Word: cataloging
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...Michael Thomas observes in his catalog essay, Koch's world is one of grownups. They congregate in those elegant friendly rooms like the inhabitants of an ideal but real fete champetre within four walls: New York's high bohemia, in mutual recognition. In it, children are rarely seen and subliterates are never heard. The fear, disgust and boredom that are the axial coordinates of American urban life in the 2000s do not appear. People are not afraid of growing older. Ripeness is all. They have not become depressed helots to the culture of ignorant mall rats with Dolby stereos. Nobody...
...seen in strict profile. This gives her remoteness: she doesn't look back at you or acknowledge your gaze in any way. She is on display in all her finery, in scarlet velvet or cloth of gold, in brocade and pearls--an icon of marital success and faithfulness. (The catalog has an excellent essay by Roberta Landini and Mary Bulgarella on the arcane intricacies of status and ladies' fashion in 15th century Florence.) Her existence as a silhouette, an untouchable presence--or rather, apparition--reinforces the idea of virtue. So does the purity of line required by profile...
Mercifully, although the catalog essays give an excellent account of the motives behind the portraits (the claiming of sexual and family territory, the presentation of the bride as property and so on), they don't overdo the vintage feminist rhetoric. Perhaps it is true, for instance, that the profile portrait implies male control over its subject. But where does that leave the fact that Renaissance husbands were also painted in profile? Is a woman dressed and jeweled to the nines a symbol of passivity, a man similarly kitted up one of power...
...Francisco, which has become "close to the NASDAQ of chemicals," says Stanford economics professor Bob Hall, author of Digital Dealing. ChemConnect has offices in seven countries and offers to bring together buyers and sellers worldwide. But rather than try to hook the computers of all participants into one online catalog, it started with a simple electronic bulletin board where buyers and sellers could post what they had or were seeking. From there the company worked up to more sophisticated auctions...
Some companies are using B2B techniques to squeeze more efficiency from the supply chain. Consider mechanics who work on GE aircraft engines, who typically spend hours studying a paper repair manual, cross-referencing it with update notices, thumbing through a parts catalog and phoning to leave a message for someone at GE who might call back the next day. Software from Enigma of Burlington, Mass., offers a fast alternative: the mechanic has only to find the part he needs, then click on it, and it's on the way. It's a greasy business, not particularly sexy...