Paris | Goyard

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/53585240?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="853"></iframe><br /><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=564009107862031725" target="blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Goyard</span></b></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span><b>riginally the House of Martin, The Maison Goyard is known to be the oldest and most prestigious trunk maker in existence. From being the favorite luggage maker of the prestigious aristocratic families, who would adorn their trunks with their coats of arms, Goyard moved towards being an international brand with an impressive reputation amongst their high-profile clientele which adopted the famous painting canvas in the motives of chevrons.</b><br /><br />Goyard’s letterhead paper dated June 24, 1891 bore the coats of arms of the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire and the Great Seal of the United States of America. The queens of Yugoslavia and Greece became customers after WWII, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor purchased their first Goyard goods in 1939. High profile purchasers such as the Grimaldis or the Maharajah of Kapurthala rub shoulders with celebrities, socialites or first ladies like Catherine Deneuve, Édith Piaf, Romy Schneider, Jean-Claude Brialy, who acquired his first Goyard pieces in 1974, Mrs Georges Pompidou, who became a client from 1963 onwards, princess Andrée Aga Khan (1956), princess Radziwill (1949) or the prince and princess von Fürstenberg (1968). Contemporary glitterati like Madonna, Victoria Beckham, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are regularly spotted wearing Goyard bags. It is not uncommon for customers to have accounts that have been active for decades. Karl Lagerfeld’s account, for instance, was opened in 1972. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goyard" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)<br /><br />The hard-wearing, soft and waterproof Goyardine fabic is made up of hemp, linen and cotton and increases in beauty with age. The exact manufacturing process remains a family secret.</div>

Paris | Goyard

Goyard O riginally the House of Martin, The Maison Goyard is known to be the oldest and most prestigious trunk maker in existence. From bein...

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Edward Snowden | Ask Me Anything

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwNgqtTzDOwVlkp5Sb1hZAS1VtFmIwWTUdu9rzsnXXk8b0Z9QXTLuPdCVF34rI_eKC5PTJ5QSYXeCV5VAMMpMnqTBI3bhd-FswNxrSx4eyK6DIz0tLxw_wGaf3pddPCGk-WOcPS2brhM/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwNgqtTzDOwVlkp5Sb1hZAS1VtFmIwWTUdu9rzsnXXk8b0Z9QXTLuPdCVF34rI_eKC5PTJ5QSYXeCV5VAMMpMnqTBI3bhd-FswNxrSx4eyK6DIz0tLxw_wGaf3pddPCGk-WOcPS2brhM/s1600/2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Reuters</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-nsa-files-whistleblower?commentpage=1" target="blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Guardian UK</span></b></a> <br /><br />Using a secure internet connection, Edward Snowden answered questions live posted by journalists and others on the web. You can also read the comments (over 3500 at the time of this posting) <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-nsa-files-whistleblower?commentpage=1" target="blank"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b>Why did you choose Hong Kong to go to and then tell them about US hacking on their research facilities and universities?</b> —GlennGreenwald<br /><br />First, the US Government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That's not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it.<br /><br />Second, let's be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash. Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the "consent of the governed" is meaningless.<br /><br /><b>How many sets of the documents you disclosed did you make, and how many different people have them? If anything happens to you, do they still exist?</b> —GlennGreenwald<br /><br />All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.<br /><br /><b>My question: given the enormity of what you are facing now in terms of repercussions, can you describe the exact moment when you knew you absolutely were going to do this, no matter the fallout, and what it now feels like to be living in a post-revelation world? Or was it a series of moments that culminated in action? I think it might help other people contemplating becoming whistleblowers if they knew what the ah-ha moment was like. Again, thanks for your courage and heroism.</b> —AhBrightWings<br /><br />I imagine everyone's experience is different, but for me, there was no single moment. It was seeing a continuing litany of lies from senior officials to Congress - and therefore the American people - and the realization that that Congress, specifically the Gang of Eight, wholly supported the lies that compelled me to act. Seeing someone in the position of James Clapper - the Director of National Intelligence - baldly lying to the public without repercussion is the evidence of a subverted democracy. The consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><b>I should have asked you this when I saw you but never got round to it… Why did you just not fly direct to Iceland if that is your preferred country for asylum?</b> —ewenmacaskill<br /><br />Leaving the US was an incredible risk, as NSA employees must declare their foreign travel 30 days in advance and are monitored. There was a distinct possibility I would be interdicted en route, so I had to travel with no advance booking to a country with the cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained. Hong Kong provided that. Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the public could have a chance to make their feelings known, and I would not put that past the current US administration.<br /><br /><b>Did you lie about your salary? What is the issue there? Why did you tell Glenn Greenwald that your salary was $200,000 a year, when it was only $122,000 (according to the firm that fired you.)</b> —D. Aram Mushegian II<br /><br />I was debriefed by Glenn and his peers over a number of days, and not all of those conversations were recorded. The statement I made about earnings was that $200,000 was my "career high" salary. I had to take pay cuts in the course of pursuing specific work. Booz was not the most I've been paid.<br /><br /><b>Why did you wait to release the documents if you said you wanted to tell the world about the NSA programs since before Obama became president?</b> —Gabrielaweb<br /><br />Obama's campaign promises and election gave me faith that he would lead us toward fixing the problems he outlined in his quest for votes. Many Americans felt similarly. Unfortunately, shortly after assuming power, he closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge.<br /><br /><b>Define in as much detail as you can what "direct access" means.</b> —Anthony De Rosa<br /><br />More detail on how direct NSA's accesses are is coming, but in general, the reality is this: if an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc analyst has access to query raw SIGINT databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want. Phone number, email, user id, cell phone handset id (IMEI), and so on - it's all the same. The restrictions against this are policy based, not technically based, and can change at any time. Additionally, audits are cursory, incomplete, and easily fooled by fake justifications. For at least GCHQ, the number of audited queries is only 5% of those performed.<br /><br /><b>Can analysts listen to content of domestic calls without a warrant?</b> —Anthony De Rosa<br /><br />NSA likes to use "domestic" as a weasel word here for a number of reasons. The reality is that due to the FISA Amendments Act and its section 702 authorities, Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant. They excuse this as "incidental" collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications. Even in the event of "warranted" intercept, it's important to understand the intelligence community doesn't always deal with what you would consider a "real" warrant like a Police department would have to, the "warrant" is more of a templated form they fill out and send to a reliable judge with a rubber stamp.<br /><br /><b>When you say "someone at NSA still has the content of your communications" - what do you mean? Do you mean they have a record of it, or the actual content?</b> —GlennGreenwald<br /><br />Both. If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702, and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it. All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time - and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants.<br /><br /><b>What are your thoughts on Google's and Facebook's denials? Do you think that they're honestly in the dark about PRISM, or do you think they're compelled to lie?</b> —HaraldK<br /><br />Their denials went through several revisions as it become more and more clear they were misleading and included identical, specific language across companies. As a result of these disclosures and the clout of these companies, we're finally beginning to see more transparency and better details about these programs for the first time since their inception.<br /><br /><b>Perhaps this is a better question to a lawyer like Greenwald, but: If you're presented with a secret order that you're forbidden to reveal the existence of, what will they actually do if you simply refuse to comply (without revealing the order)?</b> —HaraldK<br /><br />They are legally compelled to comply and maintain their silence in regard to specifics of the program, but that does not comply them from ethical obligation. If for example Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple refused to provide this cooperation with the Intelligence Community, what do you think the government would do? Shut them down?<br /><br /><b>Some skepticism exists about certain of your claims, including this:<br /><br /><blockquote>I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President if I had a personal email.</blockquote><br />Do you stand by that, and if so, could you elaborate?</b> —MonaHol<br /><br />Yes, I stand by it. US Persons do enjoy limited policy protections (and again, it's important to understand that policy protection is no protection - policy is a one-way ratchet that only loosens) and one very weak technical protection - a near-the-front-end filter at our ingestion points. The filter is constantly out of date, is set at what is euphemistically referred to as the "widest allowable aperture," and can be stripped out at any time. Even with the filter, US comms get ingested, and even more so as soon as they leave the border. Your protected communications shouldn't stop being protected communications just because of the IP they're tagged with.<br /><br />More fundamentally, the "US Persons" protection in general is a distraction from the power and danger of this system. Suspicionless surveillance does not become okay simply because it's only victimizing 95% of the world instead of 100%. Our founders did not write that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all US Persons are created equal."<br /><br /><b>There is rampant speculation, outpacing facts, that you have or will provide classified US information to the Chinese or other governments in exchange for asylum. Have/will you?</b> —Spencer Ackerman<br /><br />This is a predictable smear that I anticipated before going public, as the US media has a knee-jerk "RED CHINA!" reaction to anything involving HK or the PRC, and is intended to distract from the issue of US government misconduct. Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.<br /><br /><b>Regarding whether you have secretly given classified information to the Chinese government, some are saying you didn't answer clearly - can you give a flat no?</b> —Spencer Ackerman<br /><br />No. I have had no contact with the Chinese government. Just like with the Guardian and the Washington Post, I only work with journalists.<br /><br /><b>US officials say terrorists already altering TTPs because of your leaks, & calling you traitor. Respond?</b> —Kimberly Dozier<br /><br />US officials say this every time there's a public discussion that could limit their authority. US officials also provide misleading or directly false assertions about the value of these programs, as they did just recently with the Zazi case, which court documents clearly show was not unveiled by PRISM.<br /><br />Journalists should ask a specific question: since these programs began operation shortly after September 11th, how many terrorist attacks were prevented SOLELY by information derived from this suspicionless surveillance that could not be gained via any other source? Then ask how many individual communications were ingested to acheive that, and ask yourself if it was worth it. Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.<br /><br />Further, it's important to bear in mind I'm being called a traitor by men like former Vice President Dick Cheney. This is a man who gave us the warrantless wiretapping scheme as a kind of atrocity warm-up on the way to deceitfully engineering a conflict that has killed over 4,400 and maimed nearly 32,000 Americans, as well as leaving over 100,000 Iraqis dead. Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are. If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.<br /><br /><b>Do you believe that the treatment of Binney, Drake and others influenced your path? Do you feel the "system works" so to speak?</b> —Mathius1<br /><br />Binney, Drake, Kiriakou, and Manning are all examples of how overly-harsh responses to public-interest whistle-blowing only escalate the scale, scope, and skill involved in future disclosures. Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they'll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it. Instead, these draconian responses simply build better whistleblowers. If the Obama administration responds with an even harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they'll soon find themselves facing an equally harsh public response.<br /><br />This disclosure provides Obama an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men. He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the President who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it. I would advise he personally call for a special committee to review these interception programs, repudiate the dangerous "State Secrets" privilege, and, upon preparing to leave office, begin a tradition for all Presidents forthwith to demonstrate their respect for the law by appointing a special investigator to review the policies of their years in office for any wrongdoing. There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny - they should be setting the example of transparency. <br /><br /><b>So far are things going the way you thought they would regarding a public debate?</b> –tikkamasala<br /><br />Initially I was very encouraged. Unfortunately, the mainstream media now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicionless surveillance in human history.<br /><b><br />Anything else you’d like to add?</b> —GlennGreenwald<br /><br />Thanks to everyone for their support, and remember that just because you are not the target of a surveillance program does not make it okay. The US Person / foreigner distinction is not a reasonable substitute for individualized suspicion, and is only applied to improve support for the program. This is the precise reason that NSA provides Congress with a special immunity to its surveillance.</div>

Edward Snowden | Ask Me Anything

Photo: Reuters The Guardian UK Using a secure internet connection, Edward Snowden answered questions live posted by journalists and others...

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Motorcycle Helmet With Fighter-Jet Type Augmented Reality

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wCfjX-KEWmA?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br /><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/06/livemap-ar/" target="blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Wired</span></b></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span> <b>team of Russian motorcyclists-slash-engineers built an augmented reality GPS system directly into a bike helmet.</b><br /><br />The result is a full-color, translucent image projected onto a helmet’s visor running a version of Android and controlled through voice commands.</div>

Motorcycle Helmet With Fighter-Jet Type Augmented Reality

Wired A team of Russian motorcyclists-slash-engineers built an augmented reality GPS system directly into a bike helmet. The result is a fu...

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Pilot 78G Fountain Pen

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXJOTr8HSzCtIOkVRehpsAk_siB2O_vWf9DKKhNJ3rPlHEF4qs-KDU-A7g8iuLcGPMyw5YJPfnjD9-gB-Wqi3V-R0YjWTEL3pxzk2vvCK_HEChkJ4rBjiUmPnS58e2DEQ6Yho1WOGxC0/s1600/IMG_6256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXJOTr8HSzCtIOkVRehpsAk_siB2O_vWf9DKKhNJ3rPlHEF4qs-KDU-A7g8iuLcGPMyw5YJPfnjD9-gB-Wqi3V-R0YjWTEL3pxzk2vvCK_HEChkJ4rBjiUmPnS58e2DEQ6Yho1WOGxC0/s200/IMG_6256.JPG" width="150" /></a>The Pilot 78G is generally considered to be one of the better fountain pens in the "budget" category. Although I may be mistaken, the 78G may technically be discontinued or otherwise unavailable in the United States. Even if that is true, there is an abundance of overstock on the market, and it's pretty easy and financially painless to acquire a 78G.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxlIB9tBnaXoMqizZ6UlzryfxMMLgaFLKbit6BQn-LV9XVeqaIApglUJgPDdVS_4ansNHwJ5rUEhZhAecCy3n3jWRWYx-D3W1_SmwNKtMk_bFrGPGF9CDc76GZS3uJjAevVMUpB0-T1w/s1600/IMG_6257.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxlIB9tBnaXoMqizZ6UlzryfxMMLgaFLKbit6BQn-LV9XVeqaIApglUJgPDdVS_4ansNHwJ5rUEhZhAecCy3n3jWRWYx-D3W1_SmwNKtMk_bFrGPGF9CDc76GZS3uJjAevVMUpB0-T1w/s200/IMG_6257.JPG" width="150" /></a>I got the teal colored pen, with a medium sized nib. It came with a black ink cartridge (one that only fits Pilot pens), a <strike>CON-20</strike> squeeze-type ink converter [edit: that is similar to a CON-20 converter], and an extra large bag of awesome. Is the nib as smooth and consistent as, say, my Pelikan M205 or my Pilot Custom Heritage 91? No. Is the pen body cheap, lightweight, and plasticky? Yup. Is the faux gold trim cheesy and tacky looking? I think so. So what? The 78G costs less than a couple of Happy Meals at McDonald's. At that price point you could almost treat it as a disposable pen!<br /><br />The pen writes well enough, doesn't skip, and isn't too scratchy. It comes in different colors and different nib sizes. It is cheap enough to buy on a whim, and you won't lose any sleep if your kid happens to bend the nib, use it as a dart, or trade it for a not-so-rare Pokemon card.<br /><br />I was going to describe the pen in more detail, but then I found a much better review with great pictures, all of the specs, and even a video. I hope the folks at Gourmet Pens don't mind the reference: <a href="http://www.gourmetpens.com/2013/04/review-pilot-78g-green-fountain-pen.html" target="_blank">Pilot 78G Review</a>. Oh, and here's another good review at Ink of Me Fondly: <a href="http://inkofmefondly.blogspot.com/2012/11/pilot-78g-fountain-pen-fine-nib-black.html" target="_blank">Another Pilot 78G Review</a>. The pen in the first linked review has a broad nib, and the pen in the second linked review has a fine nib, in contrast to my medium nib.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm76ne5XaXwn4hADHm7smfrvL01l64jjEmId7YYqGEIWfFwb1SQf1Qdh-pilLi2rY-TkpsX9qeM0EeJneivMHuAI2BBO_S3CGwQi7-dQbBB1YZlbboDKx-AWvkUlLrbzz14EtTEH5L-aw/s1600/IMG_6258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm76ne5XaXwn4hADHm7smfrvL01l64jjEmId7YYqGEIWfFwb1SQf1Qdh-pilLi2rY-TkpsX9qeM0EeJneivMHuAI2BBO_S3CGwQi7-dQbBB1YZlbboDKx-AWvkUlLrbzz14EtTEH5L-aw/s200/IMG_6258.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The above picture shows the 78G in a disassembled state, with the ink cartridge installed. No surprises there. I'll finish this post with some writing samples on different types of paper.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZVi7ECy5VjrmfDTYsw0tArGC2jKiKGknIbURMAadY73SYbUGHREfS0_iMI2hdDwpbY3IN1MWLkUbnpR8C7CVVkGHK7Uu4w72dewyrOTQ1dUdsPiHB-eZN8UDwkC8BJKAHCxeH0iyg-JA/s1600/20130607_Pilot_78G_Sample.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZVi7ECy5VjrmfDTYsw0tArGC2jKiKGknIbURMAadY73SYbUGHREfS0_iMI2hdDwpbY3IN1MWLkUbnpR8C7CVVkGHK7Uu4w72dewyrOTQ1dUdsPiHB-eZN8UDwkC8BJKAHCxeH0iyg-JA/s320/20130607_Pilot_78G_Sample.jpg" width="219" /></a></div><br />The first sample also includes short blurbs written with other fountain pens that are described <a href="http://dailyacquisition.blogspot.com/p/pens.html" target="_blank">elsewhere on this blog</a>, just for the sake of comparison.<br /><br />The bottom line with me and the 78G: it's well worth the price and is a decent pen, but I'd rather use my Pilot Custom Heritage 91. In fact, I gave the 78G to my son for use as a school pen. I would recommend the 78G as a "first real fountain pen" (rather than, say, a Pilot Varsity, a Platinum Preppy, or a Lamy Safari).

Pilot 78G Fountain Pen

The Pilot 78G is generally considered to be one of the better fountain pens in the "budget" category. Although I may be mistaken, ...

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