My Summer 2009 Tech-Rant

Posted on July 20, 2009 by admin

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Time for a tech-rant. Its been a while, but believe it or not people still ask me for my opinion, as if it really mattered.

I have decided to base this rant on the technology that I personally own, which is a naturally narrow band of goods, since I am not rich, and I am also a bit of a minimalist at heart.

As always, please note the date of this article, as tech articles do not stay fresh for very long, so it will soon stink even more than it does today, and believe me, it already stinks. It is 2009, July 20th.

I have three computers in my arsenal these days, all of them are Apples. (No, I said arsenal, wise guy). First is my 24 inch Apple iMac. It is two and a half years old and still operates on Tiger. It will stay on Tiger until Snow Leopard comes out in a couple of months time.

This was the big white beast that liberated me from the Windows experience. I had been wrestling with, maintaining, cleaning and generally nursing Windows since 3.0, so switching to Apple OSX in 2007 was a move that freed me from working for my computer. Now my computer works for me.

I also have a white Macbook, also purchased in 2007, which rarely gets switched on, unless I go away from home. The main reason for this, is I am spoiled by the 24 inch screen environment, and I unfortunately do not have very good eyesight.

Therefore my third Apple, a little white 16GB iPhone, is much more capable than it needs to be since trying to read a web page on it is torture for me, and unless its an emergency I dont even try to do email on it.

So as I sit with my three white Apples, I often consider the state of personal computing today. I think that folks with good eyesight who never edit a batch of 200 photos or edit a movie or, like me, work with a fifteen thousand row, twenty column spreadsheet all day, would be fine having a netbook instead of a home computer system, but, and its a big but (I prefer little butts), they would need to have readily available fast wireless Internet to make it bearable, and it could definitely not be a netbook that ran Windows. Using Windows to run a netbook is like towing a motorcycle with a water buffalo. Some of the Linux flavors are apparently very good on netbooks, but Windows itself needs more power than a netbook possesses simply to play politely with human beings. And I can definitely say from experience, no-one likes any computing device that seems to work slowly. That is worth repeating, no-one likes any computing device that seems to work slowly.

Moving to the living room, we are still happy with our old 42 inch, room-heating, plasma TV that is on the wall with all the ugly wires hidden inside that wall and coming out of a socket lower down to fan out into a bunch of black room heaters.

But what is really needed is some modern take on the consolidation of all the mess. The aforementioned room heaters are the sound amplifier, the DVR from the cable company, and two different DVD players, neither of which is currently connected because the cable companys DVR does not like the HDMI cable so it had to borrow the composite cables. Honestly, the amount of vinyl-clad copper spaghetti and the basket of remote controls is a complete mess. Someone has to invent a simple connection and control system for home entertainment. I sometimes feel like Im shoveling coal and filling a boiler on a steam engine just to watch TV. I have to manually change the aspect ratio from channel to channel and go through a multiple button sequence on more than one device to do anything more complicated than change the volume. No wonder so many people watch narrow pictures squashed into wide screens so everyone looks short and wide, its too much hassle to adjust anything.

One piece of technology that is dear to my heart is my Keurig K-Cup coffee system. Anything else is so messy and uncivilized that I rank this device as one of the greatest technological feats since the rocket engine. Look elsewhere on the-vu for more about this charming lump of counter-top tech.

And lastly a piece of technology that made something extremely huge into something tiny. My Roland Handsonic 10. This has replaced a van full of drums, cymbals, cases, microphones, stands, racks, and more, and its not much larger than a laptop computer. Oh yes, this too is white, exactly like my three Apples.

Jeffrey the Barak is the publisher of the-vu

Watching Time

Posted on June 22, 2009 by admin

By Andrew Lim

t'was my grail watch for the longest time

Like most people I’ve gone through a number of hobbies, photography now being the greatest one. However the fascination with watches is one of the oldest. In general, I’ve always liked anything small and complicated, anything with tiny clicking bits. My very first watch was probably a yellow plastic Garfield watch that Mum bought for me. According to her it was a pricey timepiece. Given my age, I think anything above $2 would be considered a pricey item. So old and obscure is this watch that I can’t even find a photo of it online, and I can’t even photograph it for you to see because it’s overseas, stashed away in a shoebox with a dozen other cheapie watches I amassed over the first decade of my life.

The second serious watch (ie. daily wearer) was a tiny analog Casio watch, probably designated as a women’s watch, but worked well for a sub-10 year old at that time. It had a black dial and cheerfully colored minute, hour and second hand. Around this time I learned all about ‘water resistance’ in a watch and became obsessed with it. This little Casio was good for only 50 meters but that was all fine. The beach was my favorite hangout and the watch accompanied me everywhere, including bath time. I probably never took it off.

I was very curious in those days and spent much time rummaging through my parents’ dressing table when they were not looking. In it I found two watches, a strapless Jaeger Le Coultre Club and an old Rotary with an original strap (more about this later). I begged my Dad for the JLC (funny how, despite my age, I knew which was the more expensive of the two) and he initially refused. I didn’t think much about it and went straight to bed to prepare for the next day of school. But then I overheard my parents talking, and shortly after Dad placed the JLC under my pillow. I was thrilled with my first mechanical watch and had it in my pocket for a good length of time. It continued to work well, at least until the minute hand warped and got stuck between the markers on the dial. I stupidly tried to take the watch apart to repair it and wrecked the thing completely.

Needless to say, I’d give a lot to get the same watch back today. It taught me an important lesson: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it is broke, don’t open it yourself!

At around 10 years old, I bought a Lorus Mickey Mouse pocket watch (from memory it was $69, my own savings) a few more Swatch watches, mostly quartz, but one automatic. These were courtesy of gift money from my grandfather, who passed away early last year. They are lovely watches but were never my daily wearers. I still have them today and they’re in pretty good nick. During those years I started to pay more attention to what was on my Dad’s wrist, a two-tone Rolex Datejust with a fluted bezel. On a couple of occasions I tried it on for size, again when my Dad wasn’t looking.

A foray into the models of that brand name led me to the advertisements on the back of those Readers’ Digest magazines. That was when the Rolex Explorer II first caught my eye, and it became my grail watch. An officially certified chronometer, and a lovely model name. I always wanted to think of myself as an explorer in some ways, mostly because I liked open space, the sea and quiet forests.

Note: If any of you have copies of these Readers’ Digest advertisements for the Explorer II and would be able to send them my way instead of throwing them out, I’ll be happy to shoot the postage fee your way via Paypal. Serious!!

Dad's Rotary (left) and the all-titanium Citizen Eco Drive Corso from my 21st birthday (right)

The Rotary (see left), which was the only other old watch left in my parents’ dressing table was given to me at 11 years of age after doing well in my final exams. It is still working after 16 years in my hands. I used to kid myself that it could be a family heirloom and it’s probably worth as much to me, at least in terms of sentimental value. The next year I got my 3rd serious daily wearer, also a Casio, a quartz all-stainless, mid-sized diver with a rotating bezel, attractive polished case, and almost the look of a the Rolex Submariner’s evil twin. Beautiful watch it was, and that was on my wrist for a good 4 years until another Casio took its place. This was in turn followed by a watch under a cheap, obscure brand, ’25 hours’.

On my 21st birthday I received a titanium Citizen Ecodrive from my parents, which I wore for the next 5 years. Both the technology and the material of the watch were fitting for my strange taste for geekiness. This is a dressy watch that’s equally suited to casual use. The movement is powered entirely by solar energy, which is harnessed by a solar cell hidden behind a translucent black dial, and stored in a rechargeable cell. When fully charged the watch can run for approximately 6 months when left in total darkness. Under normal conditions a watch like this would never stop running. It was a solid timepiece but marred easily, presumably because the titanium is just too soft.

In the early part of 2008, after much saving, I could finally afford to take a white-dialed Rolex Explorer II home. I was surprised at how much it cost, even for a second-hand 1999 production model. Later I was even more surprised to hear how much the thing costs brand new in Switzerland where my parents previously had a vacation, and hence continue to tell (read: deceive) myself about how good this deal was. On my 6 inch wrist the watch looked a bit strange initially because I had always worn small watches, and the watchmaker even had to break a link to get the bracelet to fit. It’s an utterly beautiful watch with an understated elegance. The brushed surfaces of the case and that of the fixed bezel are hard-wearing, yet both are set off by glossy, polished highlights that catch the light at some angles. The sturdy, screw-down crown is adorned by the famous Rolex crown logo, and further protected by polished guards, which are extensions of the case itself.

The Explorer II is all about strength, endurance and adventure

The dial design is simple and legibility is high. That is not to say the design is spartan. Besides the usual crisp Rolex printing, the luminous triangular marker at 12 o’clock, rectangular ones at 9 and 6 o’clock, plus the round ones at other hours (except at 3) are distinctive, as is the Mercedes design of the hour hand and the single balled end of the second hand. In my opinion, the two most significant design elements on the face are the red GMT hand and the cyclops over the date window. The former can be used to track a second time zone, or simply synced with the 24 hour non-rotating bezel. It can be adjusted backwards or forwards (and hence adjust the date) without disturbing the minute and second hands. In reality it is of little use to me, but the red and black colors are just so nicely set against a pure white dial.

Speaking of white, the Explorer II is a timepiece that conjures up images of snow-capped peaks, vast icy wilderness, wolves and polar bears, and like its namesake, explorers dressed in thick parkas and yielding ice picks. That is a special aura like no other, a watch that speaks of the strength of human will and adaptability. The elements of the watch face are protected by a hard-wearing sapphire crystal, supremely scratch resistant and right up there in the Vickers scale along with high-tech ceramics and hard metal (eg. tungsten carbide, stuff found in the nib of your ball point pen). The Oysterlock bracelet is functional, not showy but bearing some presence nevertheless because of the relatively large, solid links. It’s comfortable to wear, doesn’t pinch, and doesn’t pull your arm hair off. At the heart of the watch lives a calibre 3185, 31 jewel, COSC certified automatic movement with about 2 days of power reserve. Its high beat makes the action of the second hand smooth and classy, while the tried and tested movement keeps time with astounding accuracy against a modern quartz and LCD watch.

The Explorer’s asset is really its unobtrusive appearance which in turn prevents it from being a ‘one-trick pony’. The watch looks as good on a day out fishing as it does with a suit during a black-tie event. While substantially bigger than what would normally be accepted as a traditional ‘dress watch’, it still slips easily under a sleeve. When checking the time however, be prepared to receive some glances from those around you! The Explorer II simply doesn’t feel out-of-place anywhere, except perhaps the odd paintball game. The water resistance is guaranteed to at least 100m, although Rolex seems to advertise that their watches would tolerate pressure under water to way beyond their guaranteed limit. For the vast majority of mortals who only get as wet as a swim in the pool or a little snorkel in the sea, such water resistance is more than enough.

As human nature would have it, the Explorer II doesn’t hold nearly as much mystery for me now that it’s in my hands, compared to my younger days when all I had was a photo of it. But even though other expensive watches (though less so than this one) are now on my radar, none of them would hold as much significance as this watch does. One should never underestimate the importance of a childhood dream, fulfilled.

The purchase of this watch has unwittingly sparked off a recent buying spree into some weird and wonderful vintage watches, some of which I no longer have. But for sure, this hobby is far from over. So, what’s your Watch Story?

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(Above) A Rado Electrosonic with tuning fork movement housed in a tungsten hardmetal case and a sapphire crystal

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(Above) A bizarre, thick bracelet Tissot Seastar I recently sold

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(Above) A blingy, almost pimp Rado Diastar with a square tungsten hardmetal case

The Ancient History Of Blinds

Posted on June 6, 2009 by admin

By Thomas Pretty

blinds2 Blinds are prevalent throughout the modern world, used in the commercial world extensively and present in many homes. They are a practical and elegant form of window covering that gives the user ultimate control over the light being let into their interior; as such they also provide high levels of privacy. Blinds are available in a range of different styles from horizontal venetians to fabric roman shades and roller blinds that effectively block all light coming into a room. But where have blinds come from? What is the history of this variety of window covering?

Forms of blinds are evident in many civilizations throughout the evolution of the world. It is understandable that the more modern varieties do not resemble these early blinds in form, but in function the similarities are startling. Desert civilisations are believed to have used wetted cloth to cover their windows. Fundamentally these kept out the fierce heat of the desert sun; the reason they were wetted was in order to cool the warm air being passed into the home and to keep the sand out. Essentially this method of window covering acts much like the air conditioning units we use today.

blinds1 The use of blinds in desert civilizations was eventually passed onto one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known; Ancient Egypt. As with many items in this civilization reeds were used in manufacture. Reeds were laid in to mats and then hung over windows. These reed mats could be raised and lowered when necessary and resemble the modern roller blinds used today, it is even possible to pick up reed window coverings today, standing testament to practicality of this type of blind.

It was not just the ancient Egyptians however that were using a type of blind for window coverings. As with many inventions attributed to the western world the ancient Chinese can lay claim to some of the earliest blind varieties. In China instead of reeds an equally prevalent natural material was used in the manufacturing of blinds, bamboo. These window covering were controlled in much the same way as their reed counterparts and in many parts of Asia are still used today. Bamboo has also become an increasing popular material in interior design during modern times.

blinds3 The Romans also developed a form of window covering that differed somewhat from reed and bamboo varieties. Roman shades, popular today in many homes are constructed using fabric and organised into overlapping slats, today they epitomise Mediterranean styling and are still frequently used in many countries across southern Europe.

This article has only touched upon the history of blinds and has predominantly focused on their development in ancient times. Today this heritage is plain to see with all of the varieties discussed above still available to the buyer today, naturally material and manufacturing processes have evolved with the times but modern variants fundamentally carry out the same purpose as their ancient ancestors.

Thomas Pretty is an expert in the field of interior design and studies the use of blinds in some ancient civilizations.

Cleaning and taking care of your Diamond

Posted on April 16, 2009 by admin

By Ghostevyta Kamu

diamond Caring for a diamond takes more than occasional cleanings. Diamonds are forever, but they can be damaged if you are not careful. By learning how to properly care for your diamond, you will ensure that your diamond is indeed forever.

First, you should take your diamond jewelry to a jeweler once a year. Have him check the mountings and prongs that hold your diamond in place. Have him make any needed repairs. This will prevent your diamond from falling out of its setting and becoming lost.

Diamond jewelry that is not being worn, or diamonds that are loose should be stored in a fabric lined jewel case, or in a jewelry box where it can be kept separate from other jewelry. Each piece should have its own compartment. This will keep diamonds from becoming scratched, and it will also keep your diamond from scratching other jewelry as well.

Remove your diamond jewelry when doing physical work. Diamonds can be chipped and scratched easily. Also avoid allowing your diamond to come into contact with bleach or other household cleansers this can damage or change the color of the settings and mountings, and it may even irreversibly change the color of the diamond!

Through our day to day, movements our diamonds get smudged and soiled. Even when we are not wearing them, they collect dust. Lotions, soaps, our natural skin oils, can cause film and grime on diamonds and inhibit their brilliance.

Want to keep that Brilliance and Shine? Diamonds require cleaning so that maximum amounts of light can refract fiery brilliance. Remember that all it takes is a few minutes and a little care to keep that diamond as fiery as the day you first saw it.

You can use a small soft brush such as an eyebrow or lip stick brush and soap and water to clean your jewelry. Simply make a bowl of warm sudsy water with a mild detergent and place your pieces in the mixture. Then brush the diamonds with the soft bristles of the brush while they are in the suds. You will need to make certain that you rinse them clear of the suds after cleaning them. You can use a small kitchen strainer such as a tea strainer to contain them while rinsing under warm water. Use a lint free cloth, or a jewelry polish cloth to pat them dry.

If your diamonds are in need of a stronger cleansing, you may want to soak them for 30 minutes in a solution of half and half water and ammonia. Once they have soaked for 30 minutes, remove them and gently brush the mountings with a small brush. Then replace the pieces to the solution and swish them around in the mixture before removing them to rinse and pat dry.

If you find your self too busy to be mixing soaps and ammonias, many department stores sell liquid jewelry cleaners. Most are kits, with everything you need included. You need to read the labels to determine the one that is right for your diamonds and other jewelry. Read the complete directions and follow all the precautions.

And if you find yourself more the high-tech type”, even in your diamond cleaning routine, there are multiple ultrasonic cleansers on the market. These machines use high-frequency to create a cleaning motion. All machines are not the same, so please read the instructions before using.

Only you can choose the cleaning method right for you. But, it is essential to keep your jewelry clean to keep it brilliant and sparkling. Between cleaning, try not to touch your clean diamonds with your fingers or handle your jewelry by its edges. This will help maintain its shine and brilliance for longer periods.

More Information : http://diamonds-jewelry.net, http://discounts-stores.net, http://kampanye-damai-pemilu-indonesia-2009.com

Ghostevyta Kamu writes from Medan, Indonesia.

Time for a computing rant

Posted on April 8, 2009 by admin

By Jeffrey the Barak

I should begin by stating that today is April 8th, 2009. This is important whenever writing about technology, or as in this case, ranting about technology, because by the time you read this, things may well have changed.

I am not a computer journalist, I dont take advertising revenue from Microsoft or Apple or Norton, and I am no programmer. But I do use computers and I know what I like and do not like.

So this rant is partly an observation, partly a wish list, and partly about 1973 Buick Electra converted to run on battery power. (More on that later).

Ranting about computers, the big kind.

I wrestled with Windows from early 3.0 until late in the XP era, before I became so busy with actual work that I decided it was high time to stop messing around with dialog boxes and virus scans and abandon Microsoft so I could get some bloody work done.

My solution was to switch to Mac. Now Im not one of these guys who says Apples are perfect and all other fruits are rubbish, because that is an exaggeration, but I will say that I no longer work for the computer. The computer now works for me.

I remain open-minded about where computing may go in the future, but as people who have downgraded to netbooks will tell you, there is a future in online application use and assuming being connected continues to become more ubiquitous, that may be our direction.

Ranting about computers, the small kind.

I got into palm-top or handheld computing in the 1990s with a Palm III and dabbled in Windows tablets and then gave it all up when my eyesight deteriorated, only to jump back in when my wife bought me the first iPhone.

I still find Internet use to be a pain in the eye on the iPhone, but I think that on ones palm is the best place to work in many situations.

But I always wanted to fill the gap between a notebook / laptop computer and a handheld device such as a smart phone. My first attempt at doing so was to buy an Acer tablet computer, but I found the operating system, the hardware and the screen to be very close to completely unusable. It was slow enough to make you scream, awkward to use, and hard to see in almost any light, but only for an hour then the batteries ran down.

I held out hope for Palms Folio Mobile Companion invention in 2007 only to see them backtrack and cancel the release. And rumors continue to abound about Apples plans for something bigger than an iPhone and smaller than a Macbook, with an alternative operating system.

And this is the key, and why the tablet failed for me, something roughly the same size and weight might succeed if it does not try to be a computer. That is: no Windows, no OS X, no full blown Linux, but something more like the iPhone operating system. We have to recognize that a small whatever-you-call-it is not a computer. This is why tablets were awful and also why these new netbooks dont really work well with the Windows OS installed. They come with XP because its only about $25 now, but its not right for a little ten inch thing.

People who run simple Linux shells to get them online to do stuff get much more satisfaction from their netbooks, without the squinting. It was the same when Palm had two versions of the Trio smart phone, one with Windows Mobile, the big seller, and one with the last version of the Palm OS. The Windows one was terrible because you really need a big screen to work well in Windows. The Palm OS one was less terrible. The little tiny keyboard was never as efficient as Graffiti, if you took the time to learn Graffiti.

The iPhone reminded me that even someone with bad eyes and big fingers can still work in the hand if the OS and also the input method are clever enough, (they are). And as long as theres an Internet connection, then there is room for a lightweight device that is larger than a pocketable mobile telephone.

Another thing netbooks have done is throw the escalation of processing power and application complication into reverse. This has coincided with the end of the megapixel arms race in digital cameras, and the end of the economic boom, that never should have been a boom in the first place, due to its source in hype and debt.

If applications can be usable over the wi-fi, then they will be better if they are less complicated, not more so, so this new small way of thinking can potentially move Microsofts fortunes into the hands of Google, Yahoo! etc. Anyone who develops good web-based applications.

Revolutions still to come in display and input technology will add strength to this movement. The tortoise may beat the hare in computing.

So about that electric Buick Electra, oh sorry, Im out of time.

The 007 Standard

Posted on February 13, 2009 by admin

By Jeffrey the Barak.

An appreciative look at the Seiko SKX007

It is common for men who collect affordable watches to have between one and several Seiko SKX007 diver’s watches in their collection. It has become a standard classic watch against which others are measured. Perhaps only the Rolex Submariner shares this role in being such a universal standard to which other watches are compared.

The 007 is a big watch, with a diameter of 42.5 mm excluding the crown. (The Rolex above has a case diameter of 40mm but the photos are not to scale). Even with the oversize trend bringing us wrist clocks of 50 mm and beyond, no one would ever say that 42.5 mm was not a big watch by any standard.

The Seiko SKX007 uses the most common movement found in many different Seiko and Seiko 5 watches in this price range, the 7S26. It is a reasonably accurate automatic self-winder with quick set day and date and no hacking feature. But this article is not about the movement. There are already several online reviews to be found that take a more detailed and technical look at this icon. Rather I am writing about the SKX007 as the staple of any collection, and hopefully about its general style.

Men’s watches today have settled into a few pigeonholes, with the largest category being that of the diver’s watch. Depth ratings vary but the 200 meter rating of the 007 places it in the most common group.

Most owners of this widely owned watch would never be caught scuba diving to the rated limit of 200 meters below the surface of the sea, or even snorkeling at half a meter, or in some cases they would never be seen wet, but the solid, strong weight and feel of a diver and the undeniable usefulness of the time elapsed rotation bezel make the divers watch the ideal tool for life on dry land also. After all, you can time all your cooking and parking and then clean your watch with water.

The 007 is a reasonably big, but not too big, plain vanilla, middle of the road diver that has evolved from older popular Seikos like the cushion cased 6309. It tells you the date and the day, although if it happens to be around midnight you never be too sure of the wheels have jumped to the next day or date yet, or you may see them not quite reaching the dials window. The time displayed is usually pretty close to accurate, or more often a tiny bit fast than a little slow. But this is no quartz and such things are to be expected from a real watchmakers movement.

My first Seiko was a different diver. No date, no steel (well maybe inside the movement, but the case and bracelet were Titanium). That was an SKX403 and one day in 2003 a burglar dropped by the house and took it away.

Not long after that day I was in downtown L.A. with a small clip of twenties and a shopping list that read “watch” Two watches caught my eye and made it to the short list that day. The SKX007 and the SKX781 Orange Monster. I bought the Monster and wore it for five years. But by the end of that five year Monster period, I was buying and selling other watches with enough frequency that I came to the realization that I was a flipping crazy collector.

So after some delay, in 2008 I finally and belatedly got myself an SKX007. I chose a Jubilee bracelet as it’s mount because I liked the way the small shiny center links complimented the bezel grip. I really admired the watch and imagined it was all I needed. I considered making it my one and only. But for the 007, the timing was bad, because it came into my life during one of those mood swings that occasionally confounds collectors. I am constantly torn between wanting to own every watch I like, and being a one watch minimalist.

Shortly after receiving my new 007 I also acquired my favorite watch, a Japan market Seiko Prospex SBCB009 Solar Titanium Scuba. Visually, a direct descendant of my SKX403 that was stolen in 2003. This watch sent me to eBay to sell everything else, including my 007 which was really in 99% new condition at the time. There was one thing about the 007 that I didn’t like. The minute hand. Something about that shiny edged arrow shape just bugged me and when it was time to cull, the 007 was gone, along with all my others save for the Solar.

But over time as the collection started to pull itself back together after a brief one-watch Nirvana, I felt the need to consider another 007. At a Poor Mans Watch Forum Get-Together (PMWG GTG) in Orange County California, I saw a few nicely modified watches based on either the 007 or the 6309 or 7002.

By this time I had become an enthusiast of modified watches, and was enjoying a great SNK809 mod, so after much back and forth, I commissioned a 007 with a yellow dial. But I made an error of judgement with that one. The hands should have been blacker. Alas I could not easily see the time, mainly due to the wrong choice of hands, so within a few days, I had it for sale. Without pausing to breathe I then commissioned another one. This time with the standard, unmodified dial, but with a red plongeur hand set.

The 007 is a very common platform for the watch modifiers. The widely used 7S26 movement will take a wide variety of modified dials and hands, and with replacement bezel inserts and various case finishes, you can have thousands of varieties of this watch, which comes only one way from the factory.

Of course this means the modifiers have piles of 007 dials sitting around that have been removed from 007s during the modification process. Having come across a picture of a 007 dial shoehorned into a non-diver, I unexpectedly realized something. The original dial is great! It does not have steel edged applied dot markers like the Seiko SKX031 (Submariner style), but rather just delicious blobs of luminous white on a flat black background. Paired with the cartoonish red and white of the custom plongeur hand set, this dial makes the 007 a visual riot of clear precise time comprehension. A blend of Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse and Jacques Cousteau.

In fact Ill say that the original hands of the 007 do not do its intensely dotty dial justice. The shiny edges of the original hands distract the eye from those crazy white dots floating on their sea of inky black.

So my new 007 mod, a riotous conglomeration of brushed steel, matte black, luminous white, and red paint, would be quite at home in a cartoon and it is certainly at home on my wrist.

I have experienced the oversize craze, enjoyed it and moved through it. I now know my ideal case diameter is somewhere around 39 mm, but for a good design exceptions are made. And its worth going back up to 42.5 mm again in order to enjoy the standard classic diver that is the 007.

Jeffrey the Barak spends too much time thinking about watches and is the publisher of the-vu

The Perfect Bag

Posted on November 1, 2004 by admin

The Perfect Bag
The REI Personal Organizer
By Jeffrey the Barak

Ever since I was in my teens I have had a thing about luggage. Being a man I couldn’t very well go around with a ladies purse/handbag, but I always seemed to have a lot of stuff to carry about.

Even living in England in the seventies and eighties, where it was not legally required to carry identification and many men therefore put money in their pockets without a wallet, I always seemed to have a lot of stuff that couldn’t comfortably fit in my pockets.

Now obviously when we know that we are surely going to be carrying large items or many items, it’s easy to select a good backpack, Gladstone bag, shoulder bag or briefcase and load it all in, but when it’s just a few small items, you could then have an over heavy and largely empty shoulder bag, and you really could use something smaller that does not look too feminine.

So where would you wear such a thing, if you could find it? Possibly on your tummy, or on your lower back, or (unless your waist is bigger than your chest), at your side above your hip. You could attach it with a shoulder strap over the shoulder opposite to the side you wear the bag, or with a waist strap. If worn at your side, your arm over the bag will keep the bag protected from pickpockets and the whole thing will be in a handy place so you can do a Quick Draw McGraw for your PDA or sunglasses.

I acknowledge that for many people, the perfect or ideal bag may not be this one, but for me at least, after decades of trying different systems, I think I’ve found perfection in the REI Personal Organizer.

As the name suggests, this bag is organized. Have you ever had a bag with just one compartment? You always seem to be rummaging for the item you’re looking for. Over time, everything gets scratched from rubbing against everything else. On the other hand, bags with too many compartments can be just as bad. How can you remember which of those fifteen little sections contained which item?

The REI Personal Organizer has a large pocket, big enough for a water bottle and a couple of eyeglass cases but it’s the smaller pocket that really shines as it has soft fleece lined pockets for your PDA and your phone. There are other pockets of various size and shape, but not so many that you will be unable to find anything. One problem many bags have is that they are black inside, so when you open them up and look in, it’s too dark to see anything so you have to rummage. This bag is orange inside. That’s one simple idea that’s been on my bag wish list for years, but I never saw it until I found this bag.

Main Section – Easily big enough for a water bottle and two glasses cases

Center Organizer Section – Designed to perfection

If you are not using the waist strap, it hides itself behind the padded body side of the bag, and if you are not using the non-slip shoulder strap, it detaches and goes in the bag. You are then left with a great handle so you can adopt the mini-briefcase hand hold. Also it should be noted that the main outside zippers have tags on them that feature little pads that make them easy to grip; such an amazing detail.

So let’s assume that on an average day out in the city you make a spread on the table of the things you need to take along. Let’s say for example that includes a mobile phone, a handheld computer, a digital music player, a compact camera, sunglasses, reading glasses, wallet, keys, and a small bottle of water, plus a few tiny sundries like eye drops, a flashlight and a couple of pens. This bag will offer you an ideal slot for each item, and after a couple of days of use, you won’t even have to glance into the bright orange interior to find what you are fishing for.

Now try putting all of the above into your coat pockets. Now try putting the above collection in a backpack. Obviously the pockets are too small and the backpack is far too big. At 10 inches high and 8 inches wide, with a thickness of between 3 and 4 inches, depending on contents, REI made this bag the perfect size.

How does it look? Well it’s not, as the Governor of California might say, “girlie”, it’s not too casual and it’s not too formal. It looks great wherever you wear it. And it’s not just for men. Many women are finding that their purses are like one way gateways to another dimension. Stuff goes in, and it doesn’t come back out unless the entire contents of the purse are dumped out, and then the item they are looking for is always the last one to exit. Women’s’ bags are either too small, or too big, and as electronic devices replace make-up and drugs as the things to carry in the modern world, the average girl’s personal luggage has changed with the times.

Perhaps there is no REI in your town and you don’t like to shop online. Well for all I know there may be other bags as clever as this one, but on the other hand, perhaps this gray Cordura nylon marvel is indeed the perfect bag. It certainly is perfect for my needs.

Jeffrey the Barak is the publisher of the-vu and can be found efficiently carrying various small objects around in his bag.

Collecting Portable Time

Posted on June 1, 2003 by admin

By Sig Shonholtz

History of Collecting

Collecting antiques is not a new idea. Historical records indicate that 3000 years ago there were collectors and dealers of coins and artifacts in Egypt. Today, collecting antiques is different then it was in Egyptian times. For one reason collecting antiques today is a matter of semantics. According to Webster’s an antique must be 100 years old. This places many contemporary collectors’ items outside the realm of the antique; the majority of collected items today would be considered vintage collectibles. The word vintage usually refers to wine, specifically a fine or quality vintage from a particular year. The word vintage can however also refer to a year or period; a time that most defines the style, that is how we apply it to the wrist watch, as well as many other collected items. This word is also used to define classic automobiles, they are called vintage. Vintage clothing is a common one. Vintage motorcycles is also quite common, in fact the word vintage in front of these nouns is more common then not if it is about a collectable item.

circa 1915 J.W. Benson, military style wristwatch

The great architect Le Corbusier suggested that a house was a machine for living in, if it is so then the watch is a machine for living with, and people do live with their watches. They sleep with them, shower with them, and yes they even make love with them, literally and figuratively. Few things have consumed mans creativity more then the perfection of time. History is filled with accounts of great philosophers and scientists who spent years studying time; Henry Ford was a watchmaker and attributes his ideas in automobile manufacturing to modern watch making production. Like most of man’s creations, watches are a clear reflection of the political and historical events of the times, and like so many things in our world the watch’s development had direct military applications. In fact it is difficult to find something man has created, or invented that has not at one time or another been utilized or studied by the military, either offensively or defensively or both. Regarding the watch; one of the more fundamental applications was in the military. For example the ability to launch an attack on two fronts requires each regiment to have synchronized time. Napoleon Bonaparte wore a watch in his pocket produced by the worlds greatest watch maker, Abraham Louis Breguet, in the late 1700′s. Napoleon believed that the difference between him and his opponents was that he understood the value of 5 minutes. He not only knew what could happen in 5 minutes he had the power in his pocket to count it off, watch it pass accurately, and contemplate what he could accomplish in those 5 minutes.

circa 1930s Bulova, Art Deco style wristwatch

Why People Collect

Interestingly, one of the reasons people collect has little to do with what they collect. The most powerful drive for most people in their collecting has to do with souvenirs, as a way to remember time. People collect because it reminds them of a time or event in their lives. The item takes them back to the moment, in the case of a watch the machine of time becomes a time machine propelling people back to the moment when they bought it. It evokes all the emotion, feeling and enthusiasm, as well as all the fears and concerns they had at the time. It usually carries with it the memory of who they were with and what their lives were like. This makes collecting a powerful force for evocation as well as a catalyst of thoughts and feelings. The renowned actor Eli Wallach for example made it his habit to wander into a jewelry or local antique store when he was working on a film and make a purchase of a watch or small travel clock. He wanted to buy something that would remind him of the films he had worked on. He recounts the time he bought a beautiful old wrist watch with a blue enamel bezel in Almeria, in Southern Spain while he was filming the Good the Bad and the Ugly. Eli says, During the filming Sergio Leoni allowed a local vendor onto the set to show his wares and Sergio bought me a solid white gold Baume Mercier wrist watch as a gift. Eli remembers Sergio warning the vendor if it is not a genuine Baume Mercier I will have you shot. Eli is not the only famous person that buys time to remember the time.

Art Deco 2-Tone Rectangular Faceted Patek Philippe

Watches are frequently purchased as gifts, Malcolm McDowell, an actor well known for his role in A Clockwork Orange, and dozens of other impressive films is an avid watch collector. He says It started when I received a watch as gift in 1979 at the opening of a play I was in. After that he says he was hooked, I decided to buy a watch every time I did a play or film, or something. Speaking of time, Malcolm shared the story about the title A Clockwork Orange. He had asked Anthony Burgess, who wrote the original novel, Where did you get the idea for this title? Anthony said he was in a pub in the East end of London, and one of the old guy regulars in there said [in a cockney accent] Yes, e’s as queer as a clockwork orange. And it always stuck with him, this title. Which means he’s as peculiar as a clockwork orange, god knows, your imagination has to do the rest, said Malcolm. Rolex watches made from 1920 through 1940 are Malcolm’s favorite models.

Designed by Sig Shonholtz, Guillermin Mollet

There are some rare collectors that are so ahead of their time that they collect before it happens, almost in anticipation of the future. The writer musician artist Artie Shaw, made it a habit to stop in to the Cartier shop in New York during the 1930′s, just to see what was new he said. I was very successful as a musician and band leader and I bought a watch every few weeks just to confirm my success, to pinch myself. Artie said The entire collection was stolen from me while I was staying in a hotel in the late 1930′s. He said The insurance company would only pay out about $40,000, but I had spent well over that on the items. Artie shares that Their reasoning was that since the stolen watches, were never recovered they were not sure the robbery ever occurred. In today’s world that would be a ridiculous argument. Artie was the kind of collector that bought only what moved him and what was considered at the time the highest level of craftsmanship, he was an artist with an artist’s eye for beauty, and based most of decisions on the esthetic impression the watch made on him.

What Makes Something Rare ?

One of the most exciting aspects about collecting watches is that you have the opportunity to participate in 500 years of scientific experiments, and the entire history of contemporary design spanning, Egyptian revival, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, and Modernism and this for as little as $300 or $400. Now, let’s just take a moment to consider what it means to collect something like a watch that is rare. It might be rare because there were only a few pieces made, but in many cases it’s rare because it’s still here. That might seem a strange idea, but precious metals have been used for thousands of years to finance wars and expansions. That means that exceptional and unique watches as well as jewelry have been destroyed for their precious metal value. Gold and silver has been melted down and turned into jewelry and melted down again and again for thousands of years. It’s true that new gold and silver is still being mined all the time, but old precious metal is also being refined from old jewelry and turned into new jewelry (or bullion to be used for other purposes). The newly mined gold is mixed with old refined gold, so each piece of modern jewelry, as well as old watches and jewelry, have trace elements of ancient gold. Somewhere in every ring, each watch, and every necklace are elements of jewelry that was worn by Cleopatra, Charlemagne, the Medici’s, or even George Washington. So, next time you look at your watch touch it for good luck, because you are linked to the past and the future. Maybe that is why jewelry historically has such a magical and mysterious attraction to us all.
How to Start your Collection

Today’s modern watch collector has a lot of decisions to make. If you are a new collector fascinated by watches and time (hopefully you will be after reading this) you will have to focus in on a category to make your collecting experience as rich as possible. It does not really matter what you are collecting in fact, watches, cars, clothing, or furniture the same decision will have to be made. You will also need to define your own personal style since wearing a vintage or antique watch is part of the fun of collecting them. Many types of collections, for example stamps and coins, do not relate to peoples lives, they can not be practically used, but still require safe keeping. A vintage watch can be used and surprisingly, in these modern times, actually be depended upon. The best way to start is to decide what kind of a budget you have and where your interests are.

There are many directions you can take; some people collect a particular brand by name or period. Some collect by style or country, for example American watches made before World War One, commonly called trench watches or military styles. Some collectors only buy chronograph or calendar watches. There are collectors who only purchase ‘new old stock’ watches and do not care if it is a humble Bulova for $400 or a very expensive Patek Philippe for $10,000. You might like to collect every model made by a particular house during an era. This gets harder as your collection gets larger, but you can refine your collection by selling off the less perfect duplicates. Many collectors are in fact investors, they collect for value and some have done very well.

two-tone gold Gruen

Personally I like to collect watches that represent an idea or a theme. I have watches in my collection of modest value worth $200 or $300, but they accurately represent a theme or idea. For example I have several watches that are excellent examples of Art Deco design, and some that represent the shapes that they are called, for instance a simple tortoise shaped watch called a tortue. I have several watches that are very valuable high quality copies of famous designer’s ideas. I also like to collect commemorative pieces; these are not necessarily expensive but define an era, or highlight an event. I have a few early examples of waterproof watches which were produced during Word War One. I also like to collect watches with great engravings, and historical provenance. I have a watch in my collection which was owned by Commander Richard E. Byrd. The Longines chronograph he wore on his expedition to the North Pole. And I have many watches owned by famous people which were given to them by famous people. I also have a small collection of very old wrist watches, really antique pieces, some as old as 200 years.

Having been in the watch field my entire life I finally decided to try my hand at watch manufacturing. This has proven to be more difficult then I imagined, producing my own watch required that I work with nearly 30 different companies in many languages on individual aspects of manufacturing and packaging. It has taken several years but I am proud to offer the premier edition of the Guillermin Mollet watch. At under $6000 it is probably one of the most sophisticated watches being produced today. It was inspired by a design originally produced for Patek Philippe in 1951 this striking watch is available in 3 colors of gold with a variety of dial designs. The high-grade automatic movement has a power reserve of nearly 40 hours! The house of Guillermin Mollet was located in the historic Place Vendome in Paris. They designed exquisite jewelry and watches for international film stars and European royalty.

There are still some bargains out there but you will have to look carefully, I think that the Omega line offers a lot of great styling and affordability, as well as Longines, and Le Coultre, and of course Gruens. In addition the Bulova watch company made excellent watches with hundreds of models, all very dependable and very sophisticated. These lines are all accurate, high quality, and serviceable, and are all affordable. As a beginner collector it is very important to be patient, and stay within your budget, try and buy watches in good condition from a reputable dealer who will give you an opportunity to have the watch checked out with a refund policy of one week. My last piece of advice is; buy what you like and what you will enjoy wearing, and always spend a little bit more for the piece you really want, do not compromise, after a month or two the extra bit of money you would have saved will not matter but wearing a watch that does not move you will, and remember collecting should be fun, if it is not fun then it is not worth it.

Author Sig Shonholtz is a watchmaker and a jeweler. In 1898, Sig’s grandfather, Sigmund Shonholtz, a respected watchmaker and jeweler, opened a small, but exclusive jewelry store in Philadelphia. The firm relocated to Los Angeles in 1918 and soon became the jeweler of choice to many of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Sig is a third generation watchmaker and his collection is admired by watch dealers and collectors worldwide. As the above article explains, Sig has recently designed his own watch, the Guillermin Mollet, which is creating quite a stir in the world of watches. Sig is also an appraiser of timepieces on television’s Antiques Roadshow.

New Thinking in Home Stereo

Posted on October 1, 2001 by admin

By Jeffrey the Barak

Attention retail consumers: you don’t have to buy that rubbish from the high street electronics store! You know it will only malfunction and fall apart like an ’87 Plymouth.

There is an alternative! Go heavy duty. Go professional. Go tough. Go strong. Go powerful. Go quality. Get the real thing!

What’s in your living room right now? Do you have a large silvery plastic thing containing a couple of cassette decks, a pop-up CD drawer or a five disc carousel and an FM tuner with LED’s all over it? Is part of it broken, just like the one you had before?

Let’s face it, most of the equipment we see on the shelves at “The Good Guys” and “Circuit City” is all flash and no guts. You drop it and it breaks. You bump it, it cracks. You push it a little too roughly and the doors jam open or closed. And even though the stickers proclaim 200w total system power, it sounds awful if you turn the volume up.

Well it’s our own fault that these things are out there on those shelves. We buy them, we break them and we replace them. And we’re too polite or stupid to say “Hey, this thing sounds awful and parts of it don’t work anymore!”

“Leave the Chinese spaceship in the garage because the old Dodge truck sounds much better.”

Ouch!

“Earthlings, I will offend your ears and then fall apart before I’m paid for. ”

“Why dont professional DJs use silver plastic things with flashing turquoise lights and center channel speakers?”

The Big Power Scam

It’s legal, and it’s widespread. Decals proclaim the mighty output of the silver plastic monsters on the shelves at the store. They say 100W + 100W + 50W. Total 250W power! The stickers have voices just like the guy who advertises drag races and wrestling on the radio.

But wait, all Watts are not created equal! What’s a Watt?

RMS Watts

This stands for “Root Mean Squared,” a mathematical measurement of the magnitude of the AC signal. More watts means more power output to the speakers, which in turn means louder volume. Very high quality stereo components on the most expensive shelves in the store have their Watts measured honestly as Watts RMS. Professional DJ equipment is described in the same clear way.

Watts RMS is the average continuous power output an amplifier can produce consistently over extended lengths of time. When looking at power ratings of an amplifier, look only at RMS Wattage!

Caution: manufacturers will misrepresent Wattage to make their amplifiers appear more powerful!

The easiest way for them to do this is to describe a 50 Watts per channel stereo as “100 watts total system power.” 100 sounds like a lot, and it is indeed twice as much in linear terms, but if that system was 2 X 100 Watts, it would be about four times as loud and clear as the 2 X 50 Watt system.

Update on Watts, 2005

Following the original publication of this article in 2001, it has been brought to this writer’s attention that even RMS Watts are not a good way to asses the power, loudness and clarity of any system. In fact, its bad news because the only way is to test and listen, because there is no genuine standard applied in the industry. “Long term almost undistorted sine wave average power into a resistive load”, often shortened to “average sine wave power”, “average sinusoidal wave power”or simply “average power” would be more accurate. (Thanks to Michael Benson for the feedback in June 2005). But of course it can be difficult, and as we can hear for ourselves, a little computer speaker system can sound superior to a big rig at extremely low volumes and close proximity in a quiet room. (See Greg Borrowman’s article about RMS Watts at this link)

Peak / Maximum / Dynamic / Total system Power

Even more misleading is to quote a “maximum power” or “peak power” rating. A system will only produce maximum power for a split second, during a cymbal crash for example. Such levels cannot be sustained and should not be used as a genuine measurement of power.

If you see “maximum power,” or “total system power” or “dynamic power” or “peak power” on a label with no other RMS figures to justify it, you are looking at the great power scam. That stupid flashy lump of junk on the shelf is really only half or a quarter as powerful, or less.

“My 1500 little Watts look flashier than your 500 big Watts.”

Surround Sound

Watching DVD movies with music at the front, gunshots at the back and dialogue in the center can be very exciting. Because of what we are seeing, having the sounds come from a certain direction can enhance the movie watching experience. But how many times have you done this and found yourself too close to one speaker and too far from another. How often have you strained to hear what the actors are saying when that fountain, explosion or orchestra is flying around the living room?

The point is, we have two ears, not five. The brain uses these two ears to place sounds three-dimensionally. We know when something is behind us, below us or in front. Watching a movie in stereo is just as good, especially if those two speakers are very good speakers. The more speakers in a system, the smaller the “sweet spot.” If you have a five channel speaker system, then usually only one person can enjoy the effect properly in that room.

Bottom line, forget the surround sound and get one good speaker per ear. (That’s two, in case you can’t count your ears.) Stereo!

This also means that “Dolby Surround Sound” amplifiers can never be as good as stereo amplifiers.

Components or integrated systems?

“If there are seven machines stuffed into one unit and one breaks, is the unit broken?”

A friend of mine had a thousand dollar hi-fi. It had two tiny bookshelf speakers and a powered subwoofer to make up the bass. At low volumes it sounded great but despite what the impressive stickers proclaimed it put out about 45Watts RMS. It sounded distorted and noisy at high volume.

Anyway, it had two cassette decks, capable of high speed dubbing. This was a few years ago, before the cassette ended it’s 35 year period of acceptance. One of the cassette deck doors had to be held closed with tape. The CD player had to be fixed three times. each repair cost over $100.

From the front, the amplifier, tuner, CD player and dual cassette decks looked like separate components, but the back was all one piece of particle board. It was a boom box disguised as a high end stereo system.

“How much of this box should be broken before I replace it with the latest box?”

It was great fun throwing it away.

So we know what’s bad. Tell us what’s good?

Okay, look at this stuff.

Bulletproof professional DJ speakers, 19″ rack mount mixers and amplifiers!

Once you see professional equipment in the flesh, there is no doubt that is more beautiful than the Chinese spaceship pictured at the beginning of this article.

The speakers sound clear at low volume, and just as clear at very high volumes. They reproduce enough clear deep bass to make subwoofers unnecessary.

The amplifiers deliver pure, undistorted sound, comparable to that put out by very expensive high-end audiophile equipment.

Mixers are a fun and simple way to control the sources of the sound, CD players, tuners etc. Most good mixers also have equalizers so you can boost the bass and treble and reduce the middle of the sound before it goes to the amp. The familiar u-shaped curve that our ears love so much!

Connectivity

Help! It looks too complicated. How does it all go together?

Plug any CD player, anything from a professional dual deck to a domestic carousel with remote control to a personal “Walkman” straight into one channel of the mixer. Plug any tuner, even a tiny “walkman” type tuner into another channel. Plug your home computer into a third channel so you can play those MP3′s and funny sound effects.

The cables you need are available at an electronics store such as Radio Shack. One end is dual phono plugs and if you are utilizing portables, the other is a mini jack, like your little headphones.

Also, you can play along with your keyboard, guitar, drum pad or microphone, without fear of clipping the speakers. Balance the volumes using the mixer.

Isn’t this stuff expensive?

Compared to true audiophile equipment, a small system like this costs very little. In fact it costs about the same as the more expensive giant boom box type systems we discussed earlier or the so-called executive systems which look pretty on your desk, but have no power.

Because this equipment is so tough, it’s also fairly safe to buy it used. Look on Ebay for used bargains.

The Bottom Line

The whole point of having sound equipment is to enjoy good sound. I set up the system pictured below in the same room as a two and a half thousand dollar surround sound system. The professional DJ system made the high-end home system sound extremely inferior. This is without a doubt the best way to get the sound you’ve always wanted. Go heavy duty. Go professional. Go tough. Go strong. Go powerful. Go quality. Get the real thing!

the-vu puts it to the test:

The Power of Jade

Posted on August 1, 2000 by admin

By Raymond J G Wells

Jade is a thoroughly intriguing stone! For centuries it has preoccupied peoples of all races and cultures and from prehistoric times until today it has been held in great reverence for practical, aesthetic, mythological and commercial reasons.

It was mined and carved by the earliest civilizations such as the Maoris of New Zealand, the ancient Aztecs, the Mayans and the Chinese. As far back as the 10th century the Turks believed it helped to ensure victory in battle.

However, although Jade is a significant stone in many areas of the world, it has been the Chinese who over long centuries have perfected the craftsmanship of this fascinating precious living stone. Indeed, the preoccupation of the Chinese with Jade dates back to the Neolithic period during which items made of jade were buried with the dead. The Neolithic Chinese believed that the stone had the power to preserve the dead body.
Yu, a Chinese character with a connotation of ‘jewel’ or ‘treasure’, is the Chinese equivalent for ‘Jade’ in English. To the Chinese, however, Yu does not refer to one specific substance but to a wide range of minerals that are usually distinguished by elements of hardness, strength and translucence. As such, although technically the term ‘jade’ refers only to the two materials jadeite and nephrite, many Chinese would consider carvings made from jade simulants as equal and precious parts of a jade collection.

Jade simulants are natural gem minerals, glass or plastic substitutes that appear to have some of the visual characteristics as jade but lack jade’s unique optical, physical and chemical properties, and include minerals such as aventurine, jasper, cornelian and rose quartz.
Green is the most popular jade color and the most prized jade is the “Imperial” or “Old Mine Jade”. Jade dealers only employ the term “Imperial” for the most translucent and richest color of emerald green. The term “Old Mine Jade” refers to the first mining site in the Kachin Hills of Myanmar, which has long since been exhausted.
What is Good Jade?

Judging what is good jade can be a subjective affair. A lot of experience is required. Every collector has different taste and different ideas of what to look for in a piece of jade, but there are some basic guidelines to follow.

Jade is translucent and not transparent like glass. Opacity in fact lowers its quality. Cracks and the presence of impurities further reduce its value. However the beauty of a piece of jade will be enhanced if there is a small flaw somewhere, just as, it is said, a gentleman with a little fault is more interesting than one without.

The essential value of jade is its beauty which ultimately depends on factors such as color and tone; shape, size and dimension; translucency and clarity, polish, texture and finish. No one piece of jade is ever the same as another, it has a quality character and hue of its own.

The Power of Jade

Jade is the second most important material after bronze in the history of Chinese culture, and the belief in its magical powers is very evident in Chinese mythology, religion, philosophy, folklore and social life.

Protection
It is believed that jade can protect one from evil and bring good luck. People have been said to escape accidents because they had a piece of jade on them. In some these cases, the jade piece broke, leaving the person unharmed.

Healing
Jade is frequently used in Chinese alchemy and medicine. The Chinese believe jade has the ability to confer immortality, eradicate shortness of breath and thirst, as well as improve the health of the heart, kidneys, lungs and throat. Some people believe that scars on the face and body can be removed if constantly rubbed with a piece of white jade.

Comforter to the Dead
Jade articles have been used by both the living and the dead. “The living wear jade as a symbol of their moral integrity, and jade accompanies the deceased to comfort their souls.” Sacrificial utensils made of jade were used for offerings to ancestors and in ceremonial respect to the gods of heaven and earth.

Jewelry
Jade is a favorite material used for jewelry such as necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets, combs and hairpins, and is also often set in walking sticks, caps and sashes.

Practical use
Jade has also been used to make practical items like brush holders, water cups, armrests and brush washers.

Symbol of Nobility
Jade was frequently worn by the nobility as a sign of their office and authority. In early times, jade axes and spades were carried by the nobility, and these later evolved into Gui – an elongated jade tablet. The emperor would also dispatch an official with a jade “tablet of authority” to proclaim the task assigned to him.

There you have it. A round-up of the remarkable Jade which the Chinese believe not only dispels illness but brings good fortune and wards off evil. Isn’t it about time you bought yourself some Jade!

Raymond Wells is a British born economist and writer currently living and working in Malaysia. He has numerous writing credits in both print and electronic magazines. Among the former are articles in Day and Night, Trailfinder, Southern Scribe, Writer’s Forum, International Living, Changi, Far East Traveler and Home and Country. He has written for e-zines such as Tempo, Worldwide Freelance Writer, Zinos, Writers Mirror, BootsnAllcom and now for the-vu.

the-vu

An Original Internet Magazine – Online Every Day Since July 1st ,2000, at the-vu.com

Category Archives: Objects

My Summer 2009 Tech-Rant

Watching Time

The Ancient History Of Blinds

Cleaning and taking care of your Diamond

Time for a computing rant

The 007 Standard

The Perfect Bag

Collecting Portable Time

New Thinking in Home Stereo

The Power of Jade