Happy 5th Birthday WordPress

Wonderful job Matt. Happy 5th Birthday to Wordpress.

Paris Hilton Inc.

You can watch this insightful documentary from CBC Doc Zone Paris Hilton Inc. about our celebrity culture that dominates our daily media and social dialogue.

Wikimedia & Sue

Two interesting articles about Sue Gardner (former head of CBC.ca) and Wikimedia.

Seed Magazine

Seed (subtitled: Science Is Culture) is a science magazine published bimonthly by Seed Media Group (founder and editor-in-chief, Adam Bly). "Each issue looks at big ideas in science, important issues at the intersection of science and society, and the people driving global science culture."

Here are some interesting ones,

• Seed Video Feature: Lawrence Krauss + Natalie Jeremijenko (Full Cut, 45+ mins) - The Star Trek physicist enters the Seed Salon to discuss participation, the politics of knowledge production, and seduction with the artist/engineer.
• The Mandelbrot chat
• The artist/filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson enters the Seed Salon to discuss artifacts, presence, and invisibility with the Stanford archaeologist Michael Shanks. - real neat chat
• Marc Hauser + Errol Morris (and video) - The evolutionary psychologist (Hauser) and the documentary filmmaker (Morris) discuss game theory, Stanley Milgram, and whether science can make us better people.

No. 5: The Film

I hate perfume (especially strong ones). Yes, hate. But I love this Chanel No. 5 ad with Nicole Kidman and Rodrigo Santoro. Enjoy.

Check out the lovely "making of" videos here and here.

Here is an excerpt from Baz Luhrmann’s imdb bio,

In late 2004, he [Baz] directed the world’s most expensive advertisement for Chanel No 5, a 4-minute short film titled “No 5: The Film” starring Nicole Kidman (who he worked with for Moulin Rouge! (2001)) and Rodrigo Santoro. The film ad, about a fairy-tale romance in which Chanel is part of the story but is not what the story is about, cost £18 million and made Kidman a Guinness World Record holder for highest paid actress in a commercial (she netted $3.71 million). Varying length versions of the film ad were shown on television, and - a first for Chanel - in movie theaters. Costumes were designed by Karl Lagerfeld and a score by Claude Debussy. Kidman wore £17m worth of real gems.

Mandelbrot chats with Antonelli

A wonderful chat between Benoit Mandelbrot (father of fractal geometry) and Paola Antonelli (senior curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art, wrote her thesis on "Fractal Architecture").

Love this exchange (emphasis added),

BM: Well, it is very encouraging for me, because I'm an old man and, as I always mention at some point, I never made up my mind who I really was, which allowed me to spend my life on many things. So what you're telling me is that I can just relax, because I won't have to decide!

PA: I don't know. You're very responsible for what goes on right now. I don't think you can relax any time soon!

BM: Well, yes, but at least I won't have to become a specialist, because everybody is going to become a generalist.

Here is a beautiful video excerpt of the chat. (very well done and wonderfully shot. simply beautiful. and great to see Mandelbrot in person in a video chat. very cool.)

P.S. Have a look at MoMA's "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition which Antonelli curates. Very cool and neat.

Tales of a Chinese Purchaser, Episode 15 (買手的故事, 第15集)

In episode 15, we will conclude our discussions on how to handle things when order size changes (產品訂單有變時，如何處理).

• The steps in handling a normal decrease or exceptional decrease in order size (當訂購數量有減少或異常的減少時，如何處理)
• An example of how US head office handled a cancellation of materials (美國總公司取消材料訂單的例子)

You can click here to listen to episode 15 of the program in mp3 (or you can download or stream the program here).

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Program Info: My friend Simon has worked as a Hong Kong-based purchaser for over 30 years before his retirement. Simon has agreed to record a series of Chinese audio shows/podcasts call “Tales of a Chinese Purchaser 買手的故事“ to share his years of experiences and insights in purchasing and working with Chinese factories. (Note: This program has been recorded in the Cantonese dialect.)

Richard Florida @ Google & Banff

I was really lucky to watch a CBC National video report and “discovered” Richard Florida tonight. (smile) I am going to pay attention to Rich’s ideas and I have subscribed to his blog. Check out his latest book - “Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life.”

Here is a video of Rich interviewed by George on The Hour.

The following is an hour long video of Rich speaking at Google, NYC.

And if you are really keen and have nothing better to do (smile), then check out another hour long video of Rich speaking at Google, Headquater in CA (essentially the same speech but with a different set of Q&A starting at 48:45).

P.S. On a personal note, Rich reminds me of some of the great U of Toronto professors that I had. Great job in bringing Rich to Toronto. And I am looking forward to listening to Rich live at Banff World TV Festival.

P.P.S. Here is one of Rich’s recent blog post on Jane Jacobs.

P.P.P.S. I wonder if Rich gets some money from this BMW ad? (smile) By the way, I think I actually first read about Rich here in this UT magazine article.

Chief Design Officer - Johnson & Johnson

In the current issue of The International Design Magazine, Chris Hacker talks about his job as Chief Design Officer of the $61 billion Johnson & Johnson. The article is not the engaging but the pix and the captions are worth a scan.

Seeing Hungry, Mood & Money, Bad Belly Fat

Saw these three interesting science news. Enjoy.

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Seeing Hungry

“Why does food look more appealing when you are hungry? Scientists are finding that the same chemical in your stomach that causes hunger also changes how your brain perceives food, as this ScienCentral News video explains.“

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Mood and Money

“Feeling sad and bad about ourselves is not only unpleasant — it can also be hard on our wallets. Psychology researchers have found that these emotions can cost you three times more for the same item than being in a better mood, as this ScienCentral News video reports.“

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Bad Belly Fat

“Scientists are finding more about how that bulge around your belly is more harmful than the pounds you may have elsewhere on your body. As this ScienCentral News video reports, belly fat may cause blockages in the arteries, and the finding could lead to better drugs to protect against heart disease.“

May ‘08 Google Search Factory Tour

Interesting and informative Google Search Factory Tour video.

Freeconomics - The power of free?

Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson's "freeconomics" seems paradoxically plausible until you look into his arguments/examples as explained in this Financial Post article. On the surface, it seemed like some thought experiments gone bad to me. There are some interesting examples in the article but then the generalization just seemed to be off a bit. After all, "ostensibly free" is not quite free. Worth a read.

Tales of a Chinese Purchaser, Episode 14 (買手的故事, 第14集)

In episode 14 and the next episode, we will continue the discussion of how to handle things when order size changes (產品訂單有變時，如何處理).

• The steps in handling an exceptional increase in order size (當訂購數量有異常的增加時，如何處理)

You can click here to listen to episode 14 of the program in mp3 (or you can download or stream the program here).

*******

Program Info: My friend Simon has worked as a Hong Kong-based purchaser for over 30 years before his retirement. Simon has agreed to record a series of Chinese audio shows/podcasts call “Tales of a Chinese Purchaser 買手的故事“ to share his years of experiences and insights in purchasing and working with Chinese factories. (Note: This program has been recorded in the Cantonese dialect.)

BBC SuperPokes Facebook Privacy Risks

From Privacy Commisioner of Canada’s blog (emphasis added),

And while Facebook says it advises its users to “employ…precautions” when downloading applications, any Facebook user will tell you that most applications simply won’t work if you don’t agree to give the developer access to your information.

BBC’s technology program Click decided to test out this security flaw (with news video) by creating its own Facebook application meant solely to “steal the personal details of you and all your Facebook friends without you knowing”.

Q&A with Peter and Nina Munk

Wonderful Q&A with Peter Munk (Chairman of Barrick Gold) and his daughter Nina about Munk's first failed business Clairtone - "The ultimate business school: A Q&A with Peter and Nina Munk".