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July 17, 2006
war by proxy
It's hot out, wet and windless.
I missed Valentino Rossi's victorious race and I'm happy he made it with half a wrist and starting from a remote behind everybody. This brings the tournament back to fun with the "Doctor" catching up to the hotspot and on his way to (maybe?) another World Cup. At the other end F1 is behind my back. I can't say for the life of me why or when I grew so unaffected by car racing. Schumacher and his low-charged stamina load, the equally cold and polite Renault crew or the smokey Mercedes, them altogether or is it the weather.
While impressing/freaking the kid with Chris Angel on YouTube I learned that Coruscus Design, which site I released yesterday in its new single-pager CSS incarnation has been picked up by Netdiver and has now his own spot in Netdiver's Portfolios section. It is a pleasure and honor to be picked up in such high consideration by one of the most focused person in contemporary Design. We were taken in with equal consideration in recent past on PixArtisan, an Online Art Gallery, but having our firm's website linked permanently is there for a double toss. Very rewarding of much sweating, listening, talking, emailing and eps-ing. Equally rewarding to know that there is somebody that everyday, with little return, takes care to listen, advise, promote if you just email and politely ask and has the patience to email back with properly wise feedback. Thank you Carol.
Now, as you know if you were heading to the white beaches of Tel Aviv this summer, your reservation may be in danger and a refund possibly on the way. Why? Why, kids know better, is often the appropriate question. Remember things happen for a reason, war, peace and even the rain and life is not the crazy chaotic gothic novel you were dreaming about at 16. Those who ask Israel for moderation have not idea what this is about. Do we? Jump to the always excellent Belmont Club [July 15 post, Israel's Strategy, has 469 comments] for a refresh but after that please read this and after that sit down and take a deep breath.
The ultimate threat, though, isn't Hezbollah or Hamas but Iran. And as Iran draws closer to nuclear capability--which the Israeli intelligence community believes could happen this year--an Israeli-Iranian showdown becomes increasingly likely. According to a very senior military source with whom I've spoken, Israel is still hoping that an international effort will stop a nuclear Iran; if that fails, then Israel is hoping for an American attack. But if the Bush administration is too weakened to take on Iran, then, as a last resort, Israel will have to act unilaterally. And, added the source, Israel has the operational capability to do so.
For Israelis, that is the worst scenario of all. Except, of course, the scenario of nuclear weapons in the hands of the patron state of Hezbollah and Hamas.
After which, and we're almost there, conclusion: The US have all good interest to cover a potential escalation, once again, and let it go as far as it gets, Syria and then Iran, but since they are partially behind this operation may the case be they will run in support, openly, without license from the over-confused and inter-competitive EU block. This confrontation was planned, clearly months in advance and it fired just days before strict cooperation (followed by mutual agreements) between Iran and China was officially inked. The financial consequences may soon be visible with massive dis-investment on the part of China of US debt which could trigger a second bubble burst of US stocks, a clash some fear inevitable.
This scenario, which gets more and more legible by the hour, reminds me how blind the Europeans must be when they publicly request Iran to mediate between Israel and Hezbollah, ahem... Iran.
I received a link to a romantic post from an Egyptian blogger that you can read here. The smell of human is of course welcome, Sandmonkey digs the "med" part.
Posted by lck at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2006
going 6
I was between Thievery Corporation and very very old and to me quasi unrecognizable Red Crayola when I stumbled into the equally old King Crimson's Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973). This is a very much unknown by KC Mark II, followed by the equally unknown Starless... and the solid and M.O.R. deadline album Red (1974). It makes me wonder why Fripp started with the metrics in this album for his solo carrier, debuting Exposure of 1979, only mitigated by two looping Revox, inheritance of the brief and flashy adventure with Eno, No Pussyfooting and Evening Star.
I spent hours at the beach with the almost 6 years old Melissa and W. We were observing the minutiae of the place and collecting short over-lived sticks, easy to pull together and tie up with a used up nylon string or net. Mine was calibrated on my fist like a baton relay, her was built in a similar fashion with a bright orange plastic rope. I remember that at one point in the discussion, when I was not grasping her point although trying to she served me with a never-mind. Calling a raw phrase a turning point is a clear exaggeration or not. She's growing old and getting tired of detailing the whole picture to the grands. Grabbing hands and nevermind.
After getting over with a big assignment from our client in Abu Dhabi, a packaging work for which we produced more concepts than for any other work ever, I believe it is time for some clean-up. Here come the Beatles, a good reading of past languages a bit before pushing the corners of the next framework. Coruscus is going CSS and is near, white, menu-less, portfolio-centric with samples of a size that scares, I'll be on that thru the next update for PixArtisan. Speaking of which, stats inform PixArtisan has received on average above 1000 unique visitors a day for 10 days in a row now. These are very interesting news considering Angela Rohner wanted to include the site in her gallery of the best designs and that we are simultaneously on netdiver.net, defrost.com and the excellent webcreme.
to google was finally included into the standard body of the Oxford Dictionary today, a verb. For how long have we been using that very verbiage, three years? Google it!, more than anything a "no-excuses" call to coworkers and friends who still don't get it. When I use to decline their questions with this now-famous short for "the-tool's-out-there-just-use-it".
Back to the kid, turning 6 on the 7th of July, what is she getting? Lots of very girl-ish stuff of course, mitigating her wandering ego is an assignment, an arch with arrows to check her homicidal tendencies, but two things I point out: phones and cameras. We're giving her a phone, no bells and whistles, I said phone. She's already our bilingual secretary, she can have her own phone. Most important she's getting a digital camera, a 3MP simple automatic white-balance not-too-many-presets digicam with a 15 MB memory that she can hook up to her Mac. She uses Photoshop, at her age it is important to understand where the input comes from and that it's all digital on the source. Kids need push, not over-protection, before somebody spells the word they have to print their photos. Technologies that make sense, are convenient, flexible and do not rip your time from you need to be embraced and experienced in full. What would you do with your photo prints when half your friends are in the US and the other half spread all over EU? Photo-blogging is in not because it's trendy but because it makes sense.
Now for something that does not make sense. So dark the con of man... you're missing The Da Vinci Code, not the book, the pelicula. Stay away, crap head to toe, do you want me to swear on the keyboard? No link for you!
Posted by lck at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
July 05, 2006
Now you gotta do her
They're both good at pointing, arent't they?
This is where she is asking for consolation (119 minutes passed).
BZ to all of you guys, err... well done!!! (ah Angela baby blue eyes, I can't stand those watery eyes, 120 minutes passed)
Great shot on of our golie!
More sex inside...
Posted by lck at 01:03 AM | Comments (0)
