: distance matters less today.
Access to ideas means more.
"The faster flow of information and the waning importance of location—which blogs exemplify—have made it easier for economists from any university to have access to the best brains in their field. That anyone with an internet connection can sit in on a virtual lecture from Mr DeLong means that his ideas move freely beyond the boundaries of Berkeley, creating a welfare gain for professors and the public."
Bottom line: distance matters less today.
Access to ideas means more.
Aug 3rd 2006
From The Economist print edition
Why do economists spend valuable time blogging?
“CLEARLY there is here a problem of the division of knowledge, which is quite analogous to, and at least as important as, the problem of the division of labour,” Friedrich Hayek told the London Economic Club in 1936. What Mr Hayek could not have known about knowledge was that 70 years later weblogs, or blogs, would be pooling it into a vast, virtual conversation. That economists are typing as prolifically as anyone speaks both to the value of the medium and to the worth they put on their time.
..."The faster flow of information and the waning importance of location—which blogs exemplify—have made it easier for economists from any university to have access to the best brains in their field. That anyone with an internet connection can sit in on a virtual lecture from Mr DeLong means that his ideas move freely beyond the boundaries of Berkeley, creating a welfare gain for professors and the public."
Oil Prices
Still pretty early to tell, but following Looney Dunes: Alaskan Oil we have CNN Report:
" Global oil prices are slightly lower Tuesday, a day after the market jumped 3 percent on news BP was shutting down Alaska's giant Prudhoe Bay oilfield, possibly for months.
The 400,000 barrel-per-day Alaskan field accounts for eight percent of U.S. domestic production.
U.S. light, sweet crude oil was down 28 cents at $76.70 a barrel by 0641 GMT Tuesday, Reuters reported. It jumped 3 percent to $76.98 a barrel on Monday, within sight of its record of $78.40 reached in July.
London Brent crude is down 41 cents to $77.89 a barrel. It hit a record high Monday of $78.64.
Share markets in Asia, which fell sharply on Monday as part of a global slump, recovered Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei up more than 2 percent at the close. South Korea, Taiwan and Australia were all up more than 1 percent.
BP said on Monday it would shut down its Prudhoe Bay operation for an indefinite period after finding "unexpectedly severe corrosion" on one line and a small oil spill.
In a subsequent statement, BP said it would replace all of the field's transit lines, potentially putting it out of service for months.
BP America President Bob Malone said in a news release dated Tuesday, August 8: "We have now taken the decision to replace the main oil transit lines at Prudhoe Bay. This will be accomplished as part of our overall plan for ensuring the integrity of the field."
Malone said BP deeply regretted that it was necessary to take the "drastic action" of a shutdown.
Crude oil prices began climbing as soon as the first BP announcement was made and analysts said consumers could expect an increase in gas prices at the pump.
"We apologize to the nation and to the state of Alaska for any adverse impact, however this decision was made due to discovery of unexpectedly severe corrosion and a small spill from a crude oil transit pipeline," BP spokesman Daren Beaudo told CNN. (Watch BP man apologize -- 4.26)
Oil reserve
The U.S. Department of Energy said it was willing to release supplies from the nation's emergency oil reserve to prevent a crisis.
BP, which is already facing a criminal investigation over a large corrosion-related spill in March at Prudhoe Bay, saw its stock drop several percentage points on the London Stock Exchange after the shutdown announcement, The Associated Press said.
Beaudo said it would take a "few days" to shut down production on the affected pipeline.
He said approximately four to five barrels of oil had leaked, but the spill had been contained. He said pumping would resume until it was environmentally safe to continue.
BP said tests had revealed 16 anomalies in 12 locations in an oil transit line on the eastern side of the oil field.
According to AP, the oil firm confirmed in June that it had received a subpoena from a U.S. grand jury investigating the March spill at Prudhoe Bay.
Also last week, BP said it would shut down 12 oil wells on Alaska's North Slope as a precaution after whistle blowers alleged more than 50 were leaking, AP said. Most of the closed wells were in Prudhoe Bay.
Monday's announcement follows more than a year of escalating oil prices with violence in the Middle East and Africa, wranglings over Russian energy firms and adverse weather in key North American oil fields all piling pressure on a jittery market.
But there are some hopes for a breakthrough in the Middle East conflict."
And from July 12 International Energy Agency:
Supply ahead of demand
International Energy Agency - Oil Market Report:
"Benchmark NYMEX WTI crude futures rallied above $75/bbl in early July driven by strong gasoline prices, refinery problems and geopolitical uncertainty. Supply constraints remain in Nigeria, although Iraq’s northern pipeline is providing additional supplies. Headline-driven reactions to developments involving Iran’s nuclear programme continue to have a major impact on market sentiment.
World oil product demand growth is largely unchanged for 2006, at 1.21 mb/d, as weak 2Q06 OECD consumption is counterbalanced by Chinese demand strength. Demand projections for 2007 show growth of 1.57 mb/d based on recoveries in North America and Southeast Asia.
Non-OPEC oil supply growth accelerates to 1.7 mb/d in 2007 from 1.1 mb/d in 2006. Supply (including biofuels) averages 53.0 mb/d next year. The FSU and Africa account for 60% of growth, and the Americas for 30%. New oilfields and an assumed rebound after severe 2005/2006 outages underpin the increase in 2007. The North Sea and OECD Pacific also see a temporary respite in 2007 from recent declines."
Now back to our regularly scheduled nonsense ...
" Global oil prices are slightly lower Tuesday, a day after the market jumped 3 percent on news BP was shutting down Alaska's giant Prudhoe Bay oilfield, possibly for months.
The 400,000 barrel-per-day Alaskan field accounts for eight percent of U.S. domestic production.
U.S. light, sweet crude oil was down 28 cents at $76.70 a barrel by 0641 GMT Tuesday, Reuters reported. It jumped 3 percent to $76.98 a barrel on Monday, within sight of its record of $78.40 reached in July.
London Brent crude is down 41 cents to $77.89 a barrel. It hit a record high Monday of $78.64.
Share markets in Asia, which fell sharply on Monday as part of a global slump, recovered Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei up more than 2 percent at the close. South Korea, Taiwan and Australia were all up more than 1 percent.
BP said on Monday it would shut down its Prudhoe Bay operation for an indefinite period after finding "unexpectedly severe corrosion" on one line and a small oil spill.
In a subsequent statement, BP said it would replace all of the field's transit lines, potentially putting it out of service for months.
BP America President Bob Malone said in a news release dated Tuesday, August 8: "We have now taken the decision to replace the main oil transit lines at Prudhoe Bay. This will be accomplished as part of our overall plan for ensuring the integrity of the field."
Malone said BP deeply regretted that it was necessary to take the "drastic action" of a shutdown.
Crude oil prices began climbing as soon as the first BP announcement was made and analysts said consumers could expect an increase in gas prices at the pump.
"We apologize to the nation and to the state of Alaska for any adverse impact, however this decision was made due to discovery of unexpectedly severe corrosion and a small spill from a crude oil transit pipeline," BP spokesman Daren Beaudo told CNN. (Watch BP man apologize -- 4.26)
Oil reserve
The U.S. Department of Energy said it was willing to release supplies from the nation's emergency oil reserve to prevent a crisis.
BP, which is already facing a criminal investigation over a large corrosion-related spill in March at Prudhoe Bay, saw its stock drop several percentage points on the London Stock Exchange after the shutdown announcement, The Associated Press said.
Beaudo said it would take a "few days" to shut down production on the affected pipeline.
He said approximately four to five barrels of oil had leaked, but the spill had been contained. He said pumping would resume until it was environmentally safe to continue.
BP said tests had revealed 16 anomalies in 12 locations in an oil transit line on the eastern side of the oil field.
According to AP, the oil firm confirmed in June that it had received a subpoena from a U.S. grand jury investigating the March spill at Prudhoe Bay.
Also last week, BP said it would shut down 12 oil wells on Alaska's North Slope as a precaution after whistle blowers alleged more than 50 were leaking, AP said. Most of the closed wells were in Prudhoe Bay.
Monday's announcement follows more than a year of escalating oil prices with violence in the Middle East and Africa, wranglings over Russian energy firms and adverse weather in key North American oil fields all piling pressure on a jittery market.
But there are some hopes for a breakthrough in the Middle East conflict."
And from July 12 International Energy Agency:
Supply ahead of demand
International Energy Agency - Oil Market Report:
"Benchmark NYMEX WTI crude futures rallied above $75/bbl in early July driven by strong gasoline prices, refinery problems and geopolitical uncertainty. Supply constraints remain in Nigeria, although Iraq’s northern pipeline is providing additional supplies. Headline-driven reactions to developments involving Iran’s nuclear programme continue to have a major impact on market sentiment.
World oil product demand growth is largely unchanged for 2006, at 1.21 mb/d, as weak 2Q06 OECD consumption is counterbalanced by Chinese demand strength. Demand projections for 2007 show growth of 1.57 mb/d based on recoveries in North America and Southeast Asia.
Non-OPEC oil supply growth accelerates to 1.7 mb/d in 2007 from 1.1 mb/d in 2006. Supply (including biofuels) averages 53.0 mb/d next year. The FSU and Africa account for 60% of growth, and the Americas for 30%. New oilfields and an assumed rebound after severe 2005/2006 outages underpin the increase in 2007. The North Sea and OECD Pacific also see a temporary respite in 2007 from recent declines."
Now back to our regularly scheduled nonsense ...
Not Quite "I've Been Everywhere" (Jonny Cash)
Seem to be missing Delaware (unsure of that) and
know that I'm missing Alaska and Maine
Check this link to create your own visited states map
Then there is World Travels
Guess I'm pretty much a "Northern Hemisphere" guy.
And you can: create your own visited countries map
know that I'm missing Alaska and Maine
Check this link to create your own visited states map
Then there is World Travels
Guess I'm pretty much a "Northern Hemisphere" guy.
And you can: create your own visited countries map
Monday, August 07, 2006
Hey Dan ...
Spotted this on the Web.Just too funny noot to post it.
Fact is, I don't watch Today nor CBS Evening News.
Alaskan Oil
News over the weekend that BP will have to shut down Prudhoe Bay for repairs.
AP:
"BP said oil production would be reduced by 400,000 barrels a day, close to 8 percent of U.S. oil production."
If oil doesn't gain at least $5 on this news, my guesss is that it will drop $5-10.
Why?
News of major cut in production should be positive for prices.
If not, this will be evidence that there is plenty of oil either in the market or ready for the market.
This would drive down prices.
Unwinding of speculative positions will further pressure prices.
AP:
"BP said oil production would be reduced by 400,000 barrels a day, close to 8 percent of U.S. oil production."
If oil doesn't gain at least $5 on this news, my guesss is that it will drop $5-10.
Why?
News of major cut in production should be positive for prices.
If not, this will be evidence that there is plenty of oil either in the market or ready for the market.
This would drive down prices.
Unwinding of speculative positions will further pressure prices.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Mario in Michigan
Star Chef Splits his time, some "up here".
Just spotted a piece that ran in Detroit Free Press back on July 26th
Get 11 friends and your checkbook
And here's coverage from the TC Record-Eagle
A buddy in the kitchen: Batali repeats offer to cook as fundraiser prize
Just spotted a piece that ran in Detroit Free Press back on July 26th
Get 11 friends and your checkbook High bid: Lunch Up North with star chef
July 26, 2006
It isn't for the faint of heart, stomach or pocketbook, but superstar chef Mario Batali is offering to cook with you and 11 of your friends Up North next month, if you're the high bidder in a charity auction.
Uber restaurateur, Food Network icon, author of best-selling cookbooks and last year's James Beard Foundation chef of the year, the pony-tailed Batali and his family -- wife, Susi, and sons Benno, 9, and Leo, 8 -- have a home near Northport on the Leelanau Peninsula. The Aug. 27 afternoon cooking lesson, wine tasting and multi-course lunch is a fund-raiser for the Leelanau Conservancy, a group dedicated to land preservation in the area.
This is the second event he's done for the group; the first one went for $25,000.
"It was fabulous -- one of those events of a lifetime," said Mary Loveless of Omena, a guest of the winning bidders, who did not want to be named. "Mario was just so much fun -- fun and funny and gracious."
This year, according to the Conservancy Web site at www.theconservancy.com , the meal featuring "the bounty of the Leelanau Peninsula" will start at 1 p.m. "and continue until the Roman mindset is achieved."
With the bidding finale set for next week, we caught up with Batali at his Up North home and peppered him with questions about the event and his life in Michigan.
Here's what he had to say:
Question: I understand you recently did a charity dinner for your child's school that went for $52,000. How many of these events do you usually do a year, and why are you doing this one for the Leelanau Conservancy?
Answer: This one is a lunch, but I do dinners of this variety between six and 10 times a year, and they all go for around that range. But I did one with Emeril that went for $150,000. It's a case of having the right people involved -- and they'll drop that money anyway. As for why I'm doing this one, we spend a substantial amount of our time here and all our holidays. I think it's a remarkably beautiful place that needs to be protected.
Q: If my friends and I scrape up several thousand dollars to win this event, what can we expect?
A: It's Roman cooking at its best. And it's hands-on participation to the extent that someone wants it to be. They could just sit there if they want to and let me cook, but last year's group got down and got into it. We'll have a lot of wine, little artichokes, fava beans, saltimbocca ... There'll be 10 courses, each in small portions, prepared on the spot -- and everything will be fresh.
Q: Can you describe "the Roman mindset"?
A: That of running the world, likely intoxicated, and (being) deliriously happy.
Q: And they say money can't buy happiness ...
A: But you can certainly trade some cash for a few moments of it.
Q: What's the difference between living in Manhattan and living in Northport?
A: (Laughs.) Well, let's put it this way: You can drive slow in Northport. You don't have any stop lights ... well, no, there's one blinking light in Northport. There are no taxis. Everything's over at midnight, and nobody minds.
Those are some of the crucial differences.
Q: How'd you end up there?
A: My wife went to college at the U of M. We started coming out to visit some of her friends about eight years ago. We stayed one week, and the next year we stayed two weeks. And then three weeks, and then five. And then the guy whose house we had been renting decided to move up here. So we started looking around at places, and at that point, we decided to buy.
Q: So you go in winter, too?
A: We come at Christmas and Thanksgiving, and last year at Thanksgiving we had a beautiful snow. It was just like being in a beautiful snow globe. I hadn't realized it, but the lake effect makes the snow just float around. We were here for five days, and it was just magnificent.
Q: What's your favorite thing to do up there? Do you have a garden? Make wine? Fish for walleye? Read paperbacks? Write more cookbooks?
A: All of the above, but I do have a wood-burning pizza oven in my backyard overlooking Lake Michigan. So making pizza out there may be my favorite thing to do here. It makes my children very happy, and it makes me happy.
Q: What's a typical night on the Leelanau Peninsula for you and your family?
A: The other night we went on a big boat ride -- drove across to the other side of Grand Traverse Bay, looked at Eastport and rode around, dragged the kids on an inner tube, and then we went to my friends Barbara and Lee's house, and they made barbecue chicken and peach and raspberry cobbler.
Q: Does anyone up there invite you over for dinner?
A: Well, sure -- Barbara and Lee do! (Barbara Nelson-Jameson is a close friend of Susi's from college and a member of the Conservancy board.)
Q: By now, do you consider yourself a Michigander?
A: I am definitely, ... particularly in the summer. But I still honk my horn every now and then, so I must be a New Yorker.
And here's coverage from the TC Record-Eagle
A buddy in the kitchen: Batali repeats offer to cook as fundraiser prize
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Creative Writing
Funny stuff
Got email from Graeme first thing this AM with the link The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, Aged 51 1/2
Some pretty funny stuff, esp. for Mac-aholic (evidence below).
The following shot from this summer's "family gathering"
Several Powerbooks "elsewhere" and the rest of the kludge a collection of devices kept out of way of the 13month old. Add in a few digital cameras, diapers, kiddie snacks
And this was just 4 adults, one left her's at home.
Got email from Graeme first thing this AM with the link The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, Aged 51 1/2
Some pretty funny stuff, esp. for Mac-aholic (evidence below).
The following shot from this summer's "family gathering"
Several Powerbooks "elsewhere" and the rest of the kludge a collection of devices kept out of way of the 13month old. Add in a few digital cameras, diapers, kiddie snacks
And this was just 4 adults, one left her's at home.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Art of War (that wasn't)
Or maybe "Theater of Operations"
Pretty interesting shots of swiss bunkers
(check out the site - 19 shots)
Some are obvious
some very much non-obvious at first glance
From the site:
Swiss Bunkers
For over four years, I have developed a photographic documentary work on Swiss fortified constructions – bunkers. Each element of these photographs has a relation with Switzerland and particularly the mountain landscape that is an inherent part of our identity. The bunkers are a integral part of a finely developed popular defense military system in Switzerland, a military with historically strong links to the landscape.
After the cold war ended many of the bunkers became obsolete. The tendency is to forget them or even to renounce them, my approach on the contrary, aims to expose them from a new angle. This approach has led me to discover a great number of bunkers, some in remote areas, sometimes difficultly accessible, covering the whole of the Swiss territory. The relations between these basic shaped bunkers and the often-sumptuous landscape surrounds them became an essential part of the study. I looked for the most spectacular bunkers, notable for their camouflage devices, true theatre scenery made with the utmost care. A quality indeed fully Swiss.
leo fabrizio
www.leofabrizio.com
Pretty interesting shots of swiss bunkers
(check out the site - 19 shots)
Some are obvious
some very much non-obvious at first glance
From the site:
Swiss Bunkers
For over four years, I have developed a photographic documentary work on Swiss fortified constructions – bunkers. Each element of these photographs has a relation with Switzerland and particularly the mountain landscape that is an inherent part of our identity. The bunkers are a integral part of a finely developed popular defense military system in Switzerland, a military with historically strong links to the landscape.
After the cold war ended many of the bunkers became obsolete. The tendency is to forget them or even to renounce them, my approach on the contrary, aims to expose them from a new angle. This approach has led me to discover a great number of bunkers, some in remote areas, sometimes difficultly accessible, covering the whole of the Swiss territory. The relations between these basic shaped bunkers and the often-sumptuous landscape surrounds them became an essential part of the study. I looked for the most spectacular bunkers, notable for their camouflage devices, true theatre scenery made with the utmost care. A quality indeed fully Swiss.
leo fabrizio
www.leofabrizio.com
Weather
Been hot, we've needed some rain
Here is shot of "Water Vapor" from Intellicast
For fresh input of water to the Great Lakes Basin, we need sources from the outside, either Pacific or Gulf of Mexico.
This looks like Pacific off the coast of Mexico
Winter, we sometimes get it from off coast of Canada.
We got the first bands last night, a bit before 9PM.
Minor bands overnight (about 2AM)
Then early this AM we picked up some more.
Of note is that as the water warms up (Lake Mich) the storms can hold together as they pass over the lake.
Earlier in the season, when the waters are colder, they seem to suck the energy out of the storms.
From now through the rest of the year, storms will carry across the Lake.
For the rest of the summer, we'll get occasional light shows.
As we are situated on the north shore, we get to see storms move across our view.
Here is shot of "Water Vapor" from Intellicast
For fresh input of water to the Great Lakes Basin, we need sources from the outside, either Pacific or Gulf of Mexico.
This looks like Pacific off the coast of Mexico
Winter, we sometimes get it from off coast of Canada.
We got the first bands last night, a bit before 9PM.
Minor bands overnight (about 2AM)
Then early this AM we picked up some more.
Of note is that as the water warms up (Lake Mich) the storms can hold together as they pass over the lake.
Earlier in the season, when the waters are colder, they seem to suck the energy out of the storms.
From now through the rest of the year, storms will carry across the Lake.
For the rest of the summer, we'll get occasional light shows.
As we are situated on the north shore, we get to see storms move across our view.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Different Communication Skill Sets
Well, turned out to be a week filled with a lot of , not quite “non-verbal” communication skills, more like non-two-way English conversations.
13 month old grandson was much in our care.
Daughter (his mom) laid up with Vertigo and with much help from our other daughter (many many thanks in order to her) we got a course in “instant grand-parenting.”
Relearning some old skills, feeding, diapers, keeping watchfull eye on wanderings, and “play.”
At this age, there are a few blunt “universal” words, such as “NO.” that seem to be understood.
For the rest, there is much “making noises.”
Both grandparents and grandson.
Most good, some not as good.
Failures by grandparents to understand cues and “established phrases” caused some concerns on both ends of the “conversation.”
Beyond NO, we had “doggie, gentle, ball, lake, water” and a few other words that might have been recognized. Grandparents learned a few intonations and something like googlie-googlie-googlie as happy phrase for fruit (esp. blueberries).
Non verbal ranged from pouts (no more of THAT food) to broad and engaging smiles and giggles.
Grandpa (me) got to revisit many “mouth sounds” from cheek popping to tones from blowing over the mouth of a bottle, to finger-lip-flapping while vocalizing.
Robby picked up on most, other than the bottle blowing (which seemed to catch his ear).
It was fun to watch him explore some of his new toys, experimenting with combinations of objects to be cycled through an airstream contraption, or just playing with plastic utensils and containers … organizing and dis-organizing collections.
He certainly seems to enjoy the lake, and I expect that, in a few years, he’ll “live” on the dock and/or raft when he visits in later years.
Some of us think he is destined to be a chef, what with his near-constant interest in heading for the kitchen then attempting to explore (constant supervision). With fork in hand much of the time, some thought he may just become a food critic…
It's also fun to watch some of his problem solving skills - dry cereal to take out of container, and put back - learning about gravity etc.
BTW, this is Robby enjoying breakfast in his "Antique" Hi-Chair
13 month old grandson was much in our care.
Daughter (his mom) laid up with Vertigo and with much help from our other daughter (many many thanks in order to her) we got a course in “instant grand-parenting.”
Relearning some old skills, feeding, diapers, keeping watchfull eye on wanderings, and “play.”
At this age, there are a few blunt “universal” words, such as “NO.” that seem to be understood.
For the rest, there is much “making noises.”
Both grandparents and grandson.
Most good, some not as good.
Failures by grandparents to understand cues and “established phrases” caused some concerns on both ends of the “conversation.”
Beyond NO, we had “doggie, gentle, ball, lake, water” and a few other words that might have been recognized. Grandparents learned a few intonations and something like googlie-googlie-googlie as happy phrase for fruit (esp. blueberries).
Non verbal ranged from pouts (no more of THAT food) to broad and engaging smiles and giggles.
Grandpa (me) got to revisit many “mouth sounds” from cheek popping to tones from blowing over the mouth of a bottle, to finger-lip-flapping while vocalizing.
Robby picked up on most, other than the bottle blowing (which seemed to catch his ear).
It was fun to watch him explore some of his new toys, experimenting with combinations of objects to be cycled through an airstream contraption, or just playing with plastic utensils and containers … organizing and dis-organizing collections.
He certainly seems to enjoy the lake, and I expect that, in a few years, he’ll “live” on the dock and/or raft when he visits in later years.
Some of us think he is destined to be a chef, what with his near-constant interest in heading for the kitchen then attempting to explore (constant supervision). With fork in hand much of the time, some thought he may just become a food critic…
It's also fun to watch some of his problem solving skills - dry cereal to take out of container, and put back - learning about gravity etc.
BTW, this is Robby enjoying breakfast in his "Antique" Hi-Chair
Friday, July 28, 2006
Breakfast of Champions
From WSJounal:
Tour de France champion Landis said he has naturally high testosterone levels and denied using illegal substances during the race. He did say he drank two beers and at least four shots of whiskey before its strenuous mountain stage.
Tour de France champion Landis said he has naturally high testosterone levels and denied using illegal substances during the race. He did say he drank two beers and at least four shots of whiskey before its strenuous mountain stage.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Dialed Back
Not much this week
Grandson here
Rookie grandparents re-learning babysitting
Think like one year old...
Or enough to interact at that level ...
Grandson here
Rookie grandparents re-learning babysitting
Think like one year old...
Or enough to interact at that level ...
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Near total FAWRK
Well
Many days of file reconstruction ahead
Quicken
Most company files seem OK
But Household Files seem to be farqued ... corrupted
For some reason, Q doesn't seem to have a backup on my machine
All other files backed up
Sooooo
Last solid files April '04
Massive updates
Arrgh
Many days of file reconstruction ahead
Quicken
Most company files seem OK
But Household Files seem to be farqued ... corrupted
For some reason, Q doesn't seem to have a backup on my machine
All other files backed up
Sooooo
Last solid files April '04
Massive updates
Arrgh
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Oh that Smarts ...
(note that this may destroy my goal of improving my spelling)
----
Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on!!
----
Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on!!
Moto .... GP
Coming to Laguna Seca (Monterey Peninsula, Calif)
200+ HP
200+ MPH top speed (on longer tracks)
Tight racing
Photo borrowed from Superbikeplanet.com
MotoGP Preview: USGP At Laguna Seca, July 23rd
200+ HP
200+ MPH top speed (on longer tracks)
Tight racing
Photo borrowed from Superbikeplanet.com
MotoGP Preview: USGP At Laguna Seca, July 23rd
Monday, July 17, 2006
More Head Swelling
Tom's webmaster picks up earlier post.
Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog: Tom around the web
I'd done simple compare/contrast Tom and John Robb.
Both worth reading
Add in Austin Bay Blog
Discoverd Austin a few months ago.
Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog: Tom around the web
I'd done simple compare/contrast Tom and John Robb.
Both worth reading
Add in Austin Bay Blog
Discoverd Austin a few months ago.
Israel, Lebanon, Iraq
A few links to stories.
The sands are shifting.
Israel: "The War With Iran"
(strategypage.com)
"July 16, 2006: Iran aside, there hasn't been a really noisy response from the Moslem world about Israel's military operations against Lebanon. Notably subdued is the response from the Arab countries; it's mostly been mumbling about the plight of the Palestinians and such. Could this mean that the principal Arab leaders are not all that unhappy to see Hizbollah get it in the neck? After all, most of the Arabs are Sunni, while Hizbollah and Iran are Shia. The exception that proves the rule is Syria, which has a Shia leadership. But most Arabs fear Iran, not because most Iranians are Shia, but because Iranians are not Arabs. Iran has been the regional superpower for over three thousand years. Iran is building nuclear weapons. Iran is backing Shia Arab factions in Iraq that would support turning Iraq into an Iranian ally. Also scary is the fact that Iran is currently run by a religious dictatorship. Most Arabs have noted how that worked in Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan and want no part of it. Worse, the Iranian religious leadership believes that they would do a better job running the Hejaz (the region of Saudi Arabia containing Mecca and Medina and the most holy places in Islam). For centuries, the Turks kept the Iranians out of the Hejaz."
Blame by Some Arab Leaders for Fighters - New York Times:
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: July 17, 2006
"BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 16 — With the battle between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah raging, key Arab governments have taken the rare step of blaming Hezbollah, underscoring in part their growing fear of influence by the group’s main sponsor, Iran.
Saudi Arabia, with Jordan, Egypt and several Persian Gulf states, chastised Hezbollah for “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts” at an emergency Arab League summit meeting in Cairo on Saturday."
In an About-Face, Sunnis Want U.S. to Remain in Iraq - New York Times
"BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 16 — As sectarian violence soars, many Sunni Arab political and religious leaders once staunchly opposed to the American presence here are now saying they need American troops to protect them from the rampages of Shiite militias and Shiite-run government forces."
Note that Al Zarqawi was in all likelyhood "turned in" by Sunni's
Stratfor: "Saudi Arabia: Al-Hariri Travels to Riyadh for Talks
July 16, 2006 19 47 GMT"
"Saudi Arabia is engaged in significant diplomatic moves regarding the escalating crisis in Lebanon. These maneuvers involve discussions with Iran and dealings with other Arab players such as Egypt, Jordan and Syria, but also entail working with Riyadh's allies in Lebanon -- the Sunni community led by the al-Hariri clan, with whom the Saudis have not only political but business and familial ties. Saad al-Hariri, current leader of Lebanon's Sunni community, is headed to Riyadh on July 16 for talks on the building conflict between Israel and the militant Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah's actions, which have led to the verge of a major war with Israel, threaten the interests of the al-Hariris. Saudi Arabia, as a principal behind the al-Hariri clan, is concerned about Iran's advances deeper into the region.
Meanwhile, Egypt -- despite its own competition with Saudi Arabia -- is on the same page as the kingdom as far as the threat from Iran and the Lebanese situation is concerned. In this regard, Cairo, which has been engaged in heavy diplomacy, has assumed the task of trying to deal with Syria in a bid to counter Iranian moves to pull Damascus in its direction. The Egyptian approach has been a mix of warnings and inducements. The latter came in the form of Egyptian Ambassador to Damascus Hazem Khairat thanking Syrian authorities for facilitating the exit of Egyptian citizens trying to flee Lebanon."
The sands are shifting.
Israel: "The War With Iran"
(strategypage.com)
"July 16, 2006: Iran aside, there hasn't been a really noisy response from the Moslem world about Israel's military operations against Lebanon. Notably subdued is the response from the Arab countries; it's mostly been mumbling about the plight of the Palestinians and such. Could this mean that the principal Arab leaders are not all that unhappy to see Hizbollah get it in the neck? After all, most of the Arabs are Sunni, while Hizbollah and Iran are Shia. The exception that proves the rule is Syria, which has a Shia leadership. But most Arabs fear Iran, not because most Iranians are Shia, but because Iranians are not Arabs. Iran has been the regional superpower for over three thousand years. Iran is building nuclear weapons. Iran is backing Shia Arab factions in Iraq that would support turning Iraq into an Iranian ally. Also scary is the fact that Iran is currently run by a religious dictatorship. Most Arabs have noted how that worked in Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan and want no part of it. Worse, the Iranian religious leadership believes that they would do a better job running the Hejaz (the region of Saudi Arabia containing Mecca and Medina and the most holy places in Islam). For centuries, the Turks kept the Iranians out of the Hejaz."
Blame by Some Arab Leaders for Fighters - New York Times:
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: July 17, 2006
"BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 16 — With the battle between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah raging, key Arab governments have taken the rare step of blaming Hezbollah, underscoring in part their growing fear of influence by the group’s main sponsor, Iran.
Saudi Arabia, with Jordan, Egypt and several Persian Gulf states, chastised Hezbollah for “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts” at an emergency Arab League summit meeting in Cairo on Saturday."
In an About-Face, Sunnis Want U.S. to Remain in Iraq - New York Times
"BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 16 — As sectarian violence soars, many Sunni Arab political and religious leaders once staunchly opposed to the American presence here are now saying they need American troops to protect them from the rampages of Shiite militias and Shiite-run government forces."
Note that Al Zarqawi was in all likelyhood "turned in" by Sunni's
Stratfor: "Saudi Arabia: Al-Hariri Travels to Riyadh for Talks
July 16, 2006 19 47 GMT"
"Saudi Arabia is engaged in significant diplomatic moves regarding the escalating crisis in Lebanon. These maneuvers involve discussions with Iran and dealings with other Arab players such as Egypt, Jordan and Syria, but also entail working with Riyadh's allies in Lebanon -- the Sunni community led by the al-Hariri clan, with whom the Saudis have not only political but business and familial ties. Saad al-Hariri, current leader of Lebanon's Sunni community, is headed to Riyadh on July 16 for talks on the building conflict between Israel and the militant Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah's actions, which have led to the verge of a major war with Israel, threaten the interests of the al-Hariris. Saudi Arabia, as a principal behind the al-Hariri clan, is concerned about Iran's advances deeper into the region.
Meanwhile, Egypt -- despite its own competition with Saudi Arabia -- is on the same page as the kingdom as far as the threat from Iran and the Lebanese situation is concerned. In this regard, Cairo, which has been engaged in heavy diplomacy, has assumed the task of trying to deal with Syria in a bid to counter Iranian moves to pull Damascus in its direction. The Egyptian approach has been a mix of warnings and inducements. The latter came in the form of Egyptian Ambassador to Damascus Hazem Khairat thanking Syrian authorities for facilitating the exit of Egyptian citizens trying to flee Lebanon."
Sunday, July 16, 2006
MMF opening concert
Free
Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore
Dune Climb Concert
The Greencards - High Energy Acoustic Music
Very nice.
They toured with Dylan and Willie Nelson last year.
Great Launch for the Manitou Music Festival
Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore
Dune Climb Concert
The Greencards - High Energy Acoustic Music
Very nice.
They toured with Dylan and Willie Nelson last year.
Great Launch for the Manitou Music Festival
Quality ...?
Piece in WSJournal on "Shopping Mall Masters"
"To the art world's chagrin, painters once known for $10 posters are selling original works for up to $300,000. Our reporter on Day-Glo sunsets, cruise-ship auctions and photorealistic unicorns.
By KELLY CROW
July 14, 2006; Page W1
Howard Behrens isn't the sort of artist to have his works sold by a top auction house or exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. But that hasn't stopped him from getting paid like one.
When Mr. Behrens got his start in the early 1980s, his brightly colored Italian cafés and sun-dappled French gardens were big sellers as $20 posters or $1,000 limited-edition prints at shops such as the Village Gallery at Brea Mall in Brea, Calif. But thanks to growing demand at midtier galleries and on cruise ships, Mr. Behrens is increasingly focusing on original oil paintings. A couple of canvases showing a garden path and a lily-pad pond -- his tributes to Monet -- just went for $50,000 each, roughly the same price paid three months ago at Christie's for an intricate ink drawing of a cat's eyes by Lucian Freud. "I hit the jackpot," Mr. Behrens says.
FRAME SHOP TO FINE ART
There's a new group of contemporary artists fetching six figures a pop. Though hardly embraced by the art-world cognoscenti, artists who are known for neon sunsets, frolicking dolphins and photorealistic unicorns are increasingly selling at prices to rival critical art darlings like Rachel Whiteread, Richard Diebenkorn and Franz Kline. Their posters may still adorn the walls of dentists' offices, nursing homes and chain-hotel rooms, but their original canvases can sell for anywhere from $10,000 to $300,000, roughly double from five years ago. Often bypassing art hubs like New York and London, the artists reign over their own product-licensing empires and gallery circuits, making marquee stops in Las Vegas and coastal cities like Coconut Grove, Fla. Most have waiting lists and fan clubs; a few sport taglines like the "Painter of Light," "Picasso of Glass" and "King of the Line."
The piece goes on , but you get the idea.
Led me to think of Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
"In this book, Pirsig explores the meaning of the concept "quality" (a term which he capitalizes). In the sequel (Lila: An Inquiry into Morals), Pirsig expands his exploration of Quality into a complete metaphysics which he calls The Metaphysics of Quality. The Metaphysics of Quality is a philosophy, a theory about reality; it asks questions such as what is real, what is good and what is moral."
Christian Riese Lassen's "Beyond Hana's Gate" sold for $225,000. The painting is one of a romantic series set on a Maui beach.
"To the art world's chagrin, painters once known for $10 posters are selling original works for up to $300,000. Our reporter on Day-Glo sunsets, cruise-ship auctions and photorealistic unicorns.
By KELLY CROW
July 14, 2006; Page W1
Howard Behrens isn't the sort of artist to have his works sold by a top auction house or exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. But that hasn't stopped him from getting paid like one.
When Mr. Behrens got his start in the early 1980s, his brightly colored Italian cafés and sun-dappled French gardens were big sellers as $20 posters or $1,000 limited-edition prints at shops such as the Village Gallery at Brea Mall in Brea, Calif. But thanks to growing demand at midtier galleries and on cruise ships, Mr. Behrens is increasingly focusing on original oil paintings. A couple of canvases showing a garden path and a lily-pad pond -- his tributes to Monet -- just went for $50,000 each, roughly the same price paid three months ago at Christie's for an intricate ink drawing of a cat's eyes by Lucian Freud. "I hit the jackpot," Mr. Behrens says.
Howard Behrens painted "Giverny Lily Pond," one piece of a Monet tribute series, in 2001. Ocean Galleries, in Stone Harbor, N.J., sold the painting for $50,000.
FRAME SHOP TO FINE ART
There's a new group of contemporary artists fetching six figures a pop. Though hardly embraced by the art-world cognoscenti, artists who are known for neon sunsets, frolicking dolphins and photorealistic unicorns are increasingly selling at prices to rival critical art darlings like Rachel Whiteread, Richard Diebenkorn and Franz Kline. Their posters may still adorn the walls of dentists' offices, nursing homes and chain-hotel rooms, but their original canvases can sell for anywhere from $10,000 to $300,000, roughly double from five years ago. Often bypassing art hubs like New York and London, the artists reign over their own product-licensing empires and gallery circuits, making marquee stops in Las Vegas and coastal cities like Coconut Grove, Fla. Most have waiting lists and fan clubs; a few sport taglines like the "Painter of Light," "Picasso of Glass" and "King of the Line."
The piece goes on , but you get the idea.
Led me to think of Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
"In this book, Pirsig explores the meaning of the concept "quality" (a term which he capitalizes). In the sequel (Lila: An Inquiry into Morals), Pirsig expands his exploration of Quality into a complete metaphysics which he calls The Metaphysics of Quality. The Metaphysics of Quality is a philosophy, a theory about reality; it asks questions such as what is real, what is good and what is moral."
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Suddenly my hat won't fit
Paul (Boutin) picked up my comments on design ...
Considering that Ray Kurzweil signaled Paul out as a "big thinker"
KurzweilAI.net
Wow
Considering that Ray Kurzweil signaled Paul out as a "big thinker"
KurzweilAI.net
Wow
Moon setting
Sorta hard to spot, just about dead center over the transom.
Hard to work good image of the moon into shot without long lens.
But then we'd miss the boat
About 10:15AM
Not too many other boaters out yet.
We've had a lingering high pressure area
Clear skys, flat waters.
Good combination.
But we need some rain...
Hard to work good image of the moon into shot without long lens.
But then we'd miss the boat
About 10:15AM
Not too many other boaters out yet.
We've had a lingering high pressure area
Clear skys, flat waters.
Good combination.
But we need some rain...
Friday, July 14, 2006
Crowdsourcing
Paul posted up about the idea of crowdsourcing ... but I doubt that it works for all products.
Also here in BizWeek Crowdsourcing: Consumers as Creators
Other thoughts:
The quote or comment that comes to mind is "Maximum" Bob Lutz of GM.
Something to the effect that customers have to be shown great cars, cars designed by "car guys"(and girls). Nowdays, with references to prior styling cues and idioms.
This might be pretty close:
Bob Lutz speach at Pratt...
GM FastLane Blog: Lutz Speech on Design:
"You have to come up with the “big idea.” In other words, the big idea has to come from Steven Spielberg, not from the tabulated replies of thousands of moviegoers pouring out of theaters."
Ford gets it (Bob use to be there)
Mustang, GT40
Chrysler seems to have a handle on it, PTCruiser, 300C, Magnum ( later two pre-chopped)
Motorcycles: Ducati's "classic" Paul Smart, and Sport (disclosure, I have a garage full of '70's bikes, most are Ducati's (aka Ducks)
Ducati.com
On to housing
Ask any realtor, and many folks want to buy a house furnished.
They are afraid to decorate (or don't have time/inclination)
Bottom line, it will be interesting if any Crowdsourced design ever makes it into BizWeeks issue of best designs much less on display at the MoMA...
Also here in BizWeek Crowdsourcing: Consumers as Creators
Other thoughts:
The quote or comment that comes to mind is "Maximum" Bob Lutz of GM.
Something to the effect that customers have to be shown great cars, cars designed by "car guys"(and girls). Nowdays, with references to prior styling cues and idioms.
This might be pretty close:
Bob Lutz speach at Pratt...
GM FastLane Blog: Lutz Speech on Design:
"You have to come up with the “big idea.” In other words, the big idea has to come from Steven Spielberg, not from the tabulated replies of thousands of moviegoers pouring out of theaters."
Ford gets it (Bob use to be there)
Mustang, GT40
Chrysler seems to have a handle on it, PTCruiser, 300C, Magnum ( later two pre-chopped)
Motorcycles: Ducati's "classic" Paul Smart, and Sport (disclosure, I have a garage full of '70's bikes, most are Ducati's (aka Ducks)
Ducati.com
On to housing
Ask any realtor, and many folks want to buy a house furnished.
They are afraid to decorate (or don't have time/inclination)
Bottom line, it will be interesting if any Crowdsourced design ever makes it into BizWeeks issue of best designs much less on display at the MoMA...
Interesting Posting
Actually an "Error" message
Beats the old 404 Error :
Beats the old 404 Error :
Update
Confirmed outage - Wonk will be offline until at least July 17th.
Thursday July 6, 3pm PST
The Wonk load has been crashing our shared server.
We've been given the boot.
We're going to try to push through a speedy migration, but the truth is we may be facing an extended outage.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
The Long Tail comes to Politics
Chris Anderson's The Long Tail
Does the same sort of thinking apply to politics?
George F. Will: Is America Becoming a One-Party Country? - Newsweek :
An Analysis of Roveology
There are not just two Americas—the Red and Blue states.
There are countless constituencies to be courted with niche marketing.
"...from what Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times call history's "most sophisticated presidential campaign," are recounted in their new book, "One Party Country," which argues that Democrats face "tremendous odds" in their quest to avoid "marginalization." Their book represents a burgeoning literary genre—studies of Roveology, which is the art of using what Republicans embrace, marketing information and what they theoretically are wary of, federal power, to elect more Republicans.
Does the same sort of thinking apply to politics?
George F. Will: Is America Becoming a One-Party Country? - Newsweek :
An Analysis of Roveology
There are not just two Americas—the Red and Blue states.
There are countless constituencies to be courted with niche marketing.
"...from what Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times call history's "most sophisticated presidential campaign," are recounted in their new book, "One Party Country," which argues that Democrats face "tremendous odds" in their quest to avoid "marginalization." Their book represents a burgeoning literary genre—studies of Roveology, which is the art of using what Republicans embrace, marketing information and what they theoretically are wary of, federal power, to elect more Republicans.
Bush's campaign had a database called Voter Vault for microtargeting ostensibly nonpolitical constituencies. Did you know that bourbon drinkers are disproportionately Republican and gin drinkers disproportionately Democratic? Karl Rove knows."
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Back on the water
To the music of Willi Nelson: "On the Road Again"
Older shot, just haven't had time to do a fresh one.
Still a few "bugs" (always are)
Charging system
Either the weather is perfect or the charge on the battery is
Not both at the same time ... yet.
Maybe some experiments this summer
Found that my handheld GPS is great for checking speed.
Might try different wheels (props) again.
Then again, may just go for show ...
Still damn good for an "older gal" ... 59 this month.
Restoration sequence here: Chip's Ahoy Restoration - a photoset on Flickr
Older shot, just haven't had time to do a fresh one.
Still a few "bugs" (always are)
Charging system
Either the weather is perfect or the charge on the battery is
Not both at the same time ... yet.
Maybe some experiments this summer
Found that my handheld GPS is great for checking speed.
Might try different wheels (props) again.
Then again, may just go for show ...
Still damn good for an "older gal" ... 59 this month.
Restoration sequence here: Chip's Ahoy Restoration - a photoset on Flickr
Monday, July 10, 2006
Happy Camper
Got my 12inch Powerbook back
Seems to remember me (all files, settings, bookmarks)
Whew
Now to clean files, transfer updates from the last week of work on backup.
Seems to remember me (all files, settings, bookmarks)
Whew
Now to clean files, transfer updates from the last week of work on backup.
Heavy Hitter at the Plate
Paulson, Taking Treasury Post, Emphasizes Global Issues
"Mr. Bush, who wooed Mr. Paulson from his post as chairman of Goldman Sachs, said on Monday that the former executive would have a central role in setting the agenda and implied that the Treasury Department would regain some of the power it lost to White House advisers during Mr. Bush’s first term.
Well know manager of risk.
Good.
"Mr. Bush, who wooed Mr. Paulson from his post as chairman of Goldman Sachs, said on Monday that the former executive would have a central role in setting the agenda and implied that the Treasury Department would regain some of the power it lost to White House advisers during Mr. Bush’s first term.
“Hank Paulson will be my leading policy adviser on a broad range of domestic and international economic issues, and he will be my principal spokesman for my administration’s economic policies,” Mr. Bush said before Mr. Paulson was sworn in."
Likely will be dealing with issues of budget, trade, China (reportedly has made 70 trips there), and managing slowdown in the economy due to interest rate hikes.Well know manager of risk.
Good.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Work
Trolling through BWeek and here are a couple of interesting pieces
On the "deconstruction" of the workplace, with mobile "neo-bedouin" workers (using technology to untether) working from anywhere/anywhen rather than a formal office.
Square Feet. Oh, How Square!
On morphing of "massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs)" into realworld related activities.
Interview with Kevin Werbach
At the Tech-Business Interface
Note that Kevin's "Supernova 2006" was on LindenLab's 2nd Life as well as "meat space"
Put the two together - working in "virtual worlds"
"What we're seeing in these virtual labs are emerging collaborative structures built into the games, new ways to interact and collaborate. Today that's a bunch of twentysomethings trying to kill a dragon. Tomorrow that's going to be a project team at a pharmaceutical company or a social organization of people interacting in different ways."
On the "deconstruction" of the workplace, with mobile "neo-bedouin" workers (using technology to untether) working from anywhere/anywhen rather than a formal office.
Square Feet. Oh, How Square!
On morphing of "massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs)" into realworld related activities.
Interview with Kevin Werbach
At the Tech-Business Interface
Note that Kevin's "Supernova 2006" was on LindenLab's 2nd Life as well as "meat space"
Put the two together - working in "virtual worlds"
"What we're seeing in these virtual labs are emerging collaborative structures built into the games, new ways to interact and collaborate. Today that's a bunch of twentysomethings trying to kill a dragon. Tomorrow that's going to be a project team at a pharmaceutical company or a social organization of people interacting in different ways."
But But But ...
Despite improving numbers the Times sees failure
Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit - New York Times: "
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: July 9, 2006
"WASHINGTON, July 8 — An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief."
later
"On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that corporate tax receipts for the nine months ending in June hit $250 billion — nearly 26 percent higher than the same time last year — and that overall revenues were $206 billion higher than at this point in 2005.
Congressional analysts say the surprise windfall could shrink the deficit this year to $300 billion, from $318 billion in 2005 and an all-time high of $412 billion in 2004."
but
"Democrats and many independent budget analysts note that overall revenues have barely climbed back to the levels reached in 2000, and that the government has borrowed trillions of dollars against Social Security surpluses just as the first of the nation's baby boomers are nearing retirement.
"The fact is that revenues are way below what the administration said they would be a few years ago," said Thomas S. Kahn, staff director for Democrats on the House Budget Committee. "The long-term prognosis is still very, very bleak, and the administration doesn't have any kind of long-term plan."
One reason the run-up in taxes looks good is because the past five years looked so bad. Revenues are up, but they have lagged well behind economic growth.
Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit - New York Times: "
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: July 9, 2006
"WASHINGTON, July 8 — An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief."
later
"On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that corporate tax receipts for the nine months ending in June hit $250 billion — nearly 26 percent higher than the same time last year — and that overall revenues were $206 billion higher than at this point in 2005.
Congressional analysts say the surprise windfall could shrink the deficit this year to $300 billion, from $318 billion in 2005 and an all-time high of $412 billion in 2004."
but
"Democrats and many independent budget analysts note that overall revenues have barely climbed back to the levels reached in 2000, and that the government has borrowed trillions of dollars against Social Security surpluses just as the first of the nation's baby boomers are nearing retirement.
"The fact is that revenues are way below what the administration said they would be a few years ago," said Thomas S. Kahn, staff director for Democrats on the House Budget Committee. "The long-term prognosis is still very, very bleak, and the administration doesn't have any kind of long-term plan."
One reason the run-up in taxes looks good is because the past five years looked so bad. Revenues are up, but they have lagged well behind economic growth.
Follow on Robuchon
Following our visits to L'Atellier Joel Robuchon in Paris a year ago
Looney Dunes: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon reviews and comments
From WSJournal, posted in full as it will disappear eventually.
Review of Savoy and Robuchon in Vegas:
July 8, 2006; Page P1
"We found Restaurant Guy Savoy Las Vegas a reasonable facsimile of Restaurant Guy Savoy Paris. The same designer, Jean-Michel Wilmotte, has deployed a modern sensibility with plenty of glass and the same signature chocolate and cherry stripes in his graphics. The current menu at Guy Savoy LV contains several signature dishes from the mother shrine, including oysters in ice gelée and the artichoke and black truffle soup.
There is nothing stale about serving whole raw oysters with a cold, opaque white jelly of puréed oyster. The jelly offers the same taste with a completely different texture and an even more intense oysterity. The artichoke soup tries for the same intensity, but the overwhelmingly aromatic assertiveness of the black truffles, in the soup and the toasted mushroom brioche that comes with it, outshines the still-wonderfully-earthy artichoke purée.
Truffles showed up again, in an ancillary role, in both our main courses, poached and roasted squab and rissoles, or croquettes, of veal sweetbread. The waiter said Mr. Savoy bought 60 pounds of black truffles last season and froze them. We don't doubt that.
Nor did we have any complaints about this elegant meal, even after charging the $662.39 bill plus tip to our room. Perhaps the wine list is excessively canted toward very expensive French bottles, but if you've just hit it big at keno, why not splurge on a four-figure Burgundy? Even a non-gaming American gastronome should be very happy to have this very fine Parisian transplant only a domestic flight away.
But we had to agree with the self-described "highly compensated" health-care consultants at the next table that Joël Robuchon at the Mansion is on a dazzlingly higher level than Guy Savoy LV -- or any other restaurant in the U.S. that we know.
Mr. Robuchon reached apogee at a three-star temple in Paris called Jamin. Even his mashed potatoes were world-renowned. Then he closed Jamin in 1996, shunning the gaudy world as perversely as Greta Garbo. The opening of his less formal Paris Atelier three years ago was an event in itself, something like the return of Ted Williams from the Air Force. So his return to high cuisine here at the age of 60 is a stunning rebirth. This place is heaven.
When I tell you I will never forget the unctuous, velvety lettuce soup served over a spring-onion custard with nutmeg, you will think I have gone gaga. Or what about the sea urchin enrobed in mashed potato with a touch of coffee?
Did I mention that each dish was a visual poem? Deep-red tuna, lightly cooked and smoked alongside a couscous whose grains were actually concocted from cauliflower dotted with specks of nori, the black Japanese seaweed familiar from sushi bars?
There are other Asian influences completely assimilated into their Robuchonized dishes. If you have been paying attention to the food of the molecular gastronomy school, those wild acolytes of the Spaniard Ferrán Adriá, you will see that this newest wrinkle hasn't escaped Mr. Robuchon -- or overwhelmed him. Here and there a foam adds a flavor and a playful caprice. One dessert came garlanded with pink cotton candy.
Not a one of the 16 dishes on this menu was a chaos of show-off ingredients. As the chef-in-residence, the Jamin veteran Claude Le Tohic, put it during his regular swing through the dining room, "Mr. Robuchon told us, 'Never more than three flavors in a dish.' "
You could say that about a hot dog on a bun with mustard, but in the hands of the right chef, you hit the jackpot."
Looney Dunes: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon reviews and comments
From WSJournal, posted in full as it will disappear eventually.
Review of Savoy and Robuchon in Vegas:
The Best Food in America -- Plus Slots
Las Vegas sets a new culinary standard
By RAYMOND SOKOLOVJuly 8, 2006; Page P1
"We found Restaurant Guy Savoy Las Vegas a reasonable facsimile of Restaurant Guy Savoy Paris. The same designer, Jean-Michel Wilmotte, has deployed a modern sensibility with plenty of glass and the same signature chocolate and cherry stripes in his graphics. The current menu at Guy Savoy LV contains several signature dishes from the mother shrine, including oysters in ice gelée and the artichoke and black truffle soup.
There is nothing stale about serving whole raw oysters with a cold, opaque white jelly of puréed oyster. The jelly offers the same taste with a completely different texture and an even more intense oysterity. The artichoke soup tries for the same intensity, but the overwhelmingly aromatic assertiveness of the black truffles, in the soup and the toasted mushroom brioche that comes with it, outshines the still-wonderfully-earthy artichoke purée.
Truffles showed up again, in an ancillary role, in both our main courses, poached and roasted squab and rissoles, or croquettes, of veal sweetbread. The waiter said Mr. Savoy bought 60 pounds of black truffles last season and froze them. We don't doubt that.
Nor did we have any complaints about this elegant meal, even after charging the $662.39 bill plus tip to our room. Perhaps the wine list is excessively canted toward very expensive French bottles, but if you've just hit it big at keno, why not splurge on a four-figure Burgundy? Even a non-gaming American gastronome should be very happy to have this very fine Parisian transplant only a domestic flight away.
But we had to agree with the self-described "highly compensated" health-care consultants at the next table that Joël Robuchon at the Mansion is on a dazzlingly higher level than Guy Savoy LV -- or any other restaurant in the U.S. that we know.
Mr. Robuchon reached apogee at a three-star temple in Paris called Jamin. Even his mashed potatoes were world-renowned. Then he closed Jamin in 1996, shunning the gaudy world as perversely as Greta Garbo. The opening of his less formal Paris Atelier three years ago was an event in itself, something like the return of Ted Williams from the Air Force. So his return to high cuisine here at the age of 60 is a stunning rebirth. This place is heaven.
When I tell you I will never forget the unctuous, velvety lettuce soup served over a spring-onion custard with nutmeg, you will think I have gone gaga. Or what about the sea urchin enrobed in mashed potato with a touch of coffee?
Did I mention that each dish was a visual poem? Deep-red tuna, lightly cooked and smoked alongside a couscous whose grains were actually concocted from cauliflower dotted with specks of nori, the black Japanese seaweed familiar from sushi bars?
There are other Asian influences completely assimilated into their Robuchonized dishes. If you have been paying attention to the food of the molecular gastronomy school, those wild acolytes of the Spaniard Ferrán Adriá, you will see that this newest wrinkle hasn't escaped Mr. Robuchon -- or overwhelmed him. Here and there a foam adds a flavor and a playful caprice. One dessert came garlanded with pink cotton candy.
Not a one of the 16 dishes on this menu was a chaos of show-off ingredients. As the chef-in-residence, the Jamin veteran Claude Le Tohic, put it during his regular swing through the dining room, "Mr. Robuchon told us, 'Never more than three flavors in a dish.' "
You could say that about a hot dog on a bun with mustard, but in the hands of the right chef, you hit the jackpot."
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Pirates ...
Fundraiser for Inland Seas Education Association & the Great Lakes Schoolship
Following covers it pretty well ..
I'd layer on comments about continuity ...
Lack thereof
Often from shot to shot within the same scene, makeup would change.
Not to mention from scene to scene.
Plot?
What plot?
But will it make $$$
You betcha
Following covers it pretty well ..
'Pirates of the Caribbean': Eat My Jetsam, Davy Jones
Although there are memorable bits and pieces, the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a movie with no particular interest in coherence, economy or feeling.
I'd layer on comments about continuity ...
Lack thereof
Often from shot to shot within the same scene, makeup would change.
Not to mention from scene to scene.
Plot?
What plot?
But will it make $$$
You betcha
Out on the edge of reality we find ...
The conspiracy theories surrounding Ken Lay's death. - Jul. 6, 2006
The death was faked
He was murdered by CIA to protect Bush
Commited suicide ...
Hey, maybe he was just clueless and drank his own Kool-Aid.
The death was faked
He was murdered by CIA to protect Bush
Commited suicide ...
Hey, maybe he was just clueless and drank his own Kool-Aid.
More "Metaverse" wierdness
Came across the following in Fortune (catching up with some reading)
See prior posts on WofW, 2nd Life etc.
Plugged in: Dinner with the Masters of the Metaverse - May. 26, 2006:
Shocking stats on dying mass media!
Blas�blather about today's Web wonders!
Here's how plugged-in netsters talk today.
FORTUNE Magazine
By David Kirkpatrick, FORTUNE senior editor
May 26, 2006: 3:33 PM EDT
Excerpt:
Things with real world constraints.
See prior posts on WofW, 2nd Life etc.
Plugged in: Dinner with the Masters of the Metaverse - May. 26, 2006:
Shocking stats on dying mass media!
Blas�blather about today's Web wonders!
Here's how plugged-in netsters talk today.
FORTUNE Magazine
By David Kirkpatrick, FORTUNE senior editor
May 26, 2006: 3:33 PM EDT
Excerpt:
All comments guaranteed verbatim. (Btw, the Metaverse is the alternate world of online multiplayer games like Second Life and World of Warcraft. In both those games you can buy and sell virtual property -- for more about the Metaverse marketplace, click here.)
C: "Get into Second Life now if you aren't already. In two months my real estate has doubled in value." (When pressed, he admitted the increase was only from $40 to $80. But he was really excited. )
A: "I know a guy whose 12-year-old son told him 'I will build you a house in Second Life if you will buy me the coins I want in World of Warcraft.'"
A: "Exploring the metaverse is the big deal right now. A guy has been researching gaming for me and looking at Warcraft. He didn't sleep for two nights. He says it's as if I asked him to study heroin or crack."
A (to C): "Will you put your conference on Second Life in 3 years?"
In the meantime, I'll pay more attention to "real world" things like local issues of development, conservancy, water quality, our food company...Things with real world constraints.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Net-Neutrality Cont
Big piece of the rational for attacks on Net Neutrality:
Online Calling Heralds an Era of Lower Costs - New York Times
Backgrounder on VoIP and the pending free voice service
The old Telco model is broken like Humpty Dumpty and can never be fixed.
Therefore, the Telco's need to establish new protected markets.
Online Calling Heralds an Era of Lower Costs - New York Times
Backgrounder on VoIP and the pending free voice service
The old Telco model is broken like Humpty Dumpty and can never be fixed.
Therefore, the Telco's need to establish new protected markets.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Turkie
Ten years ago last May/June, Shirley and Nicole joined me on a cruise aboard a private Gulet from Bodrum down the Turkish Coast.
This piece brings back fond memories.
We were with Orhan (his boat) crew and our friends Willi&Lauri, along with Lauri's niece and a couple of business associates from Germany.
We flew to Istanbul, then on to Izmir, then by van to Bodrum, met up with Orhan and set sail along the Agean Coast.
Full NYTimes story here :In Turkey, Sailing Into the Exotic on a Blue Cruise
This piece brings back fond memories.
We were with Orhan (his boat) crew and our friends Willi&Lauri, along with Lauri's niece and a couple of business associates from Germany.
We flew to Istanbul, then on to Izmir, then by van to Bodrum, met up with Orhan and set sail along the Agean Coast.
Yoray Liberman for The New York Times
There are numerous coves to explore along the coast, especially in a smaller boat.
Full NYTimes story here :In Turkey, Sailing Into the Exotic on a Blue Cruise
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Toll booth model cont cont
Got some material pasted up over on private blog
This one belongs here
More on the problems with Cablecos/Telcos and Net Neutrality
Older : Vint Cerf on the issue speaking before Congressional Committee last Nov:
Official Google Blog: Vint Cerf speaks out on net neutrality
And Bob Frankston recapped by "Cringely":
PBS | I, Cringely . June 29, 2006 - If we build it they will come
Both are pretty strong comdemations of the idea of "fast toll lanes"
This one belongs here
More on the problems with Cablecos/Telcos and Net Neutrality
Older : Vint Cerf on the issue speaking before Congressional Committee last Nov:
Official Google Blog: Vint Cerf speaks out on net neutrality
And Bob Frankston recapped by "Cringely":
PBS | I, Cringely . June 29, 2006 - If we build it they will come
Both are pretty strong comdemations of the idea of "fast toll lanes"
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Whew ...
Gonna pass on the parade ...
Shirley a but under the weather - nasty cold.
Catching my breath
"Trusty" 12in Powerbook in for major work (motherboard), but hopefully have saved most of the files. Downside is that long list of bookmarks gone from Firefox (major bummer) as well as passwords, etc.
This will be a slow rebuild I'm guessing
Envoy in shop for new set of legs (brakes, shocks)
Glen Arbor Arts fundraiser Wed. night.
Then off to Leelanau EDC for my first meeting - might develop into something interesting
Break Fri. for picking up Envoy, checking on laptop, watch Blue Angels practice. Art show opening Fri. Evening
Sat was airshow.
Sun for Cove Picnic.
Layer on housekeeping/cleaning etc.
Some experiments with stikipad (wiki tool)
Not much blogging...
Shirley a but under the weather - nasty cold.
Catching my breath
"Trusty" 12in Powerbook in for major work (motherboard), but hopefully have saved most of the files. Downside is that long list of bookmarks gone from Firefox (major bummer) as well as passwords, etc.
This will be a slow rebuild I'm guessing
Envoy in shop for new set of legs (brakes, shocks)
Glen Arbor Arts fundraiser Wed. night.
Then off to Leelanau EDC for my first meeting - might develop into something interesting
Break Fri. for picking up Envoy, checking on laptop, watch Blue Angels practice. Art show opening Fri. Evening
Sat was airshow.
Sun for Cove Picnic.
Layer on housekeeping/cleaning etc.
Some experiments with stikipad (wiki tool)
Not much blogging...
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Got da Blues
Not Eric Clapton, not John Mayall
Not Muddy or BB King
Not Mr. Johnson...
Good show with Da Blue Angels
This is just a sample shot
Digital camera lag doesn't do the show justice
Maybe some manipulated shots later ...
Like this :
Call it "up in the air junior birdmen ... up in the air upside down"
Number's 1 & 4 coming overhead inverted
note: only some cropping and a bit of exposure enhancement since it was overcast day
Visually this was what it looked like with the overhead passes.
Brain processes images as very narrow or focused when things are happening rapidly
Not Muddy or BB King
Not Mr. Johnson...
Good show with Da Blue Angels
This is just a sample shot
Digital camera lag doesn't do the show justice
Maybe some manipulated shots later ...
Like this :
Call it "up in the air junior birdmen ... up in the air upside down"
Number's 1 & 4 coming overhead inverted
note: only some cropping and a bit of exposure enhancement since it was overcast day
Visually this was what it looked like with the overhead passes.
Brain processes images as very narrow or focused when things are happening rapidly
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