Metamorphosis of a City

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It is interesting how a city transforms within a few days from imagination to ground realities...from the pictures you build up in your mind from books, movies, Google Earth, and then the way these images dissolve as your feet hit the streets.

The first time I remember seeing Shanghai was in Steven Speilberg`s movie, Empire of the Sun. Images of the Japanese Imperial Army bunkered in the surrounding countryside; their warships steaming up a river to launch a pre-dawn bombardment of the city. Panic, stampedes, street-battles and prison camps.

Now the river has a name - Pu. To its east is the old city established by the European merchants after they discovered an ingenious way of robbing the Chinese of their silver - by turning them into opium addicts in the name of "free trade".  These colonial buildings, which were once exclusive and awe inspiring, stand today like brightly lit insects on a museum display-panel.  You peer at them from the 100th floor of Shanghai World Financial Center across the river and marvel at the twists and turns of history...and the terrible fate that awaits nations that suffer weak governments and poor leadership.

Strangely, even after a decisive, centrally-planned transformation of Shanghai city during the period 1985-2000, what you see all around are symptoms of a slavish fascination for everything Western. The best preserved buildings are in the former colonial "concessions" while fortified town of old Shanghai gets steamrolled by residential towers sporting names that sound more British or French than Chinese. The streets are dominated by billboards of blond, anorexic models who seem to be rather effective in alluring young Chinese into dyeing their hair and looking perfectly ridiculous. Akihabara-Tokyo deja vu.

This trend is perhaps the reason why the government is anxious to promote a set of values that are unique to the Chinese. But will it be as easy as relocating residential areas to make way for skyscrapers and controlling half of Shanghai's population  (10+ million migrant-laborers!) through a system of residential permits? Can the Chinese politburo replicate the feat accomplished by the Meiji Reformers of Japan (1868-1912), in the age of Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube and Wikileaks?

Glimpses of Shanghai

Loushan Road to downtown Shanghai

Talismans for a bus-driver: Chairman Mao and Buddha`s Blessings

Huaihai Road at night...trees festooned with  New Year lights

Metro ticketing machines: Clunky and not-so-user-friendly

Metro Line-1 advertisements

The Oriental Pearl Tower and  flyovers

 

Bund Sightseeing Tunnel

Huaihai Road crossing - dominated by Western models 

Municipality worker

Popular snack shop

Wedding pics on the busy streets

Roadside vendors in Old Shanghai (former fortified town)

Luwan - the former French Concession zone

Doggies in designer boots :(

Dancing to Marx and Engels

View from the Shanghai World Financial Centre (100th floor)

SWFC

Tea-set

Renmin (People`s) Park - from one of the government officies

Government officials

Policeman

`Wall Street English`

Newspaper vendor

Snake cutlets

Pudong Intnl. Airport

Guns, Germs, Steel & Propaganda

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Some books seriously alter the way you look at the world...and, for me, over the past one week, there have been two such books: Jared Diamond`s Guns, Germs and Steel (1997), and Jacques Ellul`s Propaganda - The Formation of Men`s Attitudes (1965).

Diamond`s book covers an amazing range of topics - agricultural economics, linguistics, anthropology, history, evolutionary biology - all this, to address  a deceptively simple question: why did wealth and power become distributed as they are now, rather than in some other way? For instance, why weren't Native Americans, Africans, and Aboriginal Australians the ones who decimated , subjugated, or exterminated Europeans and Asians?

A part of his answer lies in the fact that the Eurasian land-mass provided a much more dynamic, competitive environment for the emergence of densely populated zones; of people living in close proximity to domesticated animals and birds. Over time, they grew resistant to diseases acquired from these animals; diseases against which the people of the New World had no immunity. As a result, entire civilizations were wiped out - in Mexico alone, the population plummeted from 20 million to 1.6 million due to smallpox - within a just a few decades after Hernán Cortés and conquistadors waded ashore with their horses, steel swords - and germs.

Close knit societies also developed systems of writing and communication that were accessible to the masses. This in turn enabled them to exchange ideas and improve on technological innovations, and to strengthen social networks through religion, propaganda and ideology. And this is where Diamond`s ideas connect with those of Ellul.

According to Ellul, the prevailing technological society and propaganda are Siamese twins - one cannot exist without the other. He regards propaganda as a sociological phenomenon which aims to intensify existing trends, to sharpen and focus , and, above all to lead men into action (or inaction, by preventing interference) - either towards Agitation (resentment, rebellion), or Integration (adjusting people to desired patterns).

Interestingly, he designates intellectuals as the most vulnerable of all to modern propaganda because they - (1) absorb the largest amount of second-hand, unverifiable information, (2) feel the compelling need to have an opinion on everything, and (3) they consider themselves capable of "judging for themselves"   :)

Now, this makes you take a fresh look at the ongoing world conflicts, and the Twitter-FaceBook revolutions sweeping through the Middle East, and wonder...

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LINKS

• Ellul, Jacques (1965). Propaganda - The Formation of Men`s Attitudes. Vintage Books, NY; Excerpt - here.
• Diamond, Jared (1997). Guns, Germs and Steel - the Fates of Human Societies. W.W. Norton & Co. New York; Wiki-page - here; PBS / Google Video - here (1/3)

`Tolstoy of Photography`

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A few links to the fascinating collection of photographs crafted by Henri Cartier-Bresson, and to the surrealist painters who inspired him.

 Behind the Gare St. Lazare, 1932 (pic source: Wikipedia Commons)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Big Picture (Richard Lacayo, TIME, May. 03, 2010) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983814,00.html

Photography Now - Gallery  and Photographs

Link to surrealist painters -  Gauguin in Polynesia and Rimbaud in Abyssinia... Giorgio de Chirico`s `Melancholy and the Mystery of a Street` (and its link to `Torcello, near Venice`, 1953)

Co-founders of Magnum: Robert Capa and David Szymin (aka David Seymour)

Foundation - Henri Cartier-Bresson - http://www.henricartierbresson.org/

Henri Cartier-Bresson Works Online - http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/cartier-bresson_henri.html

Short Biography - http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/bresson.htm

C for Chocolates

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Out in the markets today, florists and chocolate shops were seen doing brisk business...tomorrow, after all, belongs to them - its Valentines Day.

The rush for tiny bits of sweets packaged like jewelery brings to mind a nagging old question: why is it that West Africa produces over 70% of the worlds' cocoa, and yet, it is the Swiss and Belgians who take all the credit for making the finest chocolates?

In 1957, when Gold Coast became an independent country called Ghana, it supplied two-thirds of world cocoa. Today the largest exporter is another West African country - Côte d'Ivoire - but still, Ghana continues to hold the second position at 379,000 tonnes (1997/98). And the irony is that even while companies like Meiji-Japan maintain a brand-line of chocolates named "Ghana", its customers are assured (on the wrappers) that a fraction of the retail-price is being sent back to Ghana... as charity.

Why does the second-largest producer of cocoa need charity from chocolate manufacturers?

A part of the answer is that cocoa producing countries are poorly governed, leaving their agriculture-commodity traders rather disorganized. Gervase (2000) points out that it was the planters in tropics who did the most to reduce returns from cocoa exports, through misguided attempts to force up prices in the short term.Their governments worsened the problem through harmful policies which included:

...failing to protect the forest, favoring estates, allowing labor coercion, discouraging savings, restricting immigration, allowing cartels, and interfering in marketing. Over and above all this, many governments taxed heavily and indiscriminately, while failing to provide essential public goods.

Ghana, in fact, figures as a typical case where, in addition to all the above problems, ethnic and tribal rivalries (Akan-Ashanti) killed the proverbial goose that laid golden eggs. Now the country just figures on chocolate wrappers while international commodity traders rake in all the profits.

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REFERENCES / LINKS

• Federation of Cocoa Commerce - http://www.cocoafederation.com/education/produce.jsp
• Easterly, William (2002). The Elusive Quest for Growth (MIT Press)
• International Cocoa Organization (ICO) - http://www.icco.org/
• Gervase, William Smith-Clarence (2000). Cocoa and Chocolate, 1765-1914, Routledge-London (preview on Google Books)
• World Bank - Ashanti Region Cocoa Project (2000)
• Richard Asante & E.Gyimah-Boadi (2004). Ethnic Structure, Inequality and Governance of the Public Sector in Ghana. UNRISD.
• Fair-Trade International - Cocoa. http://www.fairtrade.net/cocoa.html

Ownership of Egypt

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The amazing 18-day showdown in Egypt is finally over today: Hosni Mubarak has quit.

Of all the reports, opinions and commentaries on this issue, one of my favorites has been a column by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times.

Quoting the aphorism that “in the history of the world no one has ever washed a rented car”, he has written about an unfamiliar scene in developing countries -- a group of student volunteers cleaning up the garbage in Tahrir Sqare:

I went up to one of these young kids on garbage duty — Karim Turki, 23, who worked in a skin-care shop — and asked him: “Why did you volunteer for this?” He couldn’t get the words out in broken English fast enough: “This is my earth. This is my country. This is my home. I will clean all Egypt when Mubarak will go out.” Ownership is a beautiful thing.

It is just the kind of attitude which seems to be missing in much of middle-class India today...

Volunteerism, a sense of ownership... can it only come out of thirty years of pent-up frustration?

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LINKS

• Out of Touch, Out of Time, Thomas L. Friedman, NYT / IHT (February 10, 2011) - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/opinion/11friedman.html?_r=1&ref=thomaslfriedman
• Also Postcard From a Free Egypt (Feb 11, 2011) - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/opinion/11-web-friedman.html?ref=thomaslfriedman

Technological Catch-up

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The pre-war industrial transformation of Germany, USA and Japan is often referred to as a process of `catching-up` through technological imitation of more advanced countries. The Japanese model, centered on a strong role played by the government, has served as a prototype for much of rapid development that has been seen in East Asia, South Asia, and now Latin America.

How exactly did the Japanese government manage to “guide” the private sector so effectively? In this post, we try to pick specific examples to see how this was done.

Railways: In the 1920s Japan imported some engines from ALCO (built under license from LNER, UK). These were called Class-8200 or C52, and some of them were completely dismantled and reverse-engineered into a `new`, `improved` model called the C-53. By 1934, a conglomerate, Japanese Imperial Railways in Manchuria (aka Mantetsu) inaugurated the "Asia Express", a high speed train from Dalian to the Manchukuo capital of Hsinking.

Tram Systems: In 1998, when SiemensAG won a contract for supplying Hiroshima city with its latest trams (Combino LF-LRT), the central government made two moves – (1) it passed the Barrier Free Transportation Law (2000) which provided subsidies and sops to local manufacturers, and (2) brought together eight local companies and set them to task of creating an ‘indigenous’ product. Within three years a Japanese consortium brought out the “Green Mover Max” which soon edged out the Combino’s in Hiroshima and elsewhere.

In the early days (1960s), the government’s influence came from its control over forex quotas. Since companies depended on the central bank for this, the government was able to dictate terms and conditions for those who ventured out for technology. Another important factor was the encouragement given to universities and R&D institutions, where strict meritocracy ensured a steady flow of young talent into labs and workshops.

Once the “catch-up” process was accomplished, the private sector was more or less free to do what it pleased with forex. However, the cozy relationship that developed between these companies and senior bureaucrats seems to be at the root of the ongoing decline in Japan’s manufacturing competitiveness.

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REFERENCES / LINKS

• Abramovitz, Moses (1986). Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind. The Journal of Economic History, Vol.46, No.2, The Tasks of Economic History (Jun., 1986), pp. 385-406.
• Calestous Juma and Norman Clark (2002). Technological Catch-Up: Opportunities and Challenges for Developing Countries
• Goto, Akira (1993). Technology Importation: Japan’s Postwar Experience in The Japanese Experience in Economic Reforms, edited by Teranishi J and Kosai Y. St. Martin Press, London, 1993.

Tree-Care in Japan

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I never cease to wonder at the meticulousness with which tree's are 'managed' in Japan. Here is a collection of photographs of Japan's arborists and their art:

'Walking-sticks' for a 300-year-old Pine at Hamarikyu Garden, Downtown Tokyo

A conical snow-cap protection for a carefully manicured tree (Tea house at Hamarikyu Garden)

"Kamo-maki" (Straw-mat wrapping). Winter protection for trees. Harmful insects are encouraged to make their home in the warmth of this straw wrapping rather than the tree itself! (Hamarikyu Garden)

A tree being pruned at Hibiya Park, Tokyo

 Stilts to support Maple trunks until they can handle the wind-storms on their own (Tsukuba University Hospital)

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LINKS

• CSIRO - Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments - http://www.publish.csiro.au/samples/Dictionary%20for%20Managing%20Trees.pdf

Exporting Norms

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A Chinese colleague is working on an interesting topic for her PhD thesis: EU's attempts to 'export' its values and change China's 'behaviour'.

The main idea here is that values form the basis for norms (shared values), and by setting norms you try to control behavior. The EU has a set nine stated values which it wants other countries to accept - inclusive equality, social solidarity, sustainable development, good governance, associative human rights, supranational rule-of-law, social liberty, consensual democracy and sustainable peace. It is being argued that China, on the other had, does not try to spread any of its values to the rest of the world. While this part may be debatable (after all, Chinese pragmatism is also a value - "if you want to do business, please spare us your moral lectures"), the issue of values presents a study of contradiction in the prevailing Western world-view.

There is actually no shortage of trade-related decisions that are based on values and norms. For eg.,  the ongoing sanctions on Myanamar 'in support of democratic reforms' and the EU threat to withdraw trade concessions to Sri Lanka for 'human rights violations'.  Schimmelfennig (2001) calls this form of collective bargaining behavior "rhetorical action" - the strategic use of norm-based arguments.

Yet, the fact remains that such strategies are used only when it suits EU's convenience. They would not dream of banning imports of oil from OPEC countries just because some autocrat violated human rights!

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REFERENCES / LINKS

• Appadurai, Arjun (1998). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. GoogleBooks
• Brenton, Paul (2002). Enlargement, trade, and investment: the impact of barriers to trade in Europe. Google Books.
• Schimmelfennig, Frank (2001). The Community Trap: Liberal Norms, Rhetorical Action, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union, MIT Press.

Lipsius, Grotius & International Law

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Today evening, I was walking down the 3K corridor for a cup of coffee when I heard the words "East India Company" and "International Law" from one of the classrooms. Prof. Klienschimdt was halfway through one of his sessions, and I wondered if I could just drop in... The lecture sounded really interesting, so I slowly sneaked in (nothing ventured, nothing gained!) and settled on one of the  rear seats.

On the boards, there was ample evidence that the session had been on for a while. On one side there was a list of trading stations along the coast of Africa, South Asia (Goa, Daman, Diu) and East Asia (Malacca), and, on the other, names of European kings of the late 1500s and early 1600s - Philip-II of Spain (aka Philip-I of Portugal), the House of Orange (Holland) and Elizabeth-I of England. The discussion had now reached an interesting juncture: how did little Holland manage to win the trade wars against the big boys - Spain & Portugal?

A part of the answer, apparantly, lay in the University of Lieden (est.1575!). Here, a professor named Justus Lispius (1547-1606) wrote two best-sellers that were to form the bedrock of Dutch pragmatism, as well as International Law and the Modern State. The two books - On Constancy and Politics - put forth, for the first time, a set of guiding principles that was not based on religious texts. These guiding principles (Natural Law) essentially said that any action should be such that its rationale is self-evident, without the need for enforcement by external agents.

The practical outcome of this was that while Spain and Portugal looked up to the Church for legitimacy, approval and guidance, the Dutch were driven purely by profits. Any trade venture that yielded less than 400% profit was not worth the trouble.

So, when the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan imposed a simple condition on the European traders ("don't mix trade and religion"), the Spanish and Portuguese opted out while the Dutch landed a monoply for the next 100 years! The Dutch quietly raked in the profits by following the rules set by the Shogunate, but while their ships were on the open seas, they followed the "Free Seas" (Mare Liberum) principle of Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) and stoutly attacked any Spanish blockade.

Both these principles continue to be at the foundation of International Law, in its present form....Now that is someting to think about - over a cup of coffee! :)

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LINKS

• Lipsius - Book of Constancy (I) - http://people.wku.edu/jan.garrett/lipsius1.htm
• Lipsius - Book of Constancy (II) - http://people.wku.edu/jan.garrett/lipsius2.htm
• Philip-II of Spain / Portugal
• Stoicism

Decoding URLs

Why is it that some web-addresses carry a long tail while other do not? How much does a web-address reveal?

For instance, a Yahoo mail-page has the following code:

http://us.mc369.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.gx=1&.tm=1296694680&.rand=e6tpkm8umv6mv#_pg=showFolder&fid=Inbox&order=down&tt=3571&pSize=100&.rand=850448145&hash=fa5c91801af9f69d3189c024f2592cd2&.jsrand=8243756

While  Facebook pages come up with something a lot simpler, like-

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/

Even though most web-addresses (aka URLs - universal resource locators) follow the format, << transfer protocol://servername.domain/directory/subdirectory/filename.filetype>>, they contain clues that tell you a number of interesting things:

• <~> - a tidle: Usually indicates a personal folder -- perhaps the customer of a Web host, or a student at a university, etc.
• <?> - a question-mark: Typically means that behind the scenes, a script will call information from the server or a database. Eg.,
• <=> - the equal-to mark: Indicates use of stylesheets

Some gurus recommend the use of CURL-tools to dig out more information from URLs...

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LINKS / REFERENCES

• Decoding URLs http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/url.html
  How to analyze a web-address - http://archive.virtualchase.justia.com/researchskills/quality_decodeurl.html
• How can I unwrap or decode Web URL redirects? - http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_to_unwrap_decode_web_url_redirects.html
• What CURL can do - http://curl.haxx.se/docs/features.html
• Curl - A Gentle Slope Language for the Web - http://groups.csail.mit.edu/cag/curl/ (MIT White Paper)

Victims, Tormentors & Schools

What is it that turns erstwhile victims into tormentors? This is a question that has often crossed my mind whenever I read about caste-politics or the Hindutva diatribe in India, the treatment of Palestinians by Israel or the Roma`s in Europe.

In India there seems to have emerged an entirely new `super` class of people who, having benefited from the affirmative-action policies for over 50 years, are not only loath to give up their privileges but also actively discriminate against communities that are worse off than their own. Similarly, the Israel-Palestine problem seems less of an international dispute than a caste-conflict that blew out of control. Once you get what you always wanted, its your turn to kick the ladder and prevent others from climbing up.

The irony here is that the erstwhile victims - the new `super` castes in India, Jews of pre-war Europe and Russia, Romanians & Bulgarians freed from Nazi occupation - employ exactly the same methods used by their former tormentors. Pick a label that suits your convenience - `thiefs`, `vermin`, `rats`, `traitors` - and then use it to tar an entire group of people, then push them to the `other` side. Once they are living out of sight beyond high walls, in restricted quarters or cramped ghettos, deprive them of  basic necessities until they fit your label of choice and then, the only final solution that remains, is to get rid of them all.

In the book `Maus`, Art Spiegelman illustrates the harrowing story of his father, a Polish jew, during the second World War. Forced out of his comfortable middle class existence into ghettos first and then into the death camps of Auschwitz/Birkenau, he manages to survive it all and then migrate to USA. And once there, he has no qualms about viewing American blacks exactly the same way the Nazis saw the Jews - only the label is different. To him every colored guy is a `Shvartser`, fit to be treated as thieves and scoundrels.

Perhaps a part of the answer to this question lies their renewed insecurities and a desperate instinct for survival. To an erstwhile victim, their own survival is proof enough that nobody is to be trusted. To quote Prof. Amos Oz, a self-proclaimed Judeo-Nazi:

I want to survive. And my intention happens to be that my children will survive, too. With or without the blessing of the Pope and assorted Torah sages from the New York Times. If anyone raises a hand against my children, I'll destroy him - and his children - with or without your vaunted 'purity of arms.'. And I don't give a damn if he's a Christian or a Moslem or a Jew or a pagan. Throughout history, anyone who thought he was above killing got killed. It's an iron-clad law.


Tell me yourself, do the bad guys really have it so bad in the world? Do they lack for anything? If anybody tries to lay a finger on them, they cut off his arms and legs. And sometimes they do the same for people who haven't even tried anything. If they feel like eating something, and they can catch it and kill it, that's what they do. And they don't suffer an upset stomach afterward or any divine retribution. So from here on in, I want Israel to be a member of this club. Congratulations! Maybe the world will finally begin to fear me instead of feeling sorry for me.


...When you're fighting for survival, anything goes. Even what's forbidden is allowed...a people that let itself be slaughtered and destroyed, a people that let its children be made into soap and its women into lampshades, is a worse criminal than its tormentors. Worse than the Nazis. To live without fists, without fangs and claws, in a world of wolves is a crime worse than murder.


...It's a crying shame - we could have put all that behind us and by now become a normal nation with prissy values, with humanistic neighborly relations with Iraq and Egypt, and with a slight criminal record - just like everybody else. Like the English and the French and the Germans and the Americans - who've already managed to forget what they did to the Indians - and the Australians, who almost totally eliminated the aborigines. They've all done it. What's the big deal? What's so terrible about being a civilized people, respectable, with a slight criminal past? It happens in the best of families.

The rhetoric is disturbing...but  it makes some sense when you examine it in the context of  New York 9/11 and Mumbai 26/11. Yet, it makes you wonder if the problem is being blown out of proportion. After all, how far you can push this siege mentality across generations? What would have happened if Mandela too was convinced that it was a crime to `live without fists, without fangs and claws, in a world of wolves`?

Any which way you look at it, the only long-term solution to divisive politics seems to be the vigorous implementation of an Ethnic Integration Policy, as is being done by Singapore Housing & Development Board. Children of diverse backgrounds, who grow up together, seem a lot less likely to join the ranks of suicidal jihadists, jingoists and other assorted, disgruntled radicals.

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REFERENCES

• Interview with a distinguished Israeli -Amos Oz. Dialectical Anthropology Volume 8, Numbers 1-2, 173-179, DOI: 10.1007/BF00249049 - http://www.springerlink.com/content/vh8qw51m6h10874h/
• Spiegelman, Art (1986). Maus - A Surviver`s Tale
• Loo Lee Sim,Shi Ming Yu & Sun Sheng Han (2003). Public housing and ethnic integration in Singapore. Habitat International 27 (2003) 293–307
• Singapore Housing Development Board - http://www.hdb.gov.sg/

Knowledge: Leaks & Plugs

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In 1979, Daewoo Corporation of South Korea signed a collaborative agreement with Bangladeshi company named Desh Garment Ltd (DGL), in 1979.  This is essentially to evade import quota`s imposed on the Koreans by the Americans and Europeans. Daewoo`s idea was to train 130  Bangladeshi`s to make and sell garments, in return for royalties and sales commissions, amounting to 8% of the sales value.

The project was a grand success...for the Bangladeshis. Within a few years, garment production exploded - from 43,000 shirts in 1980 to 2.3 million in 1987 - thanks, largely to the Daewoo-trained workers who left DGL to start their own enterprises. These enterprises brought in about $2 billion in garment sales by 2000 -- 54% of all Bangladeshi exports.

The output of this industry was so prolific that by 1985, the champions of free-trade in America had slapped an import quota`s on Bangladesh as well.

William Easterly (2002) refers to this as a case of `knowledge leak`, and points out that one of the most important bits of knowledge transferred by Daewoo to the DGL workers, had more to do with the machinery of trade & administration rather than textiles. This included the `Special Bonded Warehouse System` which helped DGL in persuading the government (with a a heavily protectionist trading system) to allow duty-free imports for exporters. Another skill transferred was the procedure for opening back-to-back letters of credit.

But then, is it really a case of knowledge `leaking`? That part of the world had long been a center for the textile industry.  Even in the early 1700s the exports from industry to Europe had triggered prompted arson & riots in England, prompting the then emerging colonial power to pass a law prohibiting imports on one hand, and to promote local industries on the other. The industrial revolution that followed resulted in the flooding of Bengal`s markets with cheap imports, decimating the local textile industry.

One way of looking at the relatively recent surge in production of trade goods in countries like Bangladesh is that the local players are merely learning to play and old game with a newer set of rules...

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REFERENCES / LINKS

• Easterly, William (2002). The Elusive Quest for Growth (pp.146-155)
• Seabrook, Jeremy (2011). An Astonishing Assymetry (Outlook, India, Jan 2011) - http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?270131

Making Sense of Lens

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As I get used to the joys of shooting with a DSLR - and the discomfort of lugging it around - it has dawned on me that I know almost nothing about the lens because the kit box comes with a manual only for the body - not for the lens!

The kit-lens that came with the D90 is called AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR . Now, what is this hieroglyphic supposed to mean?

Here is what is revealed by the breaking up the code, with some generous help from the gurus on the web -

AF-S: `Auto Focus - Silent` - a "silent wave" focusing lens with an improved focusing speed.  This was achieved by putting a silent wave focusing motor in the lens itself to make it quiet.

DX: Indicates a lens designed to cover the smaller image circle of the digital camera bodies. May still work on 35mm bodies at some focal lengths.

NIKKOR: Brand-name for lenses manufactured by Nikon

18-105mm: Aperture range

f/3.5-5.6: Focal lengths

G: Indicates that the lens does not have a built-in aperture ring (as in D-type lens) and needs to be used on camera with Command dial control of apertures.
Interestingly, G stands for `Gelded`, or castrated! So its not a feature but a handicap! Details can be seen  here.

ED: Extra-low Dispersion elements used in the lens

VR: Vibration Reduction lens, corrects for camera movement during exposure. VR function only works on post F5 cameras (e.g., not F4, N90s, N60, N70, N8008).

This lens configuration - called the `standard zoom` (5.8x) -  is supposed to have 15 elements in 11 groups, of which one each aspherical and another one with extra-low (ED) dispersion. Aspherical lenses help in correcting the distortion caused by the wide-angle lenses while the ED prevents dispersion of colors as the pass through the prism and glass elements

Strangely, Nikon sells this kit-lens with a worldwide warranty, but, for the body, it is limited to Japan only.

Codes awaiting translation: vignetting, 'softish corners', barrel distortion,MTF curves,

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LINKS / REFERENCES

• Making Sense of Lens Acronyms - Thom`s page - http://www.bythom.com/lensacronyms.htm
• Nikon Lens Nomenclature - a study in frustration - http://www.nikonlinks.com/unklbil/nomenclature.htm
• Body-Lens Compatibility Table - http://www.nikonlinks.com/unklbil/bodylens.htm
• Nikkor 18-105 Lens Review - http://www.bythom.com/Nikkor18-105lensreview.htm
• Nikon Lens Page (the official one - English) - http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Camera-Lenses/index.page
• Nikon Product Manual (PDF file - English from page 12-19) - http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/lenses/DX/AFSDX18-105mmf35-56GEDVR.pdf
• D90 Walkaround - Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCzTwIMGeXM&feature=channel 
• Ken Rockwell - Nikon Lens Technology, Nikon Lens Reviews - http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm and D90 User Guide
• Some Lenses - 50mm f/1.8D AF (Kakaku 12Feb`11- Y39,537), 24mm f/1.4 AF-S G (Y180,800!), Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX (Y20,450!!), Nikon 18-55mm DX (Y23,785), 18-200mm VR DX (Y64,800)
• Review: Nikon 35.2.0D at Photo.net - http://photo.net/equipment/nikon/35-2/ ...but Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 is recommended...price (13 Feb'11) - Y17,220. 
• D90　White Balance Tutorial (jonvideo) -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MQTO9tiXb0&feature=related
• Nikon D90 Blog - http://nikond90blog.blogspot.com/

Demolishing Dogma`s in Economics

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A few days ago, I fished out a book from a crate awaiting its turn to get dumped in the `combustibles` garbage-bin down the corridor. It was a book by William Easterly, titled `The Elusive Quest for Growth`. Having read some of his papers for my thesis, I flipped through it and found that it was written while he was working as a World Bank economist in 2001.

In the original edition, Easterly had praised WB for letting letting gadflies like him to `exercise intellectual freedom`, but later, for the paperback edition, he modified it to `the WB encourages gadflies like me...to find another job`. Now this got me curious. What was in this book that made the bank so queasy?

Quite a lot, actually. The book is essentially a sugar-coated indictment of the Western approach to aid & development, for overlooking (or ignoring) one basic tenet -- that people respond to incentives. One by one, Easterly picks up the growth-mantras promoted by the Bretton Woods institutions and shows how shallow and grossly inadequate they were for the task at hand: growth and poverty alleviation. What is even worse is the fact that these misguided approaches continue to be the bedrock of most multilateral programs in international development.

He starts with the dogma of `Aid for Development` (aka the financing-gap approach) and illustrates with the case of Ghana (1957-84) how it reduced a country full of potential and promise into a basket-case banana republic. This idea of aid-financed investment in dams, roads and machines to promote growth, was based on a 1946 paper by an economics professor, Evsey Domar, who disavowed it in less than ten years. Yet, thanks to the fog of the Cold War, it continued to be the basis (the Harrod-Domar Model was re-bottled as ICOR) for lending to 138 countries, of which just one - Tunisia - could be claimed as a success story.

Easterly then turns to `capital fundamentalism` - the belief that increasing buildings and machinery is the fundamental determinant of growth - and its conflict with Robert Solow`s argument that the only only source of growth in the long run is technological change. But Solow`s model too was based on just the study of USA and not on any tropical country. He then tries to see if there has been any correlation between growth of education and GDP-growth (there isn`t), population-growth vs. GDP (again, nil) and discusses the futility of the conditional, `adjustment lending` by WB and IMF.

What I liked especially in this book was the way it illustrates macro-economics situtations with real, down-to-earth examples, starting with the `Intermezzo`s` with the struggles of his own ancestor, a homeless, impoverished migrant. For, `when we look at poor countries today, we see out own past poverty. In the long run, we all come from the lower class`.

I can`t remember the last time I felt so connected to anything written by an economist. And I am so glad I saw this book before it landed in the garbage-bin! :)

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LINKS

Easterly, William (2001). The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economist`s Adventures in the Tropics. MIT Press 2002. Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Elusive-Quest-Growth-Economists-Misadventures/dp/026205065X

Two-in-One: A Borrower & A Lender

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Last March, we had wondered about the quantum of Chinese ODA and come across an intresting paradox -- even while continuing to receive concessional lending from multilateral institutions, China itself had become a big lender & ODA player, globally.

At the time, the actual volume of lending was not revealed even by visiting Chinese academics, but now, the Financial Times has come up with some dramatic figures. According to its `China Special` report published yesterday, `China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank signed loans of at least $110bn (£70bn) to other developing country governments and companies in 2009 and 2010, according to Financial Times research. The equivalent arms of the World Bank made loan commitments of $100.3bn from mid-2008 to mid-2010`.

If one assumes that the `equivalent arms of WB` here refers to IBRD and IDA, it would be interesting to know what the bank thinks of its customer who is a bigger lender!

------------------------------------

LINKS

• China`s Lending Hits New Heights (FT 17 Jan., 2011) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/488c60f4-2281-11e0-b6a2-00144feab49a.html#axzz1BXYaHP4s
• A Strategy to Straddle the Planet (FT 17 Jan, 2011) - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b852a826-2272-11e0-b6a2-00144feab49a,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html#axzz1BXYaHP4s
  (Excerpt - One Indian executive reflects that his country ships plastic pellets to China that are then made into buckets. If India cannot even make plastic buckets competitively, he implies, its battle will be tough.)

Birds Around Ichinoya, Tsukuba

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Attempting to identify and list the birds around Ichinoya-Pond, University of Tsukuba, Japan...

PASSERINES (Perching birds)

• Green Pheasant (Male) May 2010: The National Bird of Japan. Quite stunning when you see it up close.

• Green Pheasant (Female) May 2010

• Durian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus)  

 

•  Black-backed wagtail or Kamchatka/Japanese Pied Wagtail, with its distinct black eye-stripe. (pic source: Wikipedia Commons) 

•  Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)  - spotted near the central library, TsukubaU. (pic source: Wikipedia Commons)

Others - 

• Ashy Minivet
• Japanese White Eye (Zosterops japonicus) 19 Jan 2011 - Stunning, sprightly little fellow - especially when it is lit-up by the evening sun!
• Eurasian Siskins
• Grey Starlings
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow - Always in flocks of 20-30 birds...you don`t realize they are on a tree until they suddenly decide to scram!
• Brambling 
• Stonechat
• Pied Kingfisher
• Dusky Thrush (Turdus eunomus)
• Crowned Willow Warbler
• Green Pheasant 
• Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos kizuki nippon)  
• White Wagtail  
• Forest Wagtail 
• White Wagtail 
• Bull Headed Shrike
• Winter Tern
• Grey Starlings / White-cheeked Starling (Sturnus cineraceus)
• Common Raven (Crovus corax)

NON-PASSERINES

•  Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)

• Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) May 2010

• Mallard, or Wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
• Japanese Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus)

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LINKS

• List of Passerine (perching) Japanese Birds - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_birds:_passerines
• List of Non-Passerines - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-passerine_Japanese_birds
• Photo gallery of Japanese Birds - http://www.big.or.jp/~shimpset/
• Birds of Japan - http://www.tsuru-bird.net/japan/

Which is Your Favourite Alphabet?

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An interesting interview with the typeface designer, Erik Spiekermann... About his getting a kick out of being the `unknown author`... and the joy of making railway timetables easier to read.

That is what makes a nations culture - the visual surroundings: good architecture, good food and good timetables, or good announcements at stations. I think it is a very important cultural contribution...You can make the most amazing design but most people will never notice it, and that, in fact, is the important point - nobody is supposed to know it has changed - it just `got better`.

Bonus: Spewing venom on Microsoft. `Just to avoid paying Linotype license fees for using the Helvetica font, they contracted Monotype-UK to redesign it...`. Considering the time and money Microsoft spends to protect their own copyrights, it is disconcerting to know how they go about appropriating  copyrights of others.

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LINKS

• Helvetica - http://www.helveticafilm.com/
• Wiki - Erik Spiekermann, Helvetica
• The difference between Helvetica and Arial - http://ilovetypography.com/2007/10/06/arial-versus-helvetica/   (the clue - GQR1. In Helvetica, G has a beard, Q has a straight bar, R has a curved leg, and 1 has a chin!)

Back to SLRs and Nikon

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In 2002, when I picked up my first SLR from Mustafa`s in Singapore, I thought it would help me learn the art of photography. It did not. The Nikon F-65 was so heavy and bulky, I just did not feel like traveling with it and it remained packed with silica-gel until it became so outdated that I could barely manage to sell it at Palika Bazaar for a pittance.

At the time, I had sworn not to buy another SLR. Instead I became a dedicated point-and-shoot digicam fan, starting with a Nikon Coolpix 5600 (2006). Then came a Canon 860-IS (2008), followed by another Canon - the G11 (2009).

I was especially fond of the G11 with its articulate screen, eyepiece, and sensitivity to low-light, but, unfortunately, its rugged looks were deceptive. Durability proved to be less than impressive. After two instances of dead buttons and hang-up`s and as many visits to the Canon service center, I thought it was better to dispose the camera while it was still in the one-year warranty period. Last week, I got Y16,000 for it from the second-hand store, WonderEx-Tsukuba.

Since then, I have been agonising over a replacement. I wanted something light and compact, with articulate screens and the flexibility of detachable lenses. The options on the table were: Sony Nex5 (Yen 56k, 300g), Sony Alpha55, Olympus EP2 and Panasonic Lumix GH2 (Y101k kit 14-140mm, 492g+460g). I checked them out a few times at Yodobashi Camera and KS-Denki and it seemed like a big risk to pay so much for equipment that was neither significantly smaller - especially with the long-lenses, nor tried-and-tested.

So I have decided to play safe with an older (hence cheaper) model - the Nikon D90 with 18-105mm kit for Y80k from Kakaku.com . It is neither compact, nor light; it does not have an articulate screen that was a must-have on my list... but the biggest concern remains portability.

I hope this SLR won`t get mothballed like its older cousin.

...................................................................................
REFERENCES - The Camera-Hunting Trail

The background blur effect - http://www.wikihow.com/Blur-the-Background-of-a-Photograph
About four-thirds and micro four-thirds) - http://www.four-thirds.org/en/index.html
(micro four-thirds forum - http://www.mu-43.com/forum.php)
General discussion on photography - http://kenrockwell.com/tech/death-of-photography.htm
Thom Hogan - http://www.bythom.com/
Nikon-Canon DSLR comparison - http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/canon-vs-nikon.html

Comparing GH1 / Alpha-55 / Kiss - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000089559/SortID=12065266/

Competition for Nikon D90 --- Canon EOS 40D ---- Pentax K20D

Pentax K20D.......weatherproofed
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PentaxK20D/
Price - Y89k for body - http://kakaku.com/item/00491011105/

Canon EoS 40D
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos40d/
Price list - http://kakaku.com/camera/digital-slr-camera/ma_14/

Canon EoS 60D.........................................755g
Price - Y72,190 - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000141272/
Canon EoS 7D
Price - Y105k - http://kakaku.com/item/K0000055429/

Nikon D3000
Price - Kakaku - Y31,549 - http://kakaku.com/item/K0000049457/
Comparisons - D3000, D5000, D60 - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/NikonD3000/

Nikon D7000...................................780g
Review & comparison with D90, D300S - http://www.dpreview.com/previews/Nikond7000/
Price - Kakaku (30/10) - Y120,488 - http://kakaku.com/item/K0000151480/  55-300mm lens - Y28,350 http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000139410/SortID=11915700/  10-24mm Y,82,680 http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000030214/  18-105mm Y42,148 http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/10503512019/

Nikon D90
Price - Kakaku - Y55,820 - http://kakaku.com/item/00490711142/  with 18-105mmVR lens - Y81,375 http://kakaku.com/item/00490711143/?lid=shop_itemview_comparison_5#tab
Review photo.net - http://photo.net/equipment/product-detail?product_id=3284

Olympus PEN E-P1 - 335g (no batt)
Review - http://www.siftwire.com/olympus-e-p1-esia-mju-8000-digital-camera-awards.html
Review - photo.net - http://photo.net/equipment/olympus/ep1/preview/
Review - http://www.bythom.com/olympusep1review.htm
Discussion - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=33609440&q=EP2&qf=m
Price - Kakaku (29 Oct) - Body Y-58,700, Lens 14-42mm (28-84mm eq)- Y-21,375 // Lens 17mm (=34mm) - Yen 34,400
Price - Amazon (29 Oct) Y-59,800 - kit incl - camera (335g) + 14-42mm (150g) + M-17mm (71g)-
E-P2 ---- no built-in flash, no view-finder
Official page - http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1482
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/OlympusEP2/  (E-620 DSLR specs into this camera)
Review-photo.net - http://photo.net/equipment/olympus/ep2/preview/
Review - http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Olympus_E-P2/
Price - Kakaku - Y-88,143 (with M.Zuiko 17mm lens) - http://kakaku.com/item/K0000068068 / Y76,800  with 14-42mm - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000068067/SortID=11402390/
Price -Amazon - Y89,222 kit (14-42mm) Y22k for EVF; Y15k for flash -
Customer Review - http://www.amazon.co.jp/product-reviews/B0043237G0/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Comments E-P1-E-P2 - http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/05/olympus-e-p2-official-patches-over-e-p1-problems-and-jacks-up-t/#comments
Comments E-P2 vs. GF1 - http://www.flickr.com/groups/olympuse-p1/discuss/72157622997497133/
User Guide YouTube - http://www.mu-43.com/f42/olympus-e-p2-quick-start-part-1-a-586/
Reviews- http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EP2/EP2A.HTM?r=45976846
Review - Wired - http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/olympus-ep-2-comes-out-early-almost-no-new-features/
Comparisons- Photo.net - http://photo.net/digital-camera-forum/00VHwk
Note: E-P2 - operating temp is 0-40C only; humidity 30-90%

Olympus E-450 - smallest DSLR - 380g!
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/news/0903/09033101olympuse450.asp

Olympus E-30 - semi-pro DSLRs - 730g
Review & comparison between E-3, E-30 and E-620 - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse30/

Sony Alpha NEX-3 / NEX-5
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/SonyNex5Nex3
Price - Kakaku - Y-46,130 (with E-16mm lens) - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000109869/SortID=11382851/


Sony Alpha A55 - (Time 22 Nov: `fixes mirror flip problem with an ingenious translucent mirror)
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonyslta55/
- Price - Yen 56k (body) - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000140388/SortID=11807195/
- Comparison with Lumic GH2 - http://snapsort.com/compare/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC-GH2-vs-Sony_SLT-A55
- Best lens Q & A - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101120001152AAZQ2ln
- Best lens - http://camera.downloadatoz.com/tutorials,467,top-tips-for-selecting-a-best-zoom-lens-for-sony-slt-a55.html
- Vario-Sonnar DT 16-80 Y72k, 445g - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/10506511769/SortID=10094043/
- DT 18-55 Y8.9k, 210g - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000035099 / --- recco froｍ－http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1037&message=36635716
- DT 18-250 Y44k, 440g - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/10506511878/
- Tamron 18-250 Y42k, 550g - http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/10505512012/SortID=11879495/
- Kit types - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1037&message=36557006&changemode=1  (cheaper jap-only version!)
- Kit options - http://www.aqua-feel.com/shopbrand/017/005/X/
- Video overheating problem - http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/26012-si-sony-a55-and-a33-dslr-cameras-can-get-too-hot-when-shooting-video/


Panasonic Lunix TZ7 / ZS3 review - http://www.dphotojournal.com/panasonic-lumix-dmc-tz7-zs3-review-samples-user-manual/
Manual (English-PDF) - http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMCZS1.PDF

Fuji-Finepix - Fuji F80EXR instead of the S90 for longer reach in the lens, 27-270 vs 28-105. Lots of things in the Grand Canyon beg for telephoto. Dynamic range of EXR is better http://fujifilm.jp/personal/digitalcamera/finepixf80exr/index.html

Panasonic Lumix GF1
Price - Kakaku (30/10) - Y35,264 (body only) - http://kakaku.com/item/K0000055861/  Y38,836 (30/10) LUMIX G 20mm/F1.7  ASPH. H-H020付属 http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000055862/SortID=11631637/  Lens 14-45mm - Y 22,895 http://review.kakaku.com/review/K0000027535/ReviewCD=317025/  //
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicGF1/
Review & Comparisons - http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gf1/4505-6501_7-33770516.html
Review - http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_gf1-review
Review- Lens 14-45mm - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7q9nP0fKB4&feature=fvw
Review - http://www.bythom.com/panasonic_GF1_review.htm
Comparison with E-P1 - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicgf1/page2.asp
Forum - comparison with G11 - http://photo.net/digital-camera-forum/00Wp49
Forum - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=146

Panasonic GF2
Review - http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/04/panasonic-lumix-gf2-preview/
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/news/1011/10110405panasonicgf2.asp  /// http://www.dpreview.com/previews/panasonicdmcgf2/
Review - http://www.t3.com/reviews/cameras/digital-cameras/panasonic-lumix-gf2-review-hands-on

Panasonic GH2
Review - http://www.dpreview.com/previews/panasonicdmcgh2/
Review - Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC-GH2-Interchangeable-Free-Angle-Black/product-reviews/B0043VE27Y/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8
Forum - http://photo.net/olympus-camera-forum/00Xspr
Lens 45-200- Y31,868 http://kakaku.com/item/10504312024/spec/
Quote - http://seiwa-d.com/pf-dmc.htm#FS045200

Comparison with Sony A55 Discussion - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1000&message=36581476
Forum - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1037&message=36473999
Advantages l;ist - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1037&message=36430456
Lens kit 14-140 kit Y101k!(GH2 H-K) - http://pc-town.jp/fs/ptwn/gd1721  (black) http://kakaku.com/item/K0000152866/  (silver)

Panasonic LX3
Company page - http://panasonic.jp/dc/lx3/
Price - Kakaku - Y36,800 http://kakaku.com/item/00501911289/

Leica M8
Price - Kakaku - Y355,628! (1Nov) - http://kakaku.com/item/00500711066/

==============================
LENSES
* Review of Nikon AF-S 50mm/1.8G - http://photo.net/equipment/nikon/lenses/50-G/preview/

Seeing Kathakali in Kabuki

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What is it about Kabuki that makes it instantly appealing to my - decidedly Indian - eyes?

Perhaps it is the similarities one see with Kathakali: stylized costumes that exaggerate body movement and facial expressions and a background narrative which stretches out words in a slow, sing-song manner, giving you the time to soak in the nuances at a thoughtful pace. Or maybe it is simply because the televised performances on NHK always comes with a transcript that can be deciphered even by Nihongo novices like me!

Here are two classic Japanese movies (with English subtitles) that give us glimpse into the world of Kabuki artists:

ICHIKAWA KON's 雪之丞変化 / Yukinojō Henge (Yukinojo's Revenge / Revenge of a Kabuki Actor (1963)) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHySBLNTM50&feature=related

and

MIZOGUCHI KENJI's 残菊物語 / Zangiku Monogatari (The Story of Late Chrysanthemums, 1939) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V26w7gPihI&feature=related