Incandescent Light Bulbs banned in Europe by 2012

14th December, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

The European Union voted in October 2008 to ban outright incandescent light bulbs which transform a miserable 5% of the electricity into light. On Monday this week, they published the timing for the suppression of these inefficient incandescent bulbs over the next four years. Starting September 1st 2009, the sale of 100+ watt » Read More

INSEAD – Celebrating the 15 Year Reunion (2008)

12th October, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - 3 Comments

15 YEARS LATER : MY 15-YEAR REUNION AT INSEAD I have just completed my 15-year reunion at INSEAD in Fontainebleau. There were some 59 fellow classmates (out of about 205) who came in from 16 countries (3 came from Australia). It was a lovely way to reconnect – among other things to remind » Read More

Videocast direct from L’Oreal Business Forum 2008

4th October, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - 2 Comments

L’OREAL PROFESSIONNEL BUSINESS FORUM 2008 Coming back from the 7th edition of the L’Oréal Business Forum, held September 29 through October 1, 2008, in Villasimius, Sardinia (Italy), I wanted to share with you the day-by-day videocast which was put up on line as soon as each segment was ended. There were 2,000 L’Oréal Professionnel » Read More

The New Age of Travel – Life after changes in the USA Visa Waiver Programme

18th June, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

The US has announced recently that citizens of the 27 visa waiver programme countries (most of Western Europe, Australia, Brunei, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand) will need to register (online) 72 hours in advance of their visit to the US. See here on the official VWP site. The new plan goes fully » Read More

Earth Hour March 31st – Google Blacks Out

30th March, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) began the Earth Hour — lights out for an hour — in 2007 in Sydney Australia. The notion is that between 8-9pm in your time zone wherever you are in the world, everyone is to turn off their lights (or at least make some environmentally friendly gesture). I am writing » Read More

China steps up efforts on Ecology

13th January, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - 1 Comment

China bans free bags! In a second post (“Getting rid of Plastic Bags” May 2007) on the topic, I read in the Herald Tribune with a mixture of satisfaction and curiosity about China’s intended policy to ban the giving out of free plastic bags in shops (effective June 1 2008). » Read More

Facebook

27th October, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - 1 Comment

Facebook is growing at a rate of knots, it’s hard to imagine where it will stop. This pick up from Mashable is interesting as it speaks to the aforementioned (prior post “Googlotics”) role of the online presence in political races. Put your two cents into this Daily Poll about whether online presence will have » Read More

Left brain versus Right Brain

13th October, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

Are you left, right or whole brained? One of my favourite ‘business’ books in the past couple of years was “The Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink. (@Amazon, 2005). What I enjoyed about this book was a revaluing of the right side of the brain in business and management in particular. We have for » Read More

Googlotics: Australia prepares for Google Politics

18th September, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - 1 Comment

I mentioned in a prior post that on-line activity in elections was heating up (Turkey, for example). The elections of the future can and will be decided by the on-line campaigning. In the pursuit of open debate, we can hope to see lots of on-line chatting, blogging, etc., on the candidates in » Read More

Google my rights – privacy beats piracy

16th September, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

In preparations for the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) meeting 24 September, in Montréal, Google’s Keeper of the Data, Peter Fleischer, has been on the bandwagon for a worldwide protocol for the protection of private data on the net. Fleischer spoke, on 14 September, at a conference in Strasbourg, organised by » Read More

The Rugby Haka : Sports as dislocated battle ground

19th July, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

As we ramp up for the Rugby World Cup 2007, my first observation is that, perhaps because France will basically be on break for the months of July and August, there does not seem to be much warm up ‘buzz’ here. Cafe banter — French equivalent of water cooler discussions — is not streaming » Read More

When politics, branding and entertainment merge…

16th July, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

We are in the midst of a number of important changeovers in governments around the world. My home country, France, has not only changed government, but seems to be giving France a JFK-esque-1st-100-days-run-for-your-money changeover. Sarkozy is giving true meaning to “Ensemble Tout Devient Possible.” And, by ravaging the Socialist Party with nominations » Read More

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