Ai Weiwei’s “Sunflower Seeds Party”

Friday, 27 January, 2012

Here is an excerpt from the insightful New Yorker article “AI WEIWEI AT HOME, IN ABSENTIA” by Evan Osnos,

“Ai’s cell phone rumbled and he answered the call. He smiled. Mary Boone, the gallery owner, was on the line. It was late at night in New York, but she wanted to tell him how his show was going. On the floor of her Chelsea space on West 24th Street, she had Ai’s hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds, three million of them, which had been crafted by ceramic artisans in the pottery town of Jingdezhen. (The show is open until February 4th.) They are part of an ocean of seeds, one hundred million in all, that he originally unveiled in a 2010 installation at the Tate Modern in London. At the Tate, they formed a vast gray swamp, filling the cavernous Turbine Hall, but in New York, after two eventful years, they have taken on a different meaning. They are arranged in a rectangle with severe, angled corners. In the Times, Roberta Smith wrote that the “unruly ocean has been downsized to something more like a reflecting pool. It also suggests a kind of memorial plinth, a monument to the palpable absence of Mr. Ai.”

As is often the case for Ai Weiwei, his work and his life have become hard to differentiate. The seeds have found their way into the tax case. “When the seeds began to show, people started to ask: Can we have some? I responded very casually, ‘Whoever wants some, just give me an address and I’ll send them to you.’ We received about a thousand requests. And, since then, it has become a kind of movement. We’ve sent out several hundred thousand. This is amazing. They call it the ‘Sunflower Seeds Party.’ The party can be read as a party or a Party. And young people love it. They say, ‘The girl at school I loved for so long, and I could never really speak to her, I made an earring out of a seed and gave it to her.’ Another one said, he gave it to his parents. One said the seed will be the first gift to my unborn kid. And someone else said, by the year two-thousand-and-something, the seeds will have life coming out of them. They call them seeds of freedom. It’s very interesting that people need something to carry their fantasy.”

Online, the seeds became a proxy for Ai himself. “They talk about seeds and it moved like a wave. They couldn’t talk about me and they couldn’t talk about the government, but when they talked about seeds, nobody could do anything about it, because they aren’t talking about anything—just sunflower seeds!””


US Supreme Court Rules that GPS Tracking Requires a Warrant

Friday, 27 January, 2012

via Bruce Schneier (with multiple links), “US Supreme Court Rules that GPS Tracking Requires a Warrant

United States v. Jones (2012), Court ruling (PDF)

United States v. Jones: Privacy in Public Space? Piece it all Together and You Get 5. – By Priscilla Smith, Nabiha Syed & Albert Wong, Information Society Project at Yale Law School

Wired, “Supreme Court Court Rejects Willy-Nilly GPS Tracking


Toronto teens Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad send Lego man into space

Wednesday, 25 January, 2012

Lego man in space - Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad - pix 00

This TorStar report (with video) of what Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad achieved is really cool, “Toronto teens send Lego man on a balloon odyssey 24 kilometres high“. Excellent report and interview by Kate Allen at TorStar. (photo credit: TorStar and Lego man pix by Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad)

Equipment used: One Go Pro HD video camera (main camera for Lego Man footage), two Canon cameras (programmed to take a photo every 20 seconds), one Sony (GPS enabled mobile phone?).

CBC News (with video), “Lego man sent to space by Toronto teensEye-catching video shows plastic astronaut’s entire journey

Lego Man in Space

Global National (great report with video) – Toronto teens send LEGO man to space

UK Telegraph, “Lego man sent to space

UK The Sun, “Lego man launched into space – Figurine is launched into space

Lego man in space - Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad - pix 00a

Lego man in space - Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad - pix 00b

Lego man in space - Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad - pix 00c

Lego man in space - Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad - pix 01

Lego man in space - Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad - pix 02 Read the rest of this entry »


Geographic profiler criminologist Dr. Kim Rossmo

Wednesday, 25 January, 2012

* CBC News (with video), “Pickton inquiry hears serial killer concerns dismissed – Kim Rossmo raised warning 4 years before pig farmer’s arrest

* Vancouver Sun, “Former VPD detective Kim Rossmo testifies bosses nixed serial killer warning

* Texas State University, “Rising Star Dr. Kim Rossmo

* Dr. Kim Rossmo’s Texas State University Bio


Obama’s State of the Union speech 2012 – Selected excerpts

Wednesday, 25 January, 2012

Keywords: Trade Enforcement Unit, Reemployment system, community career centers, clean energy, natural gas, wind, solar, battery industry, , , ,

Watch President Obama Deliver the 2012 State of the Union Address

Some excerpt from Obama’s State of the Union address: Full text [HT CBS]

Trade Enforcement Unit

“I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products. And I will not stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules. We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration – and it’s made a difference. Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires. But we need to do more. It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated. It’s not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they’re heavily subsidized.

Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China. There will be more inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing our borders. And this Congress should make sure that no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing finance or new markets like Russia.”

Reemployment system

“Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic. Then Siemens opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, and formed a partnership with Central Piedmont Community College. The company helped the college design courses in laser and robotics training. It paid Jackie’s tuition, then hired her to help operate their plant. Read the rest of this entry »


Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry – Sundance film festival press

Monday, 23 January, 2012

* LA Times (great review), “Sundance 2012: Ai Weiwei screening becomes a political event

“In one of the film’s numerous scenes of defiance, Ai describes his motivation for his art and his statements. “If you don’t publicize it, it’s like it never happened,” he said.”

*  Chicago Tribune, “Another side of Ai Weiwei shown in Sundance film

* New York Times, Alison Klayman (with video), “Ai Weiwei: The Evolution of a Dissident

* Reuters, “Another side of Ai Weiwei shown in Sundance film

* WSJ, “Ten Hot Sundance Documentaries to Watch

* Salt Lake Tribune, “Sundance review: “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

***

Here is an Ai Weiwei quote I love,

“Q: Do you ever examine  yourself to say, why is that you are so fearless compared to other people?
Ai WeiWei Answer: I was so fearful, that’s not fearless. I am more fearful than other people, may be, then I act more brave because I know the danger is really there. If you don’t act, the dangers become stronger.” – Ai WeiWeiin PBS Frontline video “Who is afraid of Ai Weiwei?” (time code: ~17:25)


Yves Saint Laurent: L’Amour Fou

Saturday, 21 January, 2012

“The most beautiful make-up of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy.”
Yves Saint Laurent, Fashion Designer from my collection of Quotes I Love.

L’Amour Fou is a greatly enjoyable film, a film that I learn not only about the man but also about the partnership, the art collection, and the magic & things that makes the man he was!

Yves Saint Laurent: L’amour fou – Official Trailer

(note: don’t know why L’Amour Fou is rated low 5.9/10 in imdb)


smart thief caught on cam

Thursday, 19 January, 2012

Smart thief caught on cam. I used to pay to watch stuff like this! :) 3.6+ million views in less than 20 days, not bad!


#SOPA 24 hours protest is just the beginning

Thursday, 19 January, 2012

Wikipedia Thank You re SOPA and PIPA protest

Even if the current incarnations of SOPA and PIPA laws are stopped, this will just be one of the many battles in a long war. The industries and lobbyists will keep on pushing. It is up to us to ensure future incarnations of SOPA and PIPA are not overreaching thus doing more harm than good.

As one of the lead Fair Copyright for Canada Calgary organizers who has written articles, sent in personal submissions for parliamentary copyright committees, and organized protests since December 2007, I try to do my part to help shape Fair Copyright laws in Canada. Given that experience, I know the anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA has to be the beginning and we should be prepared to keep up the effort for sometime to come.

See also:

* “Canadian Media Coverage of the SOPA Protest

* Toronto Star, “Michael Geist’s website went dark to protest U.S. restrictions on Internet

Jan 21, 2012 Update: Mashable, “The Week That Killed SOPA: A Timeline


Absence of Malice – Quote I Love

Thursday, 19 January, 2012

Absence of Malice

Love the movie Absence of Malice starring Paul Newman and Sally Field. Love this monologue of the Assistant U.S. Attorney General character (played by Wilford Brimley) to newspaper reporter (played by Sally Field),

Absence of Malice - Quote I Love

You know and I know that we can’t tell you what to print or what not to. We hope you people in the press will act responsibly, but when you don’t, there ain’t a hell lot anybody can do about it. But we can’t have people going around leaking stuff for their own reasons. It ain’t legal. And worse than that, by God, it ain’t right.

P.S. Right after I finished watching Absence of Malice, I started writing a long post to recommend the film to the HK newspaper Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee Ying (黎智英), the paper’s editorial team and reporters because I consider Apple Daily‘s moral compass as mostly broken. Apple Daily reporters will write almost anything, put almost anything in cartoons (including a a sequences of cartoons depicting a young girl falling to her death), filming almost anything to sell newspapers.

P.P.S. According to Vanity Fair Dec 2004 article “The Gossip Behind the Gossip”, Read the rest of this entry »


Going Dark for 24 hours in protest of #SOPA

Tuesday, 17 January, 2012

Wikipeida goes dark - 20120118

boingboing.net goes dark - 20120118

In solidarity with the 24 hours SOPA protests by Wikipedia (learn more), boingboing.net (learn more via Electronic Frontier Foundation), and others, this site will “go dark” for 24 hours.

To learn more of the reasons why I, as a Canadian, am protesting, please have a read of “Why Canadians Should Participate in the SOPA/PIPA Protest

Quoting Wikipedia’s learn more,

“Although the bills have been amended since their introduction, they are still deeply problematic. Among other serious problems in the current draft of the bills, the requirement exists for US-based sites to actively police links to purported infringing sites. These kinds of self-policing activities are non-sustainable for large, global sites – including ones like Wikipedia. The legislative language is ambiguous and overly broad, even though it touches on protected speech. Congress says it’s trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the “cure” that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease.

www.wordpress.com goes dark - 20120118


Ricky Gervais’ jokes at Golden Globes 2012

Sunday, 15 January, 2012

Ricky Gervais hosting 2012 Golden Globes

Jan 18, 2012 update: Ricky Gervais on David Letterman 2012.01.17 talking about his Golden Globes performance, etc

Live Blogging/tweeting Golden Globes in reverse order of posting (latest posting first).

* Ricky linked to these two show reviews, New York Post “Irreverent Ricky keeps party zinging” and USA Today “For Globe openers, Gervais is up to his old quips”.

* THR, “TV Ratings: Golden Globes Steady in 2012

“Though most time zone adjusted numbers aren’t yet available, the 2012 Golden Globes look likely to retain much of its audience from last year’s show. Sunday’s Globes were broadcast live across the country, with a 8:00 p.m. encore in the Pacific Time Zone, so current stats on total viewers and adults 18-49 are subject to likely revision and are expected to go up.”

* Post-show comments: Check out, very good show reviews from

- UK Daily Mail, “Golden Globes 2012: He’s back and naughtier than ever! Beer-swilling Ricky Gervais drops the F-word, jokes about the size of his penis and Jodie Foster’s ‘Beaver’”

- The Atlantic, “The Insufferable Self-Seriousness of the Golden Globes”

- Macleans, “Oh, Ricky, You’ll Say Anything

And I think the best review is by THR Chief TV Critic Tim Goodman, “Golden Globes 2012 Review: Ricky Gervais a ‘Letdown,’ ‘Punk’d’ the Awards“. I like Tim’s “‘Punk’d'” theory but I don’t know if it is true and we will find out from Ricky soon. Here is an excerpt from Tim’s Review (emphasis added),

“The trouble with the Golden Globes telecast this year was simple — it was egregiously boring. The Oscars and Emmys can’t get here fast enough to erase this three-hour dud.
Does Gervais deserve some of the blame? Well, in so much that he led a lot of people to believe he was going to be a very naughty boy, then yes. Otherwise, he was funny enough. He did his bit. And let’s remember that the host at the Globes is often absent for vast stretches of time — last year’s running internet joke was that the Globes had fired Gervais mid-show and he’d never return. But it was just how the show has evolved. The host is, essentially, a minimal presence.
No, the Globes were boring all on their own.

“Ah, but there’s something clever afoot when you think about Gervais’ underwhelming performance. Think about it. Think still more. And now consider this: Ricky Gervais just Punk’d the Globes. He exacted revenge for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association making such a stink last year and taking the moral high ground, lambasting him for being cruel and petty, a bitter outcast comic among real actors and stars. It could be that Gervais’ skin really is that thick and he didn’t suffer their angry arrows. Or it could be that when the Globes realized it really did need Gervais because controversy breeds ratings and ratings keep you viable, that Gervais plotted his revenge.
And Sunday night he took it. He wasn’t merciless. He wasn’t outraged. Hell, he didn’t even seem very involved or even committed. It’s as if he said, “You hired me last year knowing what you’d get, then you fired me when you got it. Well, this year you get what you truly wanted. And you definitely get what you deserve.
Cheeky, that. Oh, you clever, clever bastard. Well played, Ricky Gervais. You got the Globes but good.

And some “ok” reviews from LA Times and Reuters, and see THR for “Golden Globes 2012: The Winners List

Golden Globes 2012 – Ricky Gervais Opening Monologue

* In answer to VanityFair’s Tweet question, “Who wants to guess what Ricky Gervais said that required a 4-second bleep at the #goldenglobes?Read the rest of this entry »


Samsung Galaxy Nexus exclusivity in Canada ends, 3-year prices lowered to $99.99

Friday, 13 January, 2012

Mobilesyrup, “Bell and Virgin exclusivity over, Galaxy Nexus now officially available at TELUS, Rogers, Fido and SaskTel

I am waiting for it to be available on WIND Mobile at, hopefully $99.99 for 3-year.

Jan 16, 2012 update: Looks like $99.99 will be the price to match. “Rogers, Fido and SaskTel all price drop Galaxy Nexus to $99.99 on 3-year, now matching TELUS


Incredible 3D Dance Documentary

Thursday, 12 January, 2012

Here is a wonderful Q interview with Stereoscopic documentarian Wim Wenders in Studio Q


Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall in Studio Q

Wednesday, 11 January, 2012

What a fascinating interview with “Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall in Studio Q

* Toronto.com, Review: Private Lives is sexy, stylish and smart

* New York Times, “An Enduring Marriage of Wit and Lust

* CTV (with video), “Paul Gross, Kim Cattrall launch ‘Private Lives’ in Toronto


Samsung Galaxy Nexus’ “fortified glass” has load bearing capacity of 72 pounds?

Wednesday, 11 January, 2012

Samsung Galaxy Nexus' "fortified glass" has load bearing capacity of 72 pounds?

We know that “Samsung Galaxy Nexus confirmed to have ‘fortified glass,’ not Gorilla Glass“. And we also know that Samsung and Corning has a joint venture call Samsung Corning Precision Materials Co., Ltd., so they do work together.

Now, I wonder/guess/speculate, based on this video of “Corning Gorilla Glass2 demo at CES 2012“, if Galaxy Nexus’ “fortified glass” is the type they used in the demo which has a load bearing capacity of 72 pounds?

Note: In the demo, the damage and scratch resistant Gorilla Glass1 has a load bearing capacity of ~125 pounds and Gorilla Glass2 is 20% thinner and offer the same damage resistance as Gorilla Glass1 with load bearing capacity of ~125 pounds.

Am I right? Can someone help me prove that I am right or wrong? I will be happy to be wrong if I can know the spec or more precise info of the Galaxy Nexus’ “fortified glass”.

Here is ”Corning Gorilla Glass2 demo at CES 2012“. [HT Mobilesyrup]


Little girl faces off with lion at zoo

Tuesday, 10 January, 2012

Sofia the Lion Tamer at Wellington Zoo, New Zealand – 4th January 2012

Yes, the video is cute but I feel sorry for the lion at the same time. Of course, we shouldn’t forget one of the purpose of zoo is to encourage love of nature and curiosity. And in the case of Sofia, she is one brave and curious kid!


News – Samsung CES 2012, Web translation, Hacked emails, Best doc Oscar, Wipeout Copyright Lawsuit

Monday, 9 January, 2012

* Engadget, “Samsung CES 2012 Press conference

* CNN/TED Talk, “The man who wants to translate the Web

The man who wants to translate the Web

* Bruce Schneier, ”The TSA Proves its Own Irrelevance” (TSA gov blog, “TSA Top 10 Good Catches of 2011“)

* Guardian, “Hackers expose defence and intelligence officials in US and UK – Security breach by ‘hacktivists’ reveals email addresses of 221 British military staff and 242 Nato officials

* Indiewire, “Michael Moore: Best Documentary Oscar Will Be Chosen By the Full Academy

* THR, “ABC, Endemol Settle ‘Wipeout’ Copyright Lawsuit With Japanese Broadcaster


Sundance 2012 China Heavyweight / 千錘百煉 Trailer

Saturday, 7 January, 2012

China Heavyweight looks like an interesting Canadian doc at Sundance 2012 directed by Yung Chang (Up the Yangzte) from Eyesteelfilm.

China Heavyweight / 千錘百煉 Trailer


Economics and Judicial Behavior

Wednesday, 4 January, 2012

The insightful Prof. Ronald Coase turned 101 years old few days ago on Dec 29, 2011. The following is the 2011 edition of the yearly Coase Lecture delivered by Prof. Thomas Miles.

2011 Ronald H. Coase Lecture in Law and Economics: Economics and Judicial Behavior

P.S. I’ve finished watching the video now. I think I need a much more detail review of the referenced research papers (which I don’t have time to do) before I can decide if I have missed noticing any potential source of problems/mistakes.