Hike the Alps

Two weeks later, I will take my family and my brother's family to Luzern, Switzerland.  We plan to go up to both Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch and hike some trails too.  My wife does not like hiking.  But, my brother and I love it.  I have consulted Rick Steves's book in priming for this trip.  We have decided to take easy trails that Rick Steves recommended.  His book does not show detailed trail maps.  I know that I should buy hiking trail maps in Lauterbrunnen.  However, before leaving for Luzern, I need to have some general image about hiking.  So, I have googled to search for good trail maps.  I found out good trail maps for Schilthorn hiking and for Jungfrau hiking.

Schilthorn trail map: www.schilthorn.ch/en/hiking
Jungfrau trail map: www.swissholidayco.com/page/KLEINE_SCHEIDEGG

In addition, I have found a website providing general information about hiking in the Alps (www.hikethealps.com).

Design Triology by Gary Hustwits

While priming for a trip to Paris with my brother's family, I have become interested in art and design.  My wife asked me why I got to be interested in design all of sudden.  Well, I don't know.  My wife seems to believe that my sudden interest in art and design comes from somewhere.  What I have done for an annual report may be a source of my interest in design.  Anyway, I encountered an interesting documentary series regarding modern design, which was produced by Gary Hustwits.  The documentary series actually consists of three: Helvetica (www.helveticafilm.com), Objectified (www.objectifiedfilm.com), and Urbanized (urbanizedfilm.com).  As you may be already aware, Helvetica is a face type and the documentary about Helvetica talked about why and how Helvetica was born and what impact has given to us.  Until watching the documentary, I have never know that Helvetica is related to Switzerland.  The second documentary, Objectified, is about industrial design.  This was also interesting.  The third one, Urbanized, was less informative than the other two pieces.

Phaidon

Two weeks later two nephews and a niece will come to Brussels to have this summer holidays with my family.  I have not prepared any gift for them.  At first, I thought that taking them to great museums in Paris, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam is a sort of gift for them.  But, I am feeling that I need to give them something special.  I cannot give them wine.  They are just kids.  I do not want to give them toys.  That is not educational.  So, after deciding to give them something regarding art or design, I googled.  I found that Phaidon has released great art and design book series.  I will buy them after consulting my wife.  She may not like my idea because the books are too expensive!

uk.phaidon.com/agenda

How Art Made the World Theme: Daniel Mulhern

I watched a fascinating BBC Documentary, How Art Made the World, twice.  Of course,

Dr. Nigel Spivey's explanation about how art has influence our lives is insightful and informative.

www.pbs.org/howartmadetheworld

Here, I would like to point out another thing in the wonderful documentary.  That is its theme music, which was composed by Daniel Mulhern.

soundcloud.com/#daniel-mulhern/how-art-made-the-world-theme

While searching for this theme music, I came to learn existence of this interesting website, soundcloud, which includes a number of interesting sounds and musics.

soundcloud.com

Fishing in the North Sea

My family went fishing in the North Sea in July 13.  This sea fishing is for the first time in my life, my wife's life, and my kids' lives.  Actually, this fishing was organized by my colleagues several months ago.  The initial plan was that my colleagues and their families of 50 people would participate in the event and charter a boat.  However, we postponed this plan because of bad weather.

When my colleagues re-organized this fishing event in July, the number of participants decreased to 13.  Some already left for their summer vacations.  Some seemed to feel uncomfortable when they were asked to prepare snacks for their families (They were not supposed to prepare anything when a bigger group was organized).

My colleagues contacted Franlis, a sea fishing company in Ostend of Belgium and reserved 13 seats.  We rent fishing rods and reels from the company.  Even they gave us baits.  What I took for fishing were a small knife to slice baits, an ice box, beers, and some snacks. 

www.franlis.be/seafishing/concept

We were asked to arrive at Port Ostend around 6:30 a.m. because a fishing boat was scheduled to leave the port at 7:00 a.m.  It took two hours the boat to go out to the middle of the sea.   Even though the weather was excellent for fishing, it was a little bit chilly.  We made several cups of coffee because we could use electricity in the boat.  The boat traced schools of fish with its radar.  When the boat reached a school of fish, its captain honked and we threw the lines in the water.












One of my colleagues caught more than 20 fish.  My family caught only 7.  However, my kids looked really excited.  My wife did not know how to clean the fish.  So, she wanted to keep only two cods and gave the rest of them to others.  When we returned to the port, it was around 5:00 p.m.

Prezi: a new presentation software

Several weeks ago, I saw a Dutch scholar have a very stylish presentation.  At that time, I thought that he used Adobe Flash for his presentation.  Several days later, a French colleague told me whether I would be interested in a presentation software and showed me a sleek website which is of Prezi.  According to him, I can zoom in and out in a slide very easily and smoothly.  I asked him how much it is.  He told me that if I am okay with my presentation being public, Prezi is free.  But, what if I don't like to allow my presentation to be public?  I have to pay charges monthly.  What if I use Prezi a couple of times a month and don't want my presentation to be public?  I have to pay charges monthly.

prezi.com

DocuWatch

My brother-in law will come to Brussels in two weeks.  My wife looks quite happy because she has not seen her brother for more than two years.  We should go to Paris to show his kids several museums, such as Musée du Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, and Centre Pompidou.  I have felt that I am obliged to take care of them as a guide.  However, I have very little knowledge about paintings.  So, I have googled to find good reference materials about paintings.

BBC Documentary Treasures of the Louvre.  This seems to provide basic information about the Louvre and its paintings and sculptures.  The BBC website only provides a clip of the documentary.  However, we can see the full documentary at Youtube.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r3n6r

I have looked for a documentary about Musée d'Orsay but failed to do it.  I have used another key word in Googling: French Impressionism.  I have come across a website including various topics of documentaries, such as art, science, and war.  That is DocuWatch.

www.docuwat.ch/watch-documentaries

UN Comtrade

I have had several chances of being told about mirror analysis, which compares Country A's import data and Country B's export data to Country A.  Ideally, the two data should be matched well.  However, in practice, there is usually a huge gap between the two data.  Thus, many scholars claim that the gap means the existence of smuggling or informal trade between the two countries.  My question was not whether the gap between import data and export data can be interpreted as informal trade between countries but how scholars have obtained such trade data.  While reading a couple of articles regarding trade facilitation, I recognized that the UN provides such trade data for free.

comtrade.un.org

PLOS ONE

I don't think that publishing an academic article on a peer-reviewed journal is easy.  Especially, it is expremely difficult for phd students to publish their work without their professors' help because journal editors are reluctant to accept strangers' work.  I applied a manuscipt to a journal last year but have not received any news from the journal.  I don't think that they are reviewing my manuscript.  This is really ridiculous and frustrating situation.  Nonetheless, I need to write a research paper because that is my job at my workplace.  While searching articles to use as my references, I am encounterd with a strange online journal.  I know that most people look down on online journals.  But, it looks different from other conventinal journals that allow only inner-circle researchers to publish their work. It looks quite decent and seems to have a fair review system.  I will apply my new work here.

www.plos.org/publications/journals/

Philippe Jaroussky

After I heard the background music of David episode in Power of Art, I was curious about not only the music but also the singer.  The singer is Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor.  His live is a little bit worse than the recorded song.  By the way, The soprano who sings with him at the end of the video sounds bothering his beautiful voice.  She should not have shown up.

Nisi Dominus in G Minor, RV 608: IV. Cum Dederit

I have watched several times Simon Schama's Power of Art, which is as much a masterpiece as paintings that he deals with.  In particular, I am very impressed by a background music used in David episode.  His DVD did not leave any information about background musics.  So, I googled and found that so many people had the same curiosity as I have.  That is "Nisi Dominus in G Minor, RV 608: IV. Cum Dederit".  I put the link to the piece in Youtube here.