Ramblings of a confused mind

Music .. food for the soul

2011-12-11T18:31:00.001+05:30

As per the official site, The Dewarists is "part music documentary, part travelogue".

It's a TV program that brings together musicians from different parts of the country, walks of life, genres of music and lets them work together. The result is some really good music.

The site allows you to download the songs produced by the musicians. But the real fun is watching the creative process in action. You can catch the entire on their YouTube channel here.

Bangalore Streets

2011-10-02T23:15:00.000+05:30

Second Hand Bookstores..

2011-06-16T15:44:00.000+05:30

1) are bigger on the inside than on the outside. How else can they fit all those books inside such a small room?
2) are time machines. You pop in for 5 minutes and when you emerge back into the world, a few hours have passed!!

The truth is that even big collections of ordinary books distort space, as can readily be proved by anyone who has been around a really old-fashioned secondhand bookshop, one of those that look as though they were designed by M. Escher on a bad day and has more staircases than storeys and those rows of shelves which end in little doors that are surely too small for a full- sized human to enter. The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read -- Terry Pratchett

Indian English Authors

2011-06-11T22:03:00.000+05:30

Author	Titles	Notes
Manisha Lakhe	The Betelnut Killers
	Sadhu
William Dalrymple	Nine Lives: in Search of the Sacred in Modern India
Alice Albinia	Empire of the Indus, Leela's Book
Amitav Gosh
Mulk Raj Anand
Kushwant Singh	A Train to Pakistan
Ramchandra Guha
Romila Thapar
	Mistress Of Spices
V.S. Naipaul	India: A Wounded Civilization
Nirad C Choudary
Gurucharan Das
Indira Sinha	Animal's People
Manjula Padmanabhan	Harvest
	Interpreter of Maladies
Mulk Raj Anand
Premchand
	Guide
A. K. Ramanujan	Poetry
Rohintan Mistry
	Squatter
Wendy Doniger	The Hindus: An Alternative History
T P Ashok
Jaishree Misra	Ancient Promises
Sarita Mandana	Tiger Hills
Devdutt Pattanaik	Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology
Manu Joseph		Journalist with "Open" Magazine
Ashwin Sanghi	Chanakya's Chant
Kiran Nagarkar	Cuckold
Tarun Tejpal
Aatish Taseer
Girish Karnad	Broken Images (Play)
Scott Adams	God's Debris
	Professor Shanku	Bengali Science Fiction by Satyajit Ray
Sarnath Banerjee	Graphic Novelist
	English August
	Inscrutable Americans
	God of Small Things
R K Narayan
Ruskin Bond
Shobha De
Salman Rushdie
	Immortals of Meluha
Shashi Tharoor

Movie Reviews:

2011-06-09T11:54:00.000+05:30

There was a sale going on at the book shop. So I bought a bunch of DVDs on the cheap.

To Sir with love: The movie tells story about a new teacher and a rowdy class and how he wins their approval.The film also lightly touches on racial issues. It's a good movie with some great acting by Sidney Poitier. It might not seem like much because there have been scores of movies with the same theme which came in later, but this was one of the original films and its based on real life events to boot. Incidentally Poitier who plays the teacher here, played the unruly student in an earlier movie, "Blackboard Jungle".
But as with most movies based on books, the move fails to capture the passion and depth present in the original book.

GhostRider: Eva Mendes and the Slade's Last Ride in this movie are worth the money. The rest of the movie is average. The normal mindless entertainment. It does not take itself seriously and is fun to watch. Like the scene where Johnny Blaze is telling Roxy they can't be together because he has sold his soul to the devil and he is the devil's bounty hunter. Absolutely hilarious. Watch out for Donal Logue's role. It's small, but he brings it to life.

An evening in Paris: I bought this movie for the songs. And they are good songs some of which are still popular today. But unfortunately that's all that can be said about the movie. The rest of the movie is the most illogical movie that I ever remember seeing. Right from the bad guy asking his father for 2 lac rupees while living in Paris to the kidnapper who while active in Europe asks for the ransom to be delivered at Niagara falls in the US. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to why things happen.
Oh, and the move also became (in)famous for a scene of Sharmila Tagore in a swim suit.

People vs Larry Flynt:A biography pf Larry Flynt, the owner of the adult magazine, 'Hustler', and the efforts of various people to shut down the magazine. It might make you think about the limits of Freedom of Speech and how different people interpret it differently.

Note: This post is from a draft I orignally wrote about a year back.

2010-10-15T22:30:00.000+05:30

No, its not special effects or trick photography. The photograph is aligned correctly. These goats are actually climbing up a near vertical dam to lick the mortar used in building it. More photographs here.

Sometime humans scare me:

2010-10-14T15:46:00.000+05:30

On August 5th 2010, San Jose copper-gold mine in Chile collapsed leaving 33 miners unaccounted for. Multiple attempts to find or contact the miners failed.

17 days later when one of the drill bits being used to bore small holes trying ti find open spaces in the mine came up, it had a note attached to it. All 33 miners were alive and mostly unharmed. They had survived on rations deemed enough for 2 days.

But that was not the end of the ordeal. They were trapped under 700m of hard rock with no equipment available readily to dig a hole big enough to haul them out. The conservative estimates had them trapped in the mine for months while rescue shafts were dilled down. The miners would have to work round the clock to clear the debris from the drilling. They had to follow and exercise regimen to attain the size/shape to fit into the rescue capsule. And do all of this while living in a 8mx8m room. 33 men. A very hard task surely.

But when has that stopped us.

On, Oct 13th 2010, 69 days after the initial accident all 33 miners have been safely rescued.

-- You have not failed until you stop trying.

Quote:

2010-10-13T14:25:00.000+05:30

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned,
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,
-- William Congreve

World's costliest coffee

2010-09-23T09:00:00.001+05:30

Kopi Luwak, sells at up to 600$ per pound or 80$ per cup.

One review says

"The aroma is rich and strong, and the coffee is incredibly full bodied, almost syrupy. It’s thick with a hint of chocolate, and lingers on the tongue with a long, clean aftertaste"

The secret? The coffee beans are collected form the droppings of civets which have been fed the coffee berries. That's right. The world's most expensive coffee is made from animal droppings. There is something to be learned here but damned if I can figure out what.

Fly Geyser, Nevada

2010-09-21T08:46:00.000+05:30

The rising sun illuminates Black Rock Desert and the Fly Geyser, which sends a continuous stream of scalding, mineral-laden water sky-high. (Courtesy: National Geographic)

More pictures

A pleasant surprise

2010-09-15T20:17:00.000+05:30

Indian companies are not well known for their customer service. You mostly hear horror stories of how indifferent they are to customer care. I had a pleasantly different experience the other day.

I was booking bus tickets online from an operator called Sree Kaleshwari. The transaction ended with an error from the operators site after the amount got charged to account but before my tickets were issued. I was bloody pissed off at this thinking about all the running around I would have to do to get back my money. Imagine my surprise when about half n hour later I received a call from SreeKaleswari asking if I was trying to book tickets in the recent past. The lady apologized for the error on the site, confirmed my return ticket , and sent the details to my phone. I was very impressed. For a minor tour operator to recognize the error in the site, recover from it that quickly and make sure that customers don't lose out.. damn.

Well, thank you kaleshwari.

Book Review: Night Watch - Terry Pratchett

2010-09-13T14:43:00.000+05:30

<Spoilers Ahead>

Night Watch tells the story of Sam Vimes, the head of the watch, who is transported back in time along with Carcer, the psychopath murder he trying to catch, to a time when Sam Vimes was a young rookie in the police force. Circumstances force Old Sam to take place of Keel, a sergeant who had acted as a mentor to Young Sam, and teach himself what it means to be a policeman in a confusing and dark world, minimize the blood shed in an upcoming revolution, catch his man, evade suspicious enemies and find a way back to his time before the birth of his son. *Phew*.

The book is a part of the Discworld series.

Though not what I expected Pratchett to be like when I started the book, its still a pretty good read.The book is funny, moves fast, avoids most of the pitfalls of time travel by keeping it simple and manages to sustain reader interest till the end. All in all it's an entertaining and humorous story.

The only bad part is you would enjoy the book a lot more if you have already the books in the Night Watch series like 'Guards! Guards!' and 'Men At Arms'. This book would be like an origin story for many of the characters introduced in those books. So now I need to go find those books and come back to this after reading them. :)

Rating: 3.5/5

"When Mister Safety Catch Is Not On, Mister Crossbow Is Not Your Friend." - Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Snakes on youtube!!

2010-08-30T09:00:00.001+05:30

If youtube wasn't already wasting all your time, here is one more way to do it. You can play Snakes inside the video player on the site. When you see the small animated circle in the middle when the video is downloading hit the down arrow to start the game*.

*If you know of any other way to start it, please leave a comment.

People who see life as anything more than pure entertainment are missing the point.
--George Carlin (1937 - 2008)

Pharoh Tutankhamun

2010-08-27T12:30:00.000+05:30

King 'Tut' as he is fondly known was an Egyptian ruler in the 14th century BC. After his death, his burial chamber was forgotten, leading most of the treasures in it to remain untouched into modern times. His was one of the few tombs to be found more or less intact.

The tomb was rediscovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. It became famous partly because of the treasure found inside and the Legend of the Curse. King Tut remains the most famous mummy to this date.

Anyways, reason for all this recap is that National Geographic recently republished an essay originally written in 1923 shortly after the official opening of tomb by a journalist named Maynard Owen Williams. You can read the full article at this link.

The mask

2010-08-26T09:00:00.003+05:30

Edited to add some more thoughts at the end.

I have noticed that quite a few times, my behavior, language etc changes with people around me or what people expect of me. If I am with a group of silent introverts I am a silent introvert. If I am with people who expect me to be an extrovert, I am an extrovert. People expect me to lead, I lead. They want a follower, I follow. I first realized this when my mom mentioned that the way I behaved at college was completely different from the way I am at home. All I am is a mask, a mirror for the others expectations, I wonder what the real me looks like.

Edited to Add :
This makes me think, can you change the behavior of a person by your expectations. Can you make a person act good by expecting/treating him as a good person. Could you make a person act heroic just because everybody treats him as a hero? How about the other way around. Everybody treats the person as a villain, so they act like one. I wonder how much influence I have on somebody else's personality.

Get a life

2010-08-24T09:00:00.003+05:30

Take chances.
Tell the truth.
Date someone totally wrong for you.
Say no.
Spend all your cash.
Fall in love.
Get to know someone random.
Go to college again.
Miss someone.
Call far off friends.
Say Good Morning.
Say I love you.
Sing out loud.
Laugh at a stupid joke.
Cry.
Get revenge.
Apologize.
Travel.
Compliment people.
Say I like your t-shirt.
Go on a drive.
Tell someone how much they mean to you.
Live.

The wall in your path

2010-08-23T11:25:00.000+05:30

There is no wall you can't climb or
find a way around or
dig under.

And if none of these work, blow the damn thing up.

The Impossible Dream - Man of La Mancha

2010-08-20T09:00:00.004+05:30

''To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star"

Blogs I follow:

2010-08-19T09:00:00.010+05:30

Below is a list of keywords describing various blogs I follow regularly. One line per blog.

Religion, Teaching
Computers/Software/Programming
Science Fiction / Fantasy
Religion, Biology, Bacon
Astronomy, Vaccination
Technology
Technology
Indian Defence, Aviation
Dilbert
Science Fiction, Fantasy
Religion
Academics
Computer Security
Sex, Religion
Science
Google
Bing
WebComic, Academics
WebComic, Office
WebComic, Religion
WebComic, Technology
WebComic, Technology
Programming
Programming
Programming
Computer Security
Puzzles
Photography, Big
Photography, India
Me

Wierdness..

2010-08-18T09:00:00.000+05:30

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
--Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167

Truth is stranger than fiction
-- MarkTwain

So today lets look at some of these undreamt of and strange things found in our heavens.

This is not the Death Star. This is just a moon of Saturn, Mimas. The moon is named after one of the titans in greek mythology. And to add to the wierdness, when viewed in infrared, this moon looks like pacman.

This walnut shaped moon of Saturn is Iapetus, named after yet another titan in greek mythology. That bulge at the equator is a 1,300 km long, 20 km wide, 13 km high.mountain chain which runs the entire circumference of the moon. And as is hinted by the top and bottom of the pictures, one side of the moons surface is bright and other is dark. (Img)

Hyperion, another moon of Saturn. And yes again named after a greek titan. This sponge like moon is basically a 328 x 260 block of ice.
Who knows, Maybe one day we will find a moon made of ice cream.

Finally we move away from Saturn and come to Mars. This moon of mars is called Phobos. Its only 27 kilometers in diameter. And that huge crater you see is 9km in diameter. Imagine a crater like that on earth. Because of its shape and tidal forces, gravity might vary by as much as 450% on its surface. At one point scientists seriously considered the possibility that this was an artificial, hollow and made of metal.

This is but a small sample of the wierd things one finds in our neighborhood.
There are Janus and Epimetheus, moons of Saturn which switch orbits once every four years.
Enki Catena a chain of 13 craters in a straight line on Ganymede. And so on. And the more we look, the more we see.

64th Inpendence Day

2010-08-15T00:01:00.000+05:30

63 years since we Indians took the control of our destiny into our own hands. We have come far since the 'tryst with destiny' moment. Overcome a slew of obstacles. But we still have a long hard road of travel ahead of us. A lot of work needs to be done before we can say 'Saare jahan se acha, Hindustaan hamaara'. So lets get about it. What have you done lately?

Freaky Friday:

2010-08-13T10:01:00.002+05:30

And so we come to yet another Friday The 13th.
Keep your fingers crossed and stay away from ladders and men in masks.

Oh and do you know what is the term for the fear of Friday The 13th.

friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Phew, that's a mouthful. Makes me a little afraid of such big and complicated words. Oooh maybe there is a word for such fear....

--------------------------------

Added Later:

If you take the different time zones into consideration, its Friday the 13th for 48 hours.

Random Poem:

2010-08-11T09:00:00.001+05:30

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.

A reminder:

2010-08-09T19:20:00.000+05:30

Today was the 65th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Nagasaki. The last time atomic weapons were used in war. At least 40,000 people died immediately in the explosion.(At least 70,000 had died in the explosion at Hiroshima). As many people died in the coming day due to a range of effects caused by the bombs.

Here is to hoping that they are never used again.

Wikipedia

When things dont work:

2010-08-09T19:13:00.001+05:30

The cooling unit on the space station ISS is not working. So they sent a couple of astronauts on a space walk to fix it. But the quick release got stuck, and they could not get the old unit out. So what do you do?

You smack it with a hammer of course. Twitter