A beautiful, inspiring and clever metaphor for the dialectic nature of the world we live in. Dialectic = The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction. If the world is flat and rapidly globalizing, how come nationalism is alive and well and century-old analog tribes and instant digital ones (our social graphs) shape our identity? Without the cheap apples from China nobody would blog about the joys of eating local food…

lets continue the thinking -- high end glossy magazines still fill the racks at newstands; bicycles have made a comeback; organic..not hydroponic..veggies are the rage...radio -- delivered over the web or via satellite is still radio and Batman rules the movie screens...what else??

Well, the prestige brands versus commoditised timepieces. Post-Stoppard, the watch has been usurped by the mobile phone in a lot of cases, but the attraction of prestige still holds. Maybe the attraction of nostalgia as well. Blinking is in the now, but nostalgia is as long as anyone's memory. Trend watching is fascinating even in boring categories. Ever noticed the steady decline in supermarket aisles given to breakfast cereal? Must be 50% less in a decade. But where is the growth? More "health and beauty", more "gourmet", more product extensions, more soft drinks... And more shopping trips with smaller baskets. Ie, simpler missions. Online is like the simplest missions of all. One at a time, get the best price for the desired big purchase. In this country, online grocery shopping isn't strong. Tom. PS: I have a Seiko Kinetic - which has an analogue face, a quartz movement, but a recharging mechanism that works like an old fashioned "automatic" watch. I feel a time schism on my wrist.

I love my low technical "hand driven" watch. But watching out, I can see that glossy high-end brand watches everywhere. Of course, they don´t take that charisma and that spirit. Let´s say, it´s a different one. Let´s continue: Yesterday I saw the first electric motorbike, driven by "muscle power". Looking like a high-tech endure-machine, but it´s just a bike. your own power, goin´up to 90km/h. perfect to drive the highways. but it´s just a bike, driven by muscle power. no gas needed, no co2-emissions, just a bike, driven by muscle power. cool, retro, hightech, low-high-tech. http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_972149.html - have fun by watching that

Here's something to replace the Swiss watch as the status symbol of the future: the $999 iPhone App... http://valleywag.com/5033740/behold-the-99999-do+nothing-iphone-app-buy-it-because-you-can