Prison If

We take a boat ride by the Château d'If, a fortress (later a prison) located on the island of If, in the Mediterranean Sea about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille. It is famous, Dear Reader, from Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo where Le Monsieur de la Count jailed - I read the book a couple of years ago to my great delight. Recall the main character Edmond Dantès(a commoner who later purchases the noble title of Count) and his mentor, Abbé Faria, are imprisoned in If. After fourteen years, Dantès makes a daring escape from the castle, becoming the first person ever to do so and survive. In reality, no one is known to have done this. There is also a 33 Champs-Élysées BTW where Le Count lived in the story.

The château a square, three-story building 28 m long on each side, flanked by three towers with large gun embrasures. The remainder of the island, which measures about 30,000 square meters, heavily fortified; high ramparts with gun platforms surmount the island's cliffs.The isolated location and dangerous offshore currents of the Château d'If made it an ideal escape-proof prison, like our Alcatraz. Its was a dumping ground for political and religious detainees and one of the most feared and notorious jails in France. It was built in the 15th century and one may easily marvel at the effort this must have required.

"My partner is my master."

--The Count of Monte Cristo

Night Out

I prepare for the night's affairs.

Dance

Astorg out-performs so really their annual general meeting a pretty tame affair. Astorg's Chairman, Xavier, jokes with the owner/manager of the one company whose performance has slipped since last year's review. Otherwise it is mostly good stories and valuation mark-ups. Xavier takes it upon himself to show us the best of his country and this year special as his hometown in nearby Nice. By Thursday all investors to hand and the Astorg team flies in for dinner, which is at Palais du Pharo, built under Louis Napoleon Bonaparte for the Empress Eugenie. Before supper we have a private viewing of La compangnie Julie Lestel's "corps & 'âmes", a modern dance production (pictured) that has received awards around the world and, I might suggest, a bit risqué for the crowd. Unexpected and sublime.

Astorg's younger ranks fun to watch - 28 to 32 or so, very fashionable, young and attractive - it is clear they enjoy being around each other.

Eitan now swims five nights a week for the regional squad+football+cross country. He is as gung-ho as ever when it comes to sport.

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
--Napoleon Bonaparte

Marseilles

I am in Marseilles from Wednesday for Astorg's annual investor meeting, which kicks off at Gerald Passedat's restaurant, Le Petite Nice, a three-star Michelin restaurant that even has the French going "oo la la." Passedat known for his fish work and so (of course) the fellow next to me does not .. eat fish. The rest of us marvel at his creations and accompanying wines which somehow improve the flavors. We have the restaurant to ourselves - about 30 of us - and drink champagne beforehand as the sun sets on the Mediterranean which spreads before us. Not bad for a Jewish kid from Berkeley.

I have not been to Marseilles since '83 when Geneve Natation participated in a competition at the then-new 50-meter Olympic pool built into the city cliffs. And there she is, looking a bit older maybe but connecting me to footsteps I walked 28 years ago.

Wednesday's menu:

Avant-goût (Foretaste)

Asperges de Pertuis au Naturel (Natural Pertuis Asparagus)

Truffe en Mini Brouillade (Mini scrambled of Truffle)

Cabris et petis pois (Goat meat, peas and vegetables)

Nouille fraîche aux Morilles (Fresh Noodles with morels)

Foie de Canard a l'inis étoilé (Foie gras with Star Anise)

Les fromage affinés (chees)

L'avant-douceur (pre-dessert)

Chrysalide de caramel au chocolat (Caramel chrysalis with chocolate)

Mignardises (Homemade delicacies)

Wines

Champagne De Souze Cuvée 3A

Cotes de Provence blanc Domain Mas de Cadenete Cuveé Mas Negrel de Cadenet 2097

Chablis premier cru Montmains 2007; Domain Jean-Paul et Benoit Droin

Cornas Les Ruchets 1999; Domaine Jean-Luc Colombo

Vin doux Naturel Rivesaltes Ambre 2006; Domaine Rossignol

(photo from the web, uncredited)

Broom

Eitan promoted to the regional swimming squad, which gets a bashful acknowledgement when Head Coach Mirella and club Chairman Nigel tell him he has earned his place "from hard-work and good progress." The boy now expected to train five or six times a week. We discuss his commitment to sport : swimming, football and cross-country, which he enjoys at school. At some point - not now, but soon - he will most likely have to make a choice between the three but for now, he is boundless energy and not enough hours in the day.

Rusty chases the broom - he can do this for hours.

Boob Tube

We have a fairly sharp policy when it comes to media: the less, the better. No Nintendo DS nor Xbox; no boob tubes in the kids' rooms (only one household television); one family computer which the kids use in the kitchen in the presence of an adult. Eitan and Madeleine have 'movie night' Thursdays and one-hour of cartoons Sunday mornings though relaxed around football, which Eitan cannot get enough of (+I enjoy watching with him). Madeleine gets her extra share, too, do not worry Dear Reader. The one exception radio : I have no problem with the wireless which, at least, exercises some imagination. They also go for CD boxsets of Hairy Potter or whatever (I sometimes find one or the other sound asleep with the player going). Sonnet and I figure the Shakespeares will spend half their waking life Facebooking and Twittering . . no need to rush them online when they should be reading and playing in dirt.

For the record, the British Market Research Bureau reports that Britain's children spend four-and-a-half hours a day in front of a TV or computer - one hour 50 minutes online and two hours 40 minutes in front of the television. It found that children spend more time in front of a screen in one day than they spend exercising in the entire week. 97 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds own a mobile phone – eight per cent more than the percentage of adults who own one.

Post-War Stability (1950-1974)

(From the FT) This period was one of relative stability for Britain - with generally low inflation, and no significant recessions - and of relative decline, as other nations, in particular the resurgent Germany and Japan, overtook the UK in the international economic pecking order.

Political parties were in broad agreement that the state had a role to play in the economy, to fund the expanding welfare state and, by judicious use of fiscal and monetary policies, to maintain full employment.

Busy Day At Work

6PM and I am turning off my computer as I write thi . . . .

Summer '04 - Richmond Park

We host a martini fueled dinner party Saturday which goes until 3AM - 3AM! - which means Sonnet takes Eitan to swimming Sunday morning, 6:30AM. Made worse: Mother's Day. I slink around the house then take the boy to his football match against the Molesley Jrs which is on a lovely pitch next to the Spencer Estate - Spencer being Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, DL wh is a British peer and brother of Diana, Princess of Wales and an "author," "print journalist" and "broadcaster." Yeah, right. KPR lost to Molesley two weeks ago 4-nil without Eitan and yesterday the team gets one back: the blues dominate 6-1 and Eitan scores a hat-trick including a screaming header fed to him on a corner-kick. There are plenty of smiles afterwards.

The rest of the afternoon spent with Madeleine in the backyard hacking around the garden. Springtime in the air. We observe tadpoles spawned in the pond - Madeleine feeds them some ham.

Eitan, from the back seat of the car: "I always get excited when I see a theme park."

Eitan Mother's Day Card:

"Dear Mom,

Thank you for all the wonderful things you do for me.

You are a wonderful mother.

I love your hairstyle.

Love, from Eitan

"

A Sad Day, 1968

In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

Berkeley's Grove Street, running north-south a few blocks of Shatuck Ave connecting Berkeley and Oakland, was renamed Martin Luther King Jr Way in 1984.

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death in Memphis, Tenn.

Photo from the web.

A Lie In - On Kissing

Me: "Can you believe we ran that race a year ago? The one in Richmond Park?"

Eitan: "What?! I thought it was, like, five months ago."

Me: "That's the way it goes. Marching to the grave."

Eitan: "Yeah, for you."

Madeleine at an over-night and Sonnet and I watch the film "Facebook" with Eitan.

Me: "Did you like the movie?"

Eitan: "I guess so. Mom told me to put the blanket over my head during some parts."

Me: "Did you understand everything?"

Eitan: "Like what?"

Me: "It was sort of for adults. Young adults."

Eitan:

Me: "Like those things they were doing in college. At the parties."

Eitan:

Me: "How do you feel about the way the characters treated each other?"

Eitan: "I don't know."

Me: "Did anything go over your head?"

Eitan: "You mean the blanket?"

Me:

Me, walking home with Madeleine: "Your mom and I watched Facebook with Eitan."

Madeleine: "Really? Isn't it for the older ones?"

Me: "Well, there is kissing and stuff in the movie. Do you know about that?"

Madeleine:

Me: "Well, you can kiss for love and you can kiss for pleasure."

Madeleine: "And what was in the film?"

Me: "I think mostly for pleasure."

Madeleine: "I have only kissed you and mom. For love."

Me: "Someday you will find somebody to kiss for love and for pleasure. Both are perfectly Ok."

Madeleine: "Do people really like to do that?"

Me: "Yes. Now what happens if one person kisses for love and the other one for pleasure?"

Madeleine:

Me: "Could somebody get hurt?"

Madeleine: "Yeah."

Me: "It is all part of growing up, kid."

Madeleine And Katie

Katie ("The Intellectual") profiled in Delta Sky Magazine - pictured - with Catherine Hardwicke ("The Visionary"), the director of the Twilight series and most recently Red Riding Hood which opened in the UK last week.

We attend King Lear at the Richmond Theatre with Shai and Ada.

I ponder three disparate facts from the news:

- In the year to March 1, US corn stocks fell 15% while the global price of corn doubled over the same period (USDA)

- Nevada house prices have fallen 58% since their peak in April 2006 (S&P)

- Barclays' assets are 100% of UK gross domestic product (Barclays)

"A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?"

--King Lear

"Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest."

--The Fool

Oscar And The Aesthetes

I attend last night's opening party of the wonderful V&A exhibition "The Cult of Beauty, the Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900." The reception in the main entrance under the magnificent Chihuly chandelier, which is now a permanent fixture (previously on loan). The Great and the good ensemble drinking champagne flutes while nibbling hors d'oeuvres. We are escorted into the gallery and treated to romantic bohemians Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James Whistler and Frederic Leighton and G.F. Watts. Oscar Wilde surely has a part to play and so receives a commemorative (from the V&A gallery):

"Oscar Wilde, the Aesthetic Movement and Satire

"The figure of the Aesthete, with his super-subtle sensibility and passionate responses to poetry, pictures and interior decoration, had first appeared in the 1870s. Associated with "unhealthy" and possibly dangerous foreign ideas, he was greeted with suspicion by critics and public alike

"However, by the 1880s the long-haired, velvet-clad Aesthete had become the butt of more affectionate satire. Targeted with extraordinary precision, the Aesthetes were ridiculed for what Gilbert and Sullivan called their 'stained-glass attitudes', overly precious speech and enthusiasm for 'pale lilies', sunflowers, peacock feathers, blue-and-white chine and Japanese fans.

"Oscar Wilde, inventing himself asa the first celebrity style-guru, astutely adopted the role of the Aesthete and rose to prominence through lecturing on Aesthetic ideals. His name and appearance became synonymous with the movement to such an extent that his fall in 1895 discredited the Aestheticism for a generation."

Mercury And Barney

NASA's Messenger spacecraft began orbiting Mercury on March 17, and will remain here for another year or so taking photographs and measurements. The Messenger arrived at its final destination after a 6.5-year loop the loop through the inner solar system. A 15-minute engine burn slowed the spacecraft sufficiently for it to be captured by Mercury’s gravity. By design, the Messenger circles around the planet on a highly elliptical orbit, dipping down as close to 160 miles to Mercury’s surface and rising as far up as 9,300 miles.

Says mission chief scientist Sean Solomon: "Mercury has had an exposed surface for at least 3.5 to 4 billion years and some of those surfaces are extremely cratered to the point where there are so many craters they start to obscure one another."

My genius friend Barney, who sold his search company to Microsoft and now the chief architect for Bing local search, tells me he is"moonlighting" as co-founder and CTO of Moon Express which is building an autonomous robotic lunar lander to support exploration and resource development on the moon (Think: mining platinum from the asteroids that impacted the moon). The company is now 8 FTE and has contracts with NASA.

Since Barney's bio on the web, here is a relevant interesting paragraph paragraph on Barney:

"

From 1993-1998, Dr. Pell worked as a Principal Investigator and Senior Computer Scientist at NASA Ames, where he conducted advanced research and development of autonomous control software for NASA's deep space missions. Dr. Pell was the Architect for the Remote Agent and the Project Lead for the Executive component of the Remote Agent Experiment (RAX), the first intelligent executive to fly onboard and control a spacecraft (the Deep Space One mission). Remote Agent is widely considered one of the top achievements in the history of Artificial Intelligence and was awarded NASA's "software of the year" award in 1999. Dr. Pell was also Co-Lead for the Autonomy Integrated Product Development Team for NASA's New Millennium Program, responsible for planning and managing technology maturation and demonstration of autonomous systems technology for future use by NASA."

Marc; Eitan Does Whitney

This one of my favorite photos : Marc in Singapore. He is a wheeler dealer in advertising media and owns a small agency.

Eitan at the Rose Theatre in Kingston to sing with his and other borough quires. I fail to get a ticket in advance and so do what my mother would have done: sneak into the circle box for the final song. Good lessons BTW. A couple hundred kids on stage accompanied by a orchastra. It takes a couple moments to identify Eitan then I spot him in a middle row and get a timid wave then the peace sign, which he has seen me do on occasion. They sing Whitney Houston's "One Moment In Time" which Whitney performed at the Grammy's where it won an Emmy. The song for the '88 Seoul Olympic athletes and equally appropriate for the little tykes on stage.

Eitan Butterflies

My photo from the school borough swimming championships last week - Eitan (green cap) places sixth overall in the butterfly.

Meanwhile, Cal held off defending champion Texas 493-470 1/2 to win its first men's NCAA swimming championship in 31 years Saturday night. The Bears' Graeme Moore, Josh Daniels, Tom Shields and Nathan Adrian clinched the title by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay in 2 minutes, 47.39 seconds. Je-sus that is fast. Adrian also won a third straight 100 freestyle in 41.10 and was named the meet's top swimmer. Cal's women's team took their second NCAA swimming in three year the week before. Holy Catfish.

“It's kind of like a funnel. Meets are just stops along the way and everything funnels down to that goal.”

--Nort Thornton, Cal mens head swim coach, 1974-2007

"My goggles came off and I couldn't really see anything."

--Eitan

Wars And Depression (1914-1950

(From the FT) In common with the rest of the world Britain suffered severe dislocation during the two world wars and the intervening years. The unemployment rate rose to 15% during the Great Depression, but in many ways the early 1920s were even worse, with deflation exacerbating the postwar recession. An inflexible exchange rate caused problems of adjustment throughout the period and the 30% devaluation of sterling in 1949 finally underlined that Britain was no longer a dominant power. The return to a peacetime economy after demobilisation saw a populace determined not to repeat the experiences of the past 30 years.

Rana - Darya - Madeleine

Somewhere in the 7th arrondissement.

French fund Astorg Partners closes last week at €1 billion. Otherwise it is interesting times for the 1,600 or so buyout firms worldwide raising $600 billion when cash-strapped institutional investors have already spent much of their allocations for 2011. Industry insider Prequin notes that only 33% of institutions have money for pe funds. Yet partnerships that raised in '06-'07 face the opposite problem: they can't spend their money fast enough. Buyout businesses reluctant to invest in '08 and '09 due to the economy and reduced borrowing now sit on a record $958 billion cash - which they either have to sink or give back to LPs, along with the fees.

Sea Snake

Snails In Paris

Madeleine leaps into my arms following her week-end in Paris. Snails! Post cards! The Eiffel Tower! Room Service! Here is our darling woofing down a snail at Terminus du Nord.

Last night I go to Lisa's 40th surprise party which is anything but. Without Sonnet, I fend for myself. It brings back the best of the old days when the cocktail party schmooz-fest sooo much part of the Internet. I meet a bunch of husbands, backs against the wall, nursing spirits and I jump in .. about the dog. Somehow this more neutral than the kids. Paul runs the UK and European operations of some company he describes as "an enterprise cloud computing company that distributes business software on a subscription basis." And: "we are known for its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) products, like Salesforce.com." I have never understood CRM. Maybe Roger can explain it to me. Paul's company floated on NASDAQ in '07 and has a market cap of "two or three billion" - you know, give or take a couple hundred million. He joined after the IPO which may explain his detail. Ah, the go-go years still alive for some.

Eitan sings: "Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't. Almond Joy has nuts, Mounds don't."