Finally – fi-na-lly! – there appear the first, more sophisticated approaches of ARGs (ARG = alternative reality games) and the interconnection between gaming and real life on the internet. I'm sure it has been around for some while but not yet really visible as a pattern on the electronic web. I believe strongly – and mark my word – that ARGs will play a major role on how things work out on our little space-glider in the not so far futur. As an excellent Introduction watch the following video with Jane McGonigal, game designer and my personal favorit puppet master:

Want to escape the ape? At least once in a while? It's easy: just dance!

Well, fear and paranoia are the real threats this world is facing. Chomsky says it at some point… Check also out how the interviewer (subconsciously?) starts more and more nodding with her head towards the end of the interview :)

Meet etoy.AGENT etoy.ZAI | CEO of etoy.CORPORATION | An introduction to (etoy.?)VISIONART | enjoy.etoy:

Dear reader,

There is a special matter in which your help would be much appreciated. A few months ago I found on a flea market a bowl that I immediately fell in love with (even if it's not the most beautiful bowl I've ever seen). Now I want to know two things about it: its origin and the meaning of the text engraved on it.


1. Meaning
• In what alphabet / script (devanagari, sanskrit, tibetan, arabic?) is the lettering engraved on the bowl?
• What is the language used for that text on the bowl (Hindi, Marathi, Nepali…)?
• What is the meaning of the text written around the bowl, what does it say?
• Is there a metameaning (why exactly is _this_ text on exactly _this_ bowl?)
• Who produced it or
• Who produces similar bowls?
• To which culture does it belong?
• How did it end up being sold at my local flea market in Zürich, Switzerland and
• Is somebody known who owned it before.

Any information would be helpful even if you think it might not be worth it. Please leave comments and hints underneath this article. Following are some pictures of the bowl. A click on the pictures should enlarge them:


Can you read the text or recognize the script used on the bowl?









The bowl weighs exactly 270 grams (~9.5229 ounces)



A specialty is that the bowl has a kind of foot / brim:




The production must have involved some kind of lathing / turning process: