Eureka

Archimedes chillaxes ca 230 BC

Eitan comes home filled with physics. "We are studying Archimedes theory that if you put a solid object into a liquid, you can find the mass of the solid object by seeing how much the water goes up" (now he watches the Simpsons - the one where Bart buys a python for $5 a foot that eats Martin's hamster in show-and-tell).

It all started when King Hiero II was sceptical about his new laurel leaf-shaped crown. The king wanted to know whether the crown was solid gold, or if some other metal had been added.  It was up to Archimedes to figure this out. Only there was one catch: he couldn't destroy the crown.  Now 25 more 12-year olds in on the trick.

My physics weak at best for what I learned en francais at College de Candolle.  Too bad as I find it interesting - certainly more so than chemistry which I pursued through several semesters at Brown despite the miserable lab work. Any case, no need to know physics when I can outsource to Eric.

Sir John Wins Nobel Prize

Sir John Gurdon shares the Nobel Prize for his stem cell work

"It has been a disastrous half.  His work has been far from satisfactory. His prepared stuff has been badly learnt, and several of his test pieces have been torn over; one of such pieces of prepared work scored 2 marks out of a possible 50.  His other work has been equally bad, and several times he has been in trouble, because he will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way.  I believe he has ideas about becoming a Scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous, if he can't learn simple Biological facts, he would have no chance of doing the work of a Specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time both on his part, and those who have to teach him."
--John Gurdon's school report from Eton, 1949 (age 15).
Photo Eddie Mulholland

Viking Kings

Eitan does his history homework which is "to make top trump cards for Viking kings of England."

Sonnet: "I'm trying to get the printer to work. For some reason, I can't get it to print."
Me: "Have Eitan check it out. He knows more about these things than I do."
Eitan: "Huh?"
Sonnet: "See, it's not working."
Eitan plugs the USB into Sonnet's notebook.
Me, Eitan:
Sonnet: "Well there you go."

Madeleine: "What would you do if I got a letter to go to Hogwarts?"
Me: "You mean delivered by an owl?"
Madeleine: "No, Dad. I mean would you let me go?"
Me: "Would you have to go to Euston Station and catch the train? Through that wall?"
Madeleine: "King's Cross. And yes."
Me: "And gone for a semester?"
Madeleine: "Longer than that."
Me: "Are you willing to sleep under the stairs?"
Madeleine: "Huh?"
Me: "Under the stairs. For when you come home so I can use your bedroom."
Madeleine: "You are so cruel Dad.  So would you let me?"
Me: "I could not bare for you to be away."
Madeleine:

High Atlas

Sonnet in the High Atlas mountains, Morocco

We visited Morocco in '97 with Mary and Amado and some other MBA friends travelling mostly by train  and in several instances sleeping in our 2nd-class cabin waking in some new city like Marrakesh or Fez a bit strung out but happy to be there. The Atlas range a highlight requiring several days hiking into Toubkai National Park ending at peak Jbel Toubkai at 13,671 feet (Kilimanjaro is 19,341).  A warm up for the KKH.

Top Turtle

Madeleine feeds Eric the turtle. Zara over post Sunday swim-practise to catch the action, which includes blood worms. It is gross, but at least they are frozen, and the turtles gobble them up.

Eitan: "Can I watch TV?"
Me: "No."
Eitan: "Why not?"
Me: "Have you done your homework ? Have you done any chores?"
Eitan: "I can do them later."
Me: "You know, I have had this exact conversation before with my father. When I was your age."
Eitan: "Yeah, so?"
Me: "Do you know what daja vu is?"
Eitan: "I just want to watch television."
Me: "Well, do your homework then."
Eitan: "That is so unfair."
Me: "Do you think I just make this stuff up? You know, as I am going along ?"
Eitan: "I dunno."
Me: "I've had plenty of practice. You should have heard Moe Saturday mornings : 'Jeff ! clean up the front yard. Cut the grass !' when all I wanted to do was read a comic book."
Eitan:
Me: "I've had plenty of practice at this, believe me."

Opposite Sides of Saint-Honoré

Man pulls out wiring before the Chanel shop.

Women approaching the Hotel Crillon

Comme des Garçons

Sonnet photos a temporary exhibition at the newly constructed Cité de la Mode in Paris. CdG a Japanese fashion label founded by Rei Kawakuebo.

I recall Comme des Garçons when it hit the US (Macy's, San Francisco) the summer before college. I bought a pair of CdG khaki trousers for a fortune that had something like ten pleats and fell straight to the ankle. To make it work, I rolled up the bottoms and wore them with black espadrilles and a white La Coste. This the first day of classes. Oh, the weirdness of traipsing from my dorm room (Poland House, Keeney Quad, late summer, East Coast) to lecture theatre with everybody and everybody a stranger. The outfit worked in California but the Ivy League 'preppies' hated it. I could have cared less - all I wanted was to dance and have fun and study but, in hindsight, I probably could have left the fashion at home.

"I liked the unusual presentation of the blow up bubbles though it does make it difficult to see the clothes.  Rei Kawakuebo explored the colour of white in this collection"
--Sonnet

London to Paris

Here we are this morning at St Pancras off to France.  Sonnet has a number of museums to visit and tomorrow we will see the recently opened Islamic art wing at the Louvre.

Last Summer

A couple of French dudes enjoy the Indian summer in the 8e.

Summer is certainly over for French private equity as the Hollande government introduces an onerous tax framework that goes to the business like a laser guided torpedo : capital gains increase 45% to 65% (and may be considered income - if so, 75% over €1 M).  The tax deductibilty on interest for company debt to be reduced to 80% from 100%.  Then there is a social charge of up to 28% for every beneficiary of carried interest paid by the management company who oversees the funds.  In short, the socialist demand that the country's producers, who are also often rich, either cease operations or move to London (where capital gains fall to zero) or elsewhere.  France, one of the most attractive country's in the world for global foreign investment, may suddenly become the least.

I return from Paris to find Eitan, hair wet from swimming, hunched over his homework (Spanish : "I am nearly fluent" he offers, counting to ten) and Madeleine fast asleep - she puts herself to bed at 8:30PM which makes a big difference in the morning.

Eitan: "I thought I had turned in my chemistry homework two days late but actually I am two days early.  I am so relieved." [He hums]

Spaghetti

Me: "It must be nice to be a dog. All you have to worry about is your next meal. You don't care where you live. All you want is a little bit of affection .. . "
Eitan: "Yeah."
Madeleine: "Rusty wasn't very happy when you got him neutered."
Me: "Good point."

Game Girl

Madeleine plays 'Vertical Jump', which she says "is a fun game." She sings while she "jumps and tries not to get killed by skeletons."  Normally the rule is no computer games but she finished "Little House on the Prairie" and "Schooled" so I give her a break.

Eitan celebrates 12 - 12! - by making dinner (spaghetti and meatballs), a cake (sour cream chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream icing) and picking a  movie ("Tinton").  Elm Grove, after dispatching Bretford 3-nil, toss Eitan in the air.  Sonnet, Madeleine, Rusty and I on the sideline to cheer along the boy.  He also hums.

Yesterday was Katie's birthday - happy birthday Katie!

Red Robe

Eitan back from a Hampton match (the boys wear their school uniform since an away game) which Hampon wins 3-nil. He now pads around, "Man of the House", Sonnet notes. We watch  the '54 Godzilla, which is dark and awesome : remarkably made within nine years of Hiroshima and Nagasaki : the monster being the bomb unused on Tokyo.

Eitan on the 'A' squad and, he notes, three of his teammates play for academies.  Unlike most public (ie, private) schools, Hampton excels in football which is otherwise considered a sport for the masses - like baseball in the US.  The posh kids choose from rugby, rowing or maybe sailing. Hampton's intake is 50% state schools and so follows demand : in Eitan's year there are six soccer squads.

Madeleine joins the Barnes' Eagles and today has her second practise. Games to follow.

Madeleine: "Do giraffe's eat meat?"
Me: "Hmm?"
Madeleine: "Giraffe's. Are they vegetarian or something?"
Me: "I've never seen one eat a burger."
Madeleine: "Do they sleep in the grass?"
Me: "Doing some homework, are we?"
Madeleine: "I have this new game. Where do Giraffe's sleep ?" (Dad's note: Madeleine has an electronic game)
Me: "In a bed?"
Madeleine: "You are not helping my score."

Bluto and Brown

"Animal House", 1978

A further sign my alma mater losing out : Brown not ranked in the Playboy-Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer Top 10 party schools (Univ of Virginia #1).  When I was in college , we took some pride in being #13 and sniggered at places like Columbia and their uptight core curriculum and Latin requirements.  This was Brown in the '80s, trendy and full of confidence : the "experiment", introduced in '68 by Ira Magaziner, of zero academic requirements, pass or no-pass classes and no pluses nor minuses on traditional alphabet grades and anything lower than a "C" gone from the transcript  - well, that was all so vanguard. ..

I still get a lot of heat from my i banking friends who went to Harvard or Wharton Undergrad or some such place where the students forced to, you know, show up.  I recall, post college, interviewing candidates for Financial Analyst jobs and, without exception, the UPenn applicants presentable, able to use an HP12c, and could tell me the difference between a stock and a bond. Brown, on the other hand put up some awful kids ( tweed jackets, corduroy trousers .. one gal told me she had dyslexia) but also the very best . Brown always had something interesting to talk about.

Overall I felt the school got it mostly right : a fun place to learn, be challenged, find one's way and to party. This is all a part of the growing up (of course I did not think this at First Boston, where I was murdered for not knowing a balance sheet . .. ).  And these memories become all the more valuable the farther from the experience

BINTM

My pic taken on a photo shoot with Leon Saperstein

Not surprisingly, one of Britain's top rated shows, by viewership, is 'Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model' where a bunch of young women live together in close-quarters and compete for the title of, well, being Britain's next top model and a chance to be in the modelling industry. Ghastly but hey I am watching.  It's been a winner since 2005.

Here's the talent pre-screening (from the official website): "anyone with the right to live or work in Britain is free to apply for the show, but must meet the height requirement of 5'8", and be between the ages of 18-23 at the time they try out for the show." A perfect nose, blonde hair and subtle boobs would also be appreciated. But brains and personality count too - here is what Elle "The Body" McPherson has to say on the BBC comparing BINTM to the US "It is uniquely British, the sense of humour and the styling is very British... more hybrid backgrounds... and I think that is really exemplary of what's going on in the UK today."  Well there you go.

This contrasts with the real news suggesting that Scotland Yard failed to aggressively pursue girl-sexual grooming circles for fear of offending ethnic minorities primarily the Pakistanis.

"This is the end. This is literally the end."
--Model on last night's "Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model" finale

Sheen Lane At Sunrise

I walk by this ugly building, forever with its "temporary and long-term space available," every day on my way to the office or train station. I no longer see it yet, on a cold clear morning , it catches my eye : the sunrise makes it handsome somehow. Certainly urban.  There used to be a cinema at this junction but that was before my time and now long gone.

Rusty and I run at 5AM and I take a flashlight to see the trail in Richmond Park, which is completely deserted and pitch dark leaving only the stars and the bucks groaning and me with my scary thoughts (axe murderer ?).  As the false dawn arrives I remind myself : yes, indeed, we are on a small planet circling a mid-sized star in a universe that has hundreds of billions of them.  Rusty could care less which is the right way about it.

Madeleine: "Do you know what I just realised? I have to show all the new kids around the school." [Dad's note: open-house for the prospects this week]
Me: "You will make a great ambassador."
Madeleine: "I don't even know where the art department is. Or the science lab."
Sonnet: "Did I tell you the story about my friend's husband who was getting his PhD in chemistry and left his experiment in the lab over the weekend ? It blew up the science building!"
Madeleine: "Did he get a PhD for the explosion?"
Sonnet: "Probably not but imagine his Monday morning."

Oh Happy Day

Marcus and Adrienne arrive from Buffalo on their way to Barcelona and their honeymoon. This autumn, Marcus taking a few classes at Niagara University and working with a 501(c)3, supported with a fat grant from Knight Ridder, building a multi-media and information platform for five local charities; he is responsible for the project's design and delivery (NB Knight Ridder a US media and Internet publishing company and the second-largest newspaper business with 32 dailies).  Eventually Marcus's program may be rolled out across the country.

This morning the entire family on site for Elm Grove v. Ashford in the second game of the season. Unfortunately it is wet and cold so not much fun on the sidelines unless you are Rusty, who chases the other dogs across the pitch, buries his head into somebody's Starbucks pastry bag and jumps on Adrienne's white shirt.   The rest of us watch a gritty 2-2 draw highlighted by Eitan, who scores goal #2, coming off the sidelines, inside 30 seconds.  Elm Grove cheer and we dads pat each other on the back.

Madeleine in a tip top mood with her turtles to care for. This morning she de-frosts some blood worms (gross) and carefully measure the feeding amount. She peppers me with questions: where should I put their food? What if the turtles can't get it? Should I refreeze the blood worms and so on and so forth. I direct her to the pet shop - her turtles, her responsibility

Me: "Your turtles are going to live for 20 years."
Madeleine: "Yeah, so ?."
Me: "You will be, like, 30 when they die."
Madeleine: "I guess. .. "
Me: "By then you'll be done with secondary school ..  and your GCSEs, and A levels. University, your first job. First apartment. . . You may be married."
Madeleine:
Me: "You might have a kid. Or two."
Madeleine:
Me: "Holy catfish that is a lot of work. Does it seem that way to you?"
Madeleine: "The way you say it, it does."

King Kong Vs. Godzilla

I loved Godzilla and a highlight was the epic battle between the two greatest monsters : Godzilla vs. King Kong, which I saw at a now long-gone theatre on Cedar near 4th St in Berkeley (Katie set off the fire alarm going out the wrong exit).  That was '75 while the film from '62.

We had a wonderful carer, Taka, from Tokyo, and with us for maybe eight years including my parent's studio at 1530.  Taka taught me some simple Japanese phrases and translated the Godzilla picture books I bought in San Francisco's Japan-town : they were dense and pocket size, with photographs and cartoon caption in kanji.

Another way to catch the green lizard was Creature Features, hosted every Saturday from midnight by Bob Wilkins (w/ cigar), which occasionally showed Godzilla movies from the '60s. If not Godzilla, it was "13 Ghosts" about a haunted house with, well, 13 ghosts. And a Japanese film where some dudes in a boat land on a deserted island covered in toxic mushrooms .  Or "The Hand", which was a hand that could play the piano and stuff.

But nothing matched Godzilla : his mortal enemies included Mothra (giant moth), King Ghidorah (three headed fire throwing serpant. Real badass), Hedorah the Smog Monster (feeds on human pollution, super badass) and my favorite,Gigan, with his awesomeness abilities like flight, teleportation, abdominal buzzsaw, eye beams and stabby arms.

I've never been to Tokyo but I feel like I have known the Japanese forever.

The Turtle Has Landed

Madeleine gets her turtle(s).

Following a campaign that began early 2011 and moved from lizards to snakes to turtles, Madeleine finally has satisfaction in two musk turtles (she notes: "This is the second best day of my life". Dad's note: getting Rusty #1). The turtles will grow  to the size of a sand dollar (now they are quarter) and named 'Eric' and 'Nelson' on the ride home; they may live 20 years (or until I chuck them over the fence when Madeleine to college). Unfortunately they can't go in the pond , per original plan - apparently so many people have done this with the outdoor types that alien turtles have taken over Britain's rivers and channels - so instead we buy an aquariums kit complete with frozen 'blood worm' that the turtles eat. Or suck on or mash. Whatever the hell they do.

Madeleine thrilled by her new friends and, in truth, the set-up, with its glow light and lively water decorations, is pretty cool.  She has earned the pets, getting into Emanuel.

Madeleine: "Your memory is so much better than mine."
Me: "Are you kidding? You have a great memory."
Madeleine: "I can never remember anything. Like what I had for lunch Friday."
Me: "What did you have for lunch Friday?"
Madeleine: "Fish and chips. With ketchup, since it is only allowed on Friday."
Me: "How about Thursday?"
Madeleine: "I didn't really have lunch because it was some terrible Indian curie thing so I had a snack. Outside."
Me: "See?"
Madeleine: "It was raining, too."

Gucci, Baby

Sonnet returns, 12 Midnight, from Como, where she delivers the closing presentation for the RATTI Foundation's conference.  She speaks about how to display textiles within a fashion exhibition. Before that, she is at Milan fashion week and sees shows by Gucci, pictured. She is there with her new assistant, Lucia, who Sonnet hired for "La Moda". Lucia is a local, and smooths along the operations including organising top level meetings with archives, university profs and influencing agents.  She tells me: "it was a very attractive crowd and the heels were vertiginous." (Photo by Sonnet)

Madeleine and I hang out on her bed talking for 1.5 hours (I know the time because Madeleine says "Gee, Dad, we've been talking for 1.5 hours").  She has a lot on her mind, this kid, and I have to adjust myself : Madeleine is a little person and no longer a child (which she has not been for some time).

The girls at Emanual (Madeleine now tells me) are in to Hollister, Gillian Hicks and Abercrombie & Fitch and "£84 purple leather bags", which Madeleine rejects. I wonder if this effects her friendships ? but she seems to be doing fine : no steadfast goofs like Marcus or Alex, but this will come.

Me: "What do you want now?"
Rusty: "Woof, woof, woof!"
Me: "There you go, let  me get you some breakfast."
Rusty: "Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Me: "Ok, Ok, I'll get the lead."

Taxi, Sir?

Madeleine and I to school.

I talk to James, a black cab driver, about "The Knowledge", which every driver must posses before receiving a taxi license.  It is by far the world's most demanding taxi training course requiring at least twelve 'appearances' (attempts at the final test), after preparation, which can take up to five years.  James took two years to complete his examination but "I was doing it full time", he tells me. The Knowledge based on learning 320 routes (or "runs") which help the driver learn the 25,000 streets and 20,000 landmarks and places of interest in the six mile radius of Charing Cross. Once licensed, the taxi can work anywhere in the Greater London area.  Taxi drivers have 3% more brain mass than the general public, according to taxi drivers.

James works the night-shift,  6PM until 4AM, which gives him more and better fares : after 8PM, rates increase 50%; after 10PM it's double until 6AM. Cabbies make a good living, too :  £70 grand on average or twice London's per capita.  James tells me of a friend who sold his house to train up for the license.

It works, too : I have never, ever, met a taxi driver unable to identify the most obscure London street.