For Car Buff

Here is something you car buffs probably didn't know.

The 3 Goldberg brothers, Norman, Hiram, and Maxwell invented and
developed the first automobile air-conditioner.
Didn't know that, did ya...

On July 17th, 1946 , the temperature in Detroit was 97.

The 3 brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-
talked his secretary into telling him that 3 gentlemen were there with
the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric
starter.

Henry was curious and invited them into his office.

They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to
their car.

They persuaded him to get into the car which was about 130 - turned on
the air-conditioner and cooled the car off immediately.

The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office,
where he offered them 3 million dollars for the patent.

The brothers refused, saying they would settle for 2 million but they
wanted the recognition by having a label "The Goldberg Air-
Conditioner" on the dashboard of each car that it was installed in.

Now old man Ford was more than just a little bit Anti-Semitic, and
there was no way he was going to put the Goldbergs' name on 2 million
Ford cars.

They haggled back and forth for about 2 hours and finally agreed on 4
million dollars and that just their first names would be shown.

And so, even today, all Ford air-conditioners show on the controls the
names "Norm, Hi, & Max".

There, now ya know it....

International Video Project

I lost my digital copy of this video project. I searched the net, and hey, there it is! Ah, the advantage of internet in finding things that I lost. I am beginning to believe that the vritual reality becomes a repository of everything serious and banal.


This project was done when I taught nonlinear editing (final cut pro to be specific) way back 2001. I was invited by Philipp Ennemoser (the main coordinator) to join in this international project -- different cinematographers from different cities around the world contributing footage in the spirit of filmmaking.

Philipp was kind enough send me an original DVD copy of the final documentary. Somebody borrowed it, and it was never returned back to me. I did show this film in one of those Rough Cut Nights (the local version of Cannes Festival in Davao) at the Kanto Bar, Matina Town Square along with the projects of my nonlinear editing class.... I guess it's the class of Zsa Zsa Perasol, Gian Bonador, and Chiqui Arjona, and the Gigi Patiño semi-rated MTV. Hehe.

Anyway, I found a digital copy (downloadable!) of the project.

Here is the introduction:

In an ever faster moving world cities have become somehow fascinating for us. They do not only respresent mankind's belief in technology but do also provide us with an endless variety of images and sounds.

urbanDynamics is an international video project designed to cover global urban dynamics. Its aim is to make a collage of urban environments around the world by assembling video footage from citizens. It's an experiment that totally depends on the participants, who rediscover their cities with a simple miniDV camcorder.

Besides, the project can promote a more positive point of view towards globalisation by recognizing the possibility of making such a project with unknown people simply on the basis of confidence and the spirit of film making.

Over the period of a year 26 people from 17 different countries joined the project and contributed video footage or music to the project. It has shown me that our world has really developed to a global village. Regarding the fact that those 26 people have never met but produced a film together shows the new opportunities of a globalised world for the "normal" people.

Interested parties can download the documentary at:

http://www.archive.org/details/urban_dynamics_video