The Spirit of Life

Weren't mobile phones supposed to be small?

2011-10-14T09:21:00.001+05:30

When we start scourging the Web for a mobile phone, browsing through various websites like GSMArena, Univercell, FoneArena, YouTube, etc.., we keep an important factor in mind - the form factor of a phone. At some point in my life, I'm sure that people's opinions seemed to favour mobiles that were small in height, width and weight. Nokia sensed this and made some of the tiniest mobiles around. And they were the market leaders for quite some time. I mentioned "were", because Nokia isn't the leader any more, thanks to competition from Apple, HTC, Sony, Blackberry and, most importantly, Samsung (fan-boys, cheer!). I'm not sure when this trend changed, but I can guess that mobile operating systems changed it all. With the introduction of touch screen phones, people preferred the User Interface and applications provided by the manufacturers.

When the Java operating system was introduced, integration with social networking sites and chat became possible. With power comes responsibility. The operating system for mobiles had to handle a large quantity of data and processing speed needed to be faster. Also, the User Interface had to be intuitive so as to enable the users work seamlessly with their phones. With mail exchange servers such as Microsoft Exchange, RIM's server, etc.., working with email on mobile phones became easier. And then, Apple introduced the iPhone, a paradigm shift in the world of mobile phones. Now, a touch screen mobile included an operating system, a truckload of applications and, to the surprise of users, was bigger in size. Notice the turn around? Touch screen mobiles are best experienced when they are big enough. The UI becomes more intuitive, watching videos, taking photos, reading books, etc.. is realistic and gives you an awesome experience. Naturally, it attracted a lot of users and made a lot of fans. Now, many manufacturers took this cue, but it was Samsung and Google, with their powerful combination of hardware and software, turned it on big time, that led me to this discussion. With their wide range of touch screen phones, the Galaxy series, and the highly customizable Android operating system, Samsung made an impression in people's minds that bigger is better. Google didn't make a big impression in Desktop operating systems, but in mobile operating systems, I don't find a person who doesn't know Android.

Damn. I'm an Apple fan myself, but I'm under the impression that Apple has to release more phones, or at least, quicker - after working for a year on iPhone 4, we have the iPhone 4S, with only specific upgrades like the camera, iPad's processor and a voice assistant, which we don't REALLY need. Okay, I don't want to divert from the topic, but the point is, by this time, users had already forgotten that at some point in their lives, they believed that the smaller the mobile, the better. Now, I see people with exceptionally large mobiles (not anything smaller than 3.5" touch screen - and hey, anyone remember the stylus?). The stylus is making a comeback with the Samsung Galaxy Note.

Getting back to the topic (I think I have ADD - I get distracted real easy), mobile cameras also contributed their part in bringing about this change of opinion. When a phone is large, you get enough detail to view the picture and click it as you intended. Video cameras speak more. Fitting 720/1080p into a thin and small mobile phone would be an anachronism. Imagine a Motorola W270 (just for discussion sake, as it doesn't even have a camera) clicking 5 MP pictures and 720p video. That would be friggin' hilarious.

The processor is going to make a big difference as well. You don't believe me? Ask the Apple fan boys! After waiting for a year expecting nothing short of a quad-core processor, all we got is a dual-core processor! But wait, isn't a dual-core processor good enough? Heck, many work stations and laptops have a dual core processor, and that isn't going to be a big deal. But as the quote says "Yesterday's luxury is today's necessity", we want nothing short of all of this. Even though the iPhone 4S is great (please take some time to look at its specifications as a normal phone, leaving aside the manufacturer - it''s great, I assure you), it would still get a low rating owing to the delay in its release. And how does it contribute to the size of a phone? Obvious, big processor, big size. And you need more memory as well? Be my guest.

Finally, I'd say that sometime later, all of this is not going to be enough and people are going to need more than just jolly applications, UI and 1.4 GHz processor (all the characteristics of a touch screen mobile these days). They'd need more in the business end as well. More businesses are focusing towards cloud computing and applications are being developed for this too. To satisfy all of this, tablet PCs might just be the key - they have a bigger touch-screen, a better support for hardware and better impression throughout.

-Suresh Gururajan

Music of the month - Pieces form the whole

2011-10-03T08:47:00.001+05:30

Album: The Social Network

Artist: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

A dark ambient soundtrack from Reznor and Ross, the album has invited widespread critical acclaim. The score won nine major awards, including the 2010 Golden Globe award for Best Original Score – Motion Picture, and the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 83rd Academy Awards. With David Fincher as the director and Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have found a recognition against the competitive cast of the movie, with Andrew Garfield also winning multiple awards for best supporting actor.

Hear the music via this link or by the video embedded below:

This is easily one of the best works of music I've heard, though the tracks "In Motion", "A familiar taste", "Carbon Prevails", and "Painted Sun in abstract" were good too. Overall, this album deserves praise for the variety and imagination shown by the composers.

Song of the month – It all comes down to this (Oru Naalil)

2011-08-05T11:16:00.000+05:30

Movie: Pudhupettai

Lyrics: Na. Muthukumar
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Singer: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Oru Naalil - Pudhupettai

Oru naalil vaazhkkai inge

engum odi pogaathu…

maru naalum vanthu vittaal

thunbam theiyum thodaraathu

eththanai kodi kanneer

mann mithu vizhunthirukkum

aththanai kanda pinnum

boomi ingu poo pookkum

ho….oh……ooh……

karu vaasal vittu vantha naal thottu

ho….oh……ooh……

oru vaasal thediye vilayaattu..

ho….oh……ooh……

kan thiranthu paarthaal pala kuthu

ho….oh……ooh……

kanmudi kondaal…………..

[oooh ooooh.............. 'music]

por kalathil piranthu vittom

vanthavai ponavai varutham illai

kaatrinile vaazkinrom

mutkalin vali onrum maranam illai

iruttinile nee nadakkaiyile

un nizhalum unnai vittu vilagividum

nee mattum thaan intha ulagaththile

unakku thuNai enthru vilanggividum

theeyodu pogum varaiyil

theeraathu intha thanimai

karai varum nirum paarththu

kappalil kaaththiruppom

erimalai vanthaal kuda

yeri ninthru por thoduppom

[oh.....oh..........'music]

antha theiva ragasiyam puriggirathe

ho….oh……ooh……

inggu ethuvum nilai illai karaiggirathe

ho….oh……ooh……

manam vetta veliyile alaiggirathe

ho….oh……ooh……

antha kadavule kandaal …………

[ooooooh ............'music..]

athu enakku ithu unakku

ithayanggal podum thani kanakku

aval enakku ival unakku

udalgalum podum puthir kanakku

unakkum illai ithu enakkum illai

padaithavane ithai eduththu kolvaan

nallavan yaar ada kettavan yaar

kadaisiyil avane mudivu seivaan

pazhi podum ulagam ingge?

baliyaana uyirgal engge?

ulagathin oram nindru

aththanaiyum paarththiruppom

nadappavai naadagam endru

naamum sernthu nadithiruppom

ho….oh……ooh……

pala mugangal vendum sari maattikolvom…

ho….oh……ooh……

pala thiruppam theriyum athil thirumbi kolvom..

ho….oh……ooh……

kathai mudiyum pokkil athai mudiththu kolvom..

ho….oh……ooh……

maru piravi venduma..

ho….oh……ooh……

What's luck got to do with injury?

2011-08-04T18:46:00.000+05:30

This is an excellent article I found at Cricinfo, written by Sanjay Manjrekar -

Over the last few days MS Dhoni has been fending off questions about his team's fitness about as frequently as some of his young batsmen have had to fend bouncers in England.

I'm certain Dhoni has his own views on fitness, and I would love to hear them one day, for he is one of the fittest men in international cricket, but as captain - well, he has to say the right things, doesn't he? His patent response to questions about injuries to his key players has been that they are unfortunate and there is nothing one can do. I agree with him that injuries are indeed unfortunate, but I hope he does not really mean it when he says there is nothing one can do about them. There is plenty you can do about injuries, and there is a very good, logical explanation for why some cricketers suffer more of them than others.

When a player gets injured, it is often termed unlucky, and he is generally spared criticism, on the assumption that it was beyond the poor cricketer's control. I have seen, during my playing career, cricketers take advantage of this mindset of the fans and media to tackle their insecurities as players: you would often find a short period of poor form quickly followed by an injury absence.

Except in obvious cases, like where fingers are broken while batting or fielding - like with Yuvraj Singh at Trent Bridge - I really think most injuries should be held against players, as you would a poor performance on the field. Injuries too largely happen because of poor performance - off the field. A player who does not forget that he is a top-level international cricketer, even when he is not playing matches, simply does not get injured often.

Kapil Dev, the great Indian allrounder, who I had the privilege of playing with, was one of the fittest Indian cricketers there has been, and there is no better role model of a fit Indian cricketer than him. Was Kapil lucky that he could play 131 Test matches as a fast-medium bowling allrounder, missing only one Test in between, when he was dropped for playing a wild slog at a delicate stage in a match? No, he wasn't. There was a good reason for why he was so durable.

Kapil's greatest asset was that he was an outstanding athlete. Unathletic cricketers tend to suffer more injuries than athletic ones, and there are numerous examples in Indian cricket of fast bowlers who were talented but not good athletes. Should the lack of athleticism of a player not be held against him? Wouldn't the lack of a natural flair for numbers be held against a chartered accountant who keeps bungling up balance sheets?

Kapil was a superb athlete, and admirably, it was an advantage he never took for granted. He may not have given you the impression of being a thinking batsman, but when it came to his bowling, fielding and general approach to fitness, there was no one quite as sharp. He knew his body well and he made sure that he never pushed it beyond a certain limit, but he was also careful to not keep it in cold storage for too long.

During fielding drills, even before matches, Kapil would always throw the ball back to the keeper with real pace, while most fast bowlers I saw, would want to rest their bowling shoulders. Kapil thought different. He made sure his shoulder was always ready and never surprised - in case he had to throw hard for a run-out first ball of a match, for instance. Damage to a body often happens due to such sudden acts, resulting in the player missing games because of an "unfortunate" injury. Mind you, Kapil was not injury-free through his long career, but he planned the rehabilitation well, so he was always ready and raring to go for the next Test. Playing for India meant a lot to him.

Kapil did not let anyone influence him into changing his natural bowling action - though it had the potential threat of creating lower-back problems. He believed that if his body was allowing him to bowl without discomfort, it had to be the right action for him. I wonder, when I watch some of our Indian seamers who keep breaking down, whether they have strayed from their natural actions so much that their bodies have started protesting.

Rest to the body, as we know, is as critical as physical training, for a long, relatively injury-free career, and that is the big challenge for modern-day players: to get time off to rest their tired bodies. But it is also true that a cricketer opting out of an international series is not as big a deal as it used to be; players are usually given their time off without it being held against them. There is always a tour of West Indies or Bangladesh to take a break from, as we have seen.

I saw a couple of Indian players come into the England Test series off a period of relaxation, with chubby faces and bulging midriffs. That's not something you'd ever see with Rahul Dravid. The only international cricket he plays these days is Test cricket, and he often has to come into the team off long periods of "inactivity", but each time he turns up, he looks lean and mean. Dravid is another player with an excellent record of long-term fitness in Indian cricket, and he does not even have great natural athleticism to thank for it. What he has plenty of, though, as we all know, is discipline. He is the perfect example of that cricketer I mentioned earlier, who even when he is not playing reminds himself every day when he wakes up that he is still an active international player, only waiting for his next international assignment.

Players who are willing to make sacrifices, I have found, sustain fewer injuries than others, so the next time we see a cricketer suffer yet another pulled muscle, let's pause for a moment more before saying, "That's unlucky."

Avan Ivan - Movie Review

2011-06-22T15:03:00.002+05:30

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a movie review. Avan Ivan, directed by Bala, starring Vishal, Arya and others, is a film where the maverick director ventures into a genre, less explored by him. Inexplicably, this film doesn’t live up to its hype. Set in the villages of Tamil Nadu, Vishal and Arya are stepbrothers, constantly bickering, cursing each other, shouting (and insulting their father, which is quite hilarious). They work for a king, whom, they affectionately (or otherwise) call ‘highness’ (I could make out the word only when the king took a group of foreigners for a trek. Until then, I didn’t understand what they said. It sounded like INS). Ok, let me get this straight -

The bulk of this movie concentrates on humor, which could be easily shunned if not for the performances of the actors. Bala’s films already have a taste of humor which led to the question of why a maverick director like him needed to make a full-length feature film which trusted on humor alone, while skipping the storyline. The movie had incredible scope for a great story, which is unfortunately, not built upon. There are quite a couple of occasions where a brief history between the court case against the ‘highness’ could have been explained. It is all too apparent to observe these potholes.

However, some of the positive scenarios included a wonderful display of acting by Vishal and Arya – though the latter didn’t have much scope, Arya tried to justify his role and must be critically applauded. Vishal’s acting, though flawed, seemed to capitalize on the scope and the platform laid by the story. Perhaps, Vishal must be taking on less-commercial films and must try to focus more on building his career by establishing himself as an actor who doesn’t give just commercial films, but also critically-acclaimed movies. And he’s teamed up with just the right person in this venture. Arya, as always, gave his best shot and lived upto the scope of acting offered by the role. If not for the subtle acting, the movie might not have justified the ticket’s price.

Bala, being one of the trend setters in Kollywood, is just 5 films old and has a long career ahead of him. It would be unfair to negatively criticize him in venturing into a genre not suited to him – rather, not explored by him. He has tried his hand at a new genre that would add variety to the otherwise dark films that he’s directed (it should also be noted that you don’t miss the presence of Bala in the film as the gripping last 30 minutes of the movie was typical Bala’s tale that ends with a twist in the tale). Bala, I’m sure, must have learnt a lot of things and took away a lot of points from this movie.

Despite numerous negative reviews, I’d say that Bala hasn’t refrained in a corner and avoided a good story altogether. It’s just that he’s failed to build up on the plot, which isn’t a big crime – come on, let a man make mistakes sometimes. One cannot argue that the movie isn’t spectacular in the visuals. His direction isn’t bad at all. Considering the number of occasions that he’s revived the careers of many actors like Vikram, Surya, Arya and now, Vishal, it’s best to give the director a break and let him think things over so that he continues to deliver the kind of movies that he does.

Yuvan Shankar Raja can be easily forgotten in this movie as his background music doesn’t live upto the expectations, atleast not for me. His father, the Maestro Ilayaraja, could have handled it better. Again, Yuvan Shankar Raja must have explored a lot from composing music set in the villages.

Overall, the film is interesting, but has failed to live up to its expectations. The actors have given a performance of their lifetimes. It is safe to say that Vishal’s career would take a turn. It’s a great learning experience for the others.

Verdict: Good performance let down by a loose storyline.
Rating: 65%

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

2011-05-16T14:45:00.000+05:30

This article is taken from this link. If you want to take the test, click here.

The Rorschach inkblot test is a method of psychological evaluation. Psychologists use this test to try to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of their patients. The Rorschach is currently the second most commonly used test in forensic assessment, after the MMPI, and has been employed in diagnosing underlying thought disorder and differentiating psychotic from nonpsychotic thinking in cases where the patient is reluctant to openly admit to psychotic thinking.

There are ten official inkblots. Five inkblots are black ink on white. Two are black and red ink on white. Three are multicolored. The psychologist shows the inkblots in a particular order and asks the patient, for each card, "What might this be?". After the patient has seen and responded to all the inkblots, the psychologist then gives them to him again one at a time to study. The patient is asked to list everything he sees in each blot, where he sees it, and what there is in the blot that makes it look like that. The blot can also be rotated. As the patient is examining the inkblots, the psychologist writes down everything the patient says or does, no matter how trivial. The psychologist also times the patient which then factors into the overall assessment.

Using the scores for these categories, the examiner then performs a series of mathematical calculations producing a structural summary of the test data. The results of the structural summary are interpreted using existing empirical research data on personality characteristics that have been demonstrated to be associated with different kinds of responses. Both the calculations of scores and the interpretation are often done electronically.

A common misconception of the Rorschach test is that its interpretation is based primarily on the contents of the response-what the examinee sees in the inkblot. In fact, the contents of the response are only a comparatively small portion of a broader cluster of variables that are used to interpret the Rorschach data.

Ebooks Versus Paper Books: The Pros and Cons

2011-03-14T05:25:00.001+05:30

This is an interesting article I found here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Ebooks-Versus-Paper-Books-The-Pros-and-Cons. Here is an excerpt of the article. To view the full article, please visit the link above -

What Makes a Book?

In essence, the two formats are very similar. Both allow you to do the most important thing – read a book. The text is the important thing, not the medium. Reading Sumerian legends on clay tablets can feel more “authentic”, but doesn’t necessarily enhance your understanding of the subject matter – just your experience.
Depending on the type of material you’d like to read / look at, however, one does have advantages over the other.

The “Classic” Paper Book.

Paper books offer multiple advantages:

They’re easily obtainable (Bookstores are everywhere).
They’re easily portable.
They don’t normally cause significant eye-strain.
They’re cheap.

Okay, that much was obvious. Specifically, some types of content paper books are better for are:

Textbooks (or any books which are generally large-format).
Picture / Photo books.

Another factor to bear in mind is that paper books don’t need power to function. They can be read anywhere with sufficient light, and are perfect travelling companions for exactly this reason.

The rest of the article can be found on this link.

The All New Yahoo! Mail Beta

2011-03-12T23:14:00.000+05:30

This post is taken from SPY’s blog and is found here.

Everyone would have created a Yahoo! mail account and probably left it untouched for years. The main reason for this is the interface and functionality which is irksome in yahoo! when compared to Gmail. Gmail have been ruling the email world and is considered the most functional email client. But Yahoo! has done a recent breakthrough with its new Yahoo! Mail Beta which is still under testing and has a beta tag. But it is tempting the trial user to shift his focus towards it. The interface is simply beautiful and smooth.

But the problem is that many people in India have not got the invitation to try it out. Only some countries have received the invitation. So now I describe how to get the new yahoo! mail beta without their invitation.

Open your Yahoo! account.
Go to your account information page (by Clicking Your name hyperlink and then "Account" below it)
Go to "Account Settings " tab and click "Set language, site and time zone "
Set the "Regional Site and Language" to "Yahoo! UK"
Then save the settings and log off.
Log in again and go to the mail page
There an invite to get the new Yahoo! beta will be present next to your name hyperlink
Click it to get the new Yahoo! mail beta.
After all this , set your "Regional Site and Language" to "Yahoo! India"

Now you are all set to enjoy the new yahoo! mail beta. Good luck !

Rage of Angels?

2011-03-12T09:43:00.001+05:30

It was a gloomy Friday. The worst news of 2011 had just shocked the entire world. A small country, which thrived on the ocean, was slammed by one of the worst events of the decade.

One of the greatest earthquakes in the world – 8.9 on the Richter Scale, rocked Japan the aftermath of which triggered a massive tsunami that rose 4 meters and devastated the coast of the small country. The quake, recorded to be one of the worst in the history of Japan, even for a country famed for earthquakes, shook the world, split the ground through fissures, and evoked a tsunami which alerted 50 countries world-wide. Horrific pictures and videos of Japan were taken which included debris being swept away by the tsunami – light-planes, ships and cars being treated like garbage, waves crashing on the coast and sweeping the streets of Japan.

The imagery showed a massive whirlpool in the Pacific, with waves swirling into it, consuming a poor ship. Devastatingly, an oil refinery had burst due to the earthquake which triggered fires to add to the ongoing damage. Concerns over the nuclear reactor in Japan, over leaks, is also a thing to worry about. The quake, the worst since the boxing day quake and the tsunami, ranks fifth in the list of worst earthquakes in the world.

Video courtesy - RT News

The quake also rocked the Parliament of Japan, with the ministers running for shelter. The quake was felt all over Japan, with the people anticipating the possibility of the tsunami, which, sure as intended, swept the coast. The damage, caused by the earthquake, is estimated to be over a billion dollars, with the oil refinery bursting and the nuclear facility being shut down.

Let us all pray for the people of Japan and that such disasters never happen again.

Social Networking Vs Blogging

2010-11-23T22:57:00.000+05:30

This article provides an insight into the latest tradition of online users experiencing a paradigm shift towards Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. While it is true that SNSs are cool and that they also serve as microblogging systems, what about blogs? Blogging, as one of the many traditions in the Internet that always changes, had its time. This raises the question about the things that a user expects out of an internet service. As a personal blogger and a SNS user, I'm here to critique some of the changes I've witnessed.

Genuinely inspired by friends, and articles that are littered across the web, acclaiming the advent of Facebook and the like, I believe that information sharing is an important aspect of everyone's life. We need access to the latest news, or information, all the time. The speed at which information is delivered is also an important factor that determines if a system is efficient and qualifies our necessity.

SNSs provide such services and have clearly emerged out of the shadows. However, the quantity, or the depth of information, that these sites provide, are frugal. For instance, these sites limit the number of characters that a user can post. While this may be right in the sense that people do not normally want to see so much information cluttered in their spaces, it is sometimes insufficient to express our ideas clearly. This is very much possible in blogs, which is how I'm sharing information with YOU right now. I'd then, for instance, copy and paste the post's link in my profile for everyone to see. I'm referring this concern only to SNSs that limit the quantity of text that the user can enter, at any given time. You must know that there are certain sites, like Ning, that provide a blogging service within their social network, to share loads of information.

Within social networking sites, developers from around the globe, develop applications that pull information from the users and use it for their purposes. Though SNSs most definitely warn people of letting their personal information out, people still want to use it for the sake of fun. And regret later. Photo tagging is another concern where any person can let out anyone's information without their permission. I would suggest the sites that they include a feature which allows a user to permit his/her name to be tagged on a photo. Blogging, in a sense, is more secure.

Sometimes, it so happens that people lose patience of reading paragraphs of text and yawn after seeing a long article. Movie reviews and music reviews are fun, but not informative articles. Videos are better than text anyway right? So, why not post videos in a profile? I agree to a certain extent that videos speak a lot louder (no pun intended) than pictures and text. However, information, such as tutorials, can be further explained, like snippets of code, in plain text, rather than videos. This also allows reusability of code(copy and paste it dude; why bother looking at the video again and again?) too. In this aspect, social networking sites do a better job than blogs, with fetching us videos that our friends post. However, not quite good in explaining things in detail.

One final characteristic that makes blogs excel SNSs is the language. When we practise writing a big article, we increase our vocabulary as well as the ability to express ideas clearly. Creativity included. If you're working on your blog hard enough, you wouldn't even need a typing class. It'd clearly be a typing practise and improve accuracy. We often tend to decrease our vocabulary while using SNSs, messengers and chat applications where we shorten words and aren't worried about grammar. I don't mean to say that it's bad; I realize that it is informal, but think about it. You do lose grasp on the verbose you learnt. I did. I almost scourged the Web for words whose usage in sentences I forgot.

I finish this article by establishing my opinion that SNSs are good, but please, do not get addicted to it. Blogging is much better if you spend some time in it, articulating your thoughts on good articles and share useful information.

-Suresh Gururajan

The Social Network: Review

2010-11-17T08:23:00.000+05:30

The Social Network, directed by David Fincher, casting Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timerlake, was released recently in India and I got a chance to watch that movie, and I'm not sorry.

Embarking on a story that narrates the lawsuits that the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg faces, David Fincher does a very good job in yet another fine movie of the modern times, to add to his collection. With Fight Club, Fincher created a cult following - with The Social Network, he has created another masterpiece. Rottentomates.com has critically acclaimed it with a 97% fresh rating out of 251 reviews. It says that the movie is "impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances" and that "The Social Network is a riveting, ambitious example of modern filmmaking at its finest".

The cast, including Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake, have done a fine job that greatly contributes to the depth of the film and goes along well with the audience. Aaron Sorkin, with his wonderful screenplay, has made himself, a strong contender for the Academy Awards. Overall, it's a teamwork that yielded a treat for the audience and acclaim for the filmmakers.

The movie tells the tale of a narcissistic genius, with an ambitious notion to make a virtual society, and the lawsuits he faces as a result of these. Here's a summary: On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history... but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.

Rating: 4.6/5

Verdict: A strong contender for the Academy Awards, this is a must watch film, especially for techies.

Noir

2010-09-29T16:19:00.001+05:30

It was a special occasion – her thirtieth birthday. Over the years, she had seen so many things – joy, sadness, and a lot of people. On this birthday, as in any other birthday, nobody wished her – no one even seemed to know that it was on this day, thirty years ago, that she was born – as a matter of fact, planted. The mango tree, however, wasn’t hurt. In a world, where humans didn’t even care for themselves, would she matter to anyone? She would, to people who work hard all day long and took shelter under her shade; to birds whom she protected and to all living beings who consumed her delicious mangoes. She was a blessed soul and never expected anything in return. God created and nurtured her and hence, she was grateful to Him and happy to serve the world.

As the gentle breeze rustled her leaves, she pondered on some memorable incidents – memories which she would cherish forever. The moments where birds would feed their children, hide under her when the storms came, of kids playing in the park and the like. However, she chose to forget those memories when one of her branches was sawed off; snakes gobbling the eggs of birds whose parents watched in horror unable to do anything. Such things did happen in the world but the world is rougher. How could she, standing in the same place all her life, know anything outside? She knew little besides the experience she gained from her past.

She saw vast changes around her life – there was this Oak tree, 100 years elder to her, who constantly complained of noises outside the part. The main road was not far away and the noisy traffic seemed to annoy the old fellow. He had died just a few weeks ago, in his sleep. Then, he fell hard on the ground. A few days later, he was swept off, and then on, she was alone. Nobody to talk to except with God. He would often answer her prayers by sending the rains, which cleansed her. Made her happy.

She saw that the park beside the main road was once a building – a school perhaps, where children came and studied everyday. After the school hours, some of them would sit in her shade or sit leaning against her trunk. Old buildings were being replaced by newer ones except for the old university that stood tall as a landmark despite the numerous changes happening around it. The university was even older than her. The times, now, are so advanced that people from the university would come and monitor her heart, just like they do to people, using strange equipment. They would pour the right quantity of water she needed, at drought. She returned, as a token of gratitude, with juicy mangoes every year.

Years ago, she had witnessed the effect of war on people. Everyone was hungry and ate just once a day. They were overjoyed when she bloomed mangoes. And now, these hungry people wouldn’t even return to see her on her birthday, but people are people. They forget good things you do. However, she had no regrets on the way she lived. She contemplated the future and sighed. She was not going to see it anyway would she?

-Suresh Gururajan

Cheating the DESERVED

2010-09-28T08:33:00.001+05:30

This post is taken from SPY’s blog and is located here.

Often in our life we don’t know what we deserve. But that too comes to light once we start practicing things which are meant for the deserved. This is the point where we need to be wise enough to make the right decision and lead our life in the correct path. But this is the same point, I don’t know for what reason, where the human mentality drives the man crazy in the wrong path.

A little description about the environment at that situation would help us understand the radicals which affect our mind to take such drastic turn. At first a person aims at certain objective. This aiming can be done with various motives. Either he might think himself capable, knowingly or unknowingly. Or he is in a forcing situation where he needs to meet the objective.

Then he takes necessary steps to get the objective. During this process the human will come to know about his real ability. Now the person has four options.

i)If he realizes that he is well accustomed with the task, he starts practicing the task in a more promising way to attain the objective.

ii)If he realizes that he is not that much in line with the task but he is not in a forcing situation, he might leave the task not obtaining the aim.

iii)On the other hand if he is in a forcing situation and is not capable , he might try to make himself capable or

iv)he might find some shortcuts or crooked way to meet the objective.

If the person takes the first choice, he is correct and is in a correct path. This turns out to be a good one. Now consider the second option. It is when he gave a try, found out he is not he man for the job and give-up, go search for his correct path. This choice will surely help the person to find the right path some way or the other. He will surely be doing great in HIS task later. The third choice is volatile one. If the person is in a forcing situation then he tries hard to develop the skills needed to obtain the objective. During this process he might eventually end up developing real skills, so that he might take the first choice. Or knowing he will not be able to master the skill, he devises some shortcuts to obtain the objective. This last decision of making shortcuts is as stupendous as a suicide. He can surely attain the objective. What he doesn’t know is that in the future he will surely face a situation for which he is trained for and will not be successful. This choice can be illustrated by the decision made by a frustrated student. Knowing that he have taken the wrong turn in his career path, many students struggle hard and finally end up with no knowledge about the career and have knowledge only about some so-called “Techniques” with which they can do nothing.

The greatest of all the tragedies is, the truly deserved ones end with no opportunity. This leads to a chain of unfavorable actions. The wrong ones are chosen for a task where he might apply his crookedness to achieve his objective, which leads to degradation of the final output. This is not only a suicide but also a murder. The person is not only cheating himself but also the truly deserved ones. The person who has the true eligibility might sometimes miss his opportunity to succeed.

As quoted in a film, even the smallest decision might change your life. It not only changes yours. So be wise in following the correct path and lead a happy life.

Back to blog after a long time

2010-09-26T09:13:00.000+05:30

Hello Friends,

It's been a long time since I've posted something interesting on this blog. As a matter of fact, I owe it to my laziness to post something in a blog since I found posting links on facebook or twitter easier. But then, I found that sharing ideas in this manner doesn't work the way I want it to. Hence, I'm back to blogging. Now, I promise that, periodically, I would post amusing articles that would kindle your passion for learning things that span a wider range.

To start proceedings, I would like you to know something about impossible structures. The Wikipedia says

An impossible object (also known as an impossible figure or an undecidable figure) is a type of optical illusion consisting of a two-dimensional figure which is instantly and subconsciously interpreted by the visual system as representing a projection of a three-dimensional object although it is not actually possible for such an object to exist (at least not in the form interpreted by the visual system).
In most cases the impossibility becomes apparent after viewing the figure for a few seconds. However, the initial impression of a 3D object remains even after it has been contradicted. There are also more subtle examples of impossible objects where the impossibility does not become apparent spontaneously and it is necessary to consciously examine the geometry of the implied object to determine that it is impossible.
Impossible objects are of interest to psychologists, mathematicians and artists without falling entirely into any one discipline.

Here are some impossible objects:

Penrose Stairs

The Penrose Staircase which was also shown in the movie 'Inception', is a classical example of how the mind can be deceived into believing that the structure can actually be constructed, although an in-depth observation would reveal discrepancies in the physics of the staircase.

Another example is the Penrose triangle, as depicted in the picture below

Penrose Triangle

As per the Wikipedia definition,

The Penrose triangle, also known as the Penrose tribar, is an impossible object. It was first created by the Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd in 1934. The mathematician Roger Penrose independently devised and popularised it in the 1950s, describing it as "impossibility in its purest form". It is featured prominently in the works of artist M. C. Escher, whose earlier depictions of impossible objects partly inspired it.

The tribar appears to be a solid object, made of three straight beams of square cross-section which meet pairwise at right angles at the vertices of the triangle they form.

There are various other structures that are impossible to construct. Some of these are given below. Feel free to Google search for impossible images/structures.


Impossible Crate


Impossible Seating


Impossible Knots


Impossible Circle

What is dark energy?

2010-06-14T21:35:00.000+05:30

Taken from http://science.howstuffworks.com/dark-matter-dark-energy.htm

NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) provided a true watershed moment in humanity’s quest to understand the cosmos. Its findings calculated the age of the universe and plotted the curvature of space. It mapped the cosmic microwave background radiation and, in a shocking turn of events, revealed that atoms make up only 4.6 percent of the universe.

The rest of the universe is far from empty, however. Dark matter accounts for 23.3 percent of the cosmos, and dark energy fills in 72.1 percent. Together, these materials make up a whopping 95.4 percent of the universe, so no wonder we’re still trying to figure out exactly what dark matter and dark energy actually are.

WMAP launched in 2001, but the dark energy problem presented itself before — back in 1998 when the Hubble Space Telescope observed three very curious supernovae. The most distant of these cosmic blasts occurred 7.7 billion years ago, more than halfway back to the big bang itself. This insight into the ancient cosmos revealed that the expansion of the universe hasn’t been slowing, but rather accelerating. That threw astronomers for a loop, most of whom had assumed before this revelation that the expansion had slowed over time due to gravity.

Scientists attribute this accelerating expansion to dark energy, so called because its exact nature remains a mystery, but something must fill the vast reaches of space to account for the accelerating expansion.

We might not know what dark energy is just yet, but scientists have a few leading theories. Some experts believe it to be a property of space itself, which agrees with one of Einstein’s earlier gravity theories. In this, dark energy would be a cosmological constant and therefore wouldn’t dilute as space expands. Another partially disproven theory defines dark energy as a new type of matter. Dubbed “quintessence,” this substance would fill the universe like a fluid and exhibit negative gravitational mass. Other theories involve the possibilities that dark energy doesn’t occur uniformly, or that our current theory of gravity is incorrect.

Dark matter, by comparison, is far better understood. It doesn’t emit or reflect light, but scientists can estimate where it is based on its gravitational effects on surrounding matter. Scientists use a technique called gravitational lensing to accomplish this, observing the way dark matter’s gravitational pull bends and distorts light from distant galaxies.

These observations rule out stars, antimatter, dark clouds or any form of normal matter. Some scientists consider supermassive black holes a potential candidate for dark matter, while others favor either MACHOs (massive compact halo objects) and WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). MACHOs include brown dwarfs, weak stars that exert a gravitational pull but emit no light. WIMPs, on the other hand, would constitute a radically different form of matter left over from the big bang.

Research into the exact nature of dark matter and dark energy continue. In due course, scientists hope to discern a clearer understanding of these two glaring (or dark), cosmic unknowns.

Song of the month – Nila Kaigirathu

2010-06-04T21:20:00.001+05:30

Song : Nila Kaigirathu
Movie: Indira (1996)
Music: A. R. Rahman
Direction: Suhasini Manirathnam

Lyrics:

aaa...aa.a.a
nilla kaigirathu naeram thegiradhu
yaarum rasikavillaiyae
indha kangal mattum unnai kaanum
thendral poagindrathu sollai sirikindrathu
yaarum sugikkavillaiyae
chinna kaigal mattum unnai theendum
kaatru veesum veyil kaayum kaayum adhil
maatram aedhum illaiyae
aaa... vaanum mannum nammai vaazha chollum
andha vaazhthu ooyavillai
endrendrum vaanil
nilla kaigirathu naeram thegiradhu
yaarum rasikavillaiyae
indha kangal mattum unnai kaanum
--MUSIC--
[ sa ma ga paa, pa ma pa maa, ga ri saa ri ga ri
sa ma ga paa, pa ma pa maa,]
[sa ma ga paa, pa ma pa maa, ga ri saa ri ga ri
sa ma ga paa. saa ga maa]
aaaaa.....
[ga ma da da ma nee nee da sa nee saa nee da pa
ga ma da da ma nee nee da ga ri saa nee da pa ma ga]
adhoa poagindrathu aasai megham
mazhaiyaik kaettuk kolungal [ sa ri ga ri ga, ga ma ga paa ma ga]
idhoa ketkindrathu kuyil paadal
isaiyai keaettuk kolungal [ sa ri ga ri ga, ga ma ga daa ma ga]
indha bhoomiyae poovanum ungal pookalai thaedungal
indha vaazhkaiyae seedhanum ungal thaevaiyai thedungal
nilla kaigirathu naeram thegiradhu
yaarum rasikavillaiyae
indha kangal mattum unnai kaanum
thendral poagindrathu sollai sirikindrathu
yaarum sugikkavillaiyae
chinna kaigal mattum unnai theendum

P.S : This magical song should have won the Oscars.

Global Warming Fast Facts

2010-06-03T08:21:00.000+05:30

Taken from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html

Is It Happening?
Yes. Earth is already showing many signs of worldwide climate change.

• Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
• The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.
• The Arctic is feeling the effects the most. Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004.
• Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.
• Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana's Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, thaws also come a week earlier in spring and freezes begin a week later.
• Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the worst bleaching—or die-off in response to stress—ever recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70 percent. Experts expect these sorts of events to increase in frequency and intensity in the next 50 years as sea temperatures rise.
• An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heat waves, and strong tropical storms, is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.

Are humans causing it?

Very likely," the IPCC said in a February 2007 report. The report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, concluded that humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. Human-caused global warming is often called anthropogenic climate change.

• Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth's surface. (See an interactive feature on how global warming works.)
• Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it.
• These gases persist in the atmosphere for years, meaning that even if such emissions were eliminated today, it would not immediately stop global warming.
• Some experts point out that natural cycles in Earth's orbit can alter the planet's exposure to sunlight, which may explain the current trend. Earth has indeed experienced warming and cooling cycles roughly every hundred thousand years due to these orbital shifts, but such changes have occurred over the span of several centuries. Today's changes have taken place over the past hundred years or less.
• Other recent research has suggested that the effects of variations in the sun's output are "negligible" as a factor in warming, but other, more complicated solar mechanisms could possibly play a role.

What's Going to Happen?

A follow-up report by the IPCC released in April 2007 warned that global warming could lead to large-scale food and water shortages and have catastrophic effects on wildlife.
• Sea level could rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 to 59 centimeters) by century's end, the IPCC's February 2007 report projects. Rises of just 4 inches (10 centimeters) could flood many South Seas islands and swamp large parts of Southeast Asia.
• Some hundred million people live within 3 feet (1 meter) of mean sea level, and much of the world's population is concentrated in vulnerable coastal cities. In the U.S., Louisiana and Florida are especially at risk.
• Glaciers around the world could melt, causing sea levels to rise while creating water shortages in regions dependent on runoff for fresh water.
• Strong hurricanes, droughts, heat waves, wildfires, and other natural disasters may become commonplace in many parts of the world. The growth of deserts may also cause food shortages in many places.
• More than a million species face extinction from disappearing habitat, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans.
• The ocean's circulation system, known as the ocean conveyor belt, could be permanently altered, causing a mini-ice age in Western Europe and other rapid changes.
• At some point in the future, warming could become uncontrollable by creating a so-called positive feedback effect. Rising temperatures could release additional greenhouse gases by unlocking methane in permafrost and undersea deposits, freeing carbon trapped in sea ice, and causing increased evaporation of water.

What is Climategate?

In late November 2009, hackers unearthed hundreds of emails at the U.K.'s University of East Anglia that exposed private conversations among top-level British and U.S. climate scientists discussing whether certain data should be released to the public. [Do we know who the hackers were? Were they skeptics? Might be worth noting]
The email exchanges also refer to statistical tricks used to illustrate climate change? trends, and call climate skeptics idiots, according to the New York Times.
One such trick was used to create the well-known hockey-stick graph, which shows a sharp uptick in temperature increases during the 20th century. Former U.S vice president Al Gore relied heavily on the graph as evidence of human-caused climate change in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
The data used for this graph come from two sources: thermostat readings and tree-ring samples.
While thermostat readings have consistently shown a temperature rise over the past hundred years, tree-ring samples show temperature increases stalling around 1960.
On the hockey-stick graph, thermostat-only data is grafted onto data that incorporates both thermostat and tree-ring readings, essentially presenting a seamless picture of two different data sets, the hacked emails revealed.
But scientists argue that dropping the tree-ring data was no secret and has been written about in the scientific literature for years.
Climate change skeptics have heralded the emails as an attempt to fool the public, according to the Times.
Yet climate scientists maintain that these controversial points are small blips that are inevitable in scientific research, and that the evidence for human-induced climate change is much broader and still widely accepted.

Prince of Persia – Movie Review

2010-05-29T21:47:00.001+05:30

Cast :

Jake Gyllenhaal
Ben Kingsley
Gemma Arterton
Alfred Molina

Director:

Mike Newell

Genre:

Action, adventure, fantasy

Synopsis:

You’d probably know the story of POP if you had played the game, so there’s actually no need of a synopsis here. However, here’s a short version of what Wikipedia had to say, of the synopsis of POP: The Sands of Time.

Adopted from the streets of Nasaf by King Sharaman of Persia, young Dastan grows up amongst royalty and quickly earns his place as a mighty warrior and prince. As his brothers Garsiv and Tus plan battle strategies, a spy sends word that the Holy City of Alamut has been supplying weapons to enemies of Persia. Taking matters into his own hands, Tus orders an attack on the sacred city and upon its fall Dastan encounters the beautiful Princess Tamina. When King Sharaman dies under mysterious circumstances shortly after, and Dastan is accused of his murder, he flees with the princess on a harrowing mission to clear his name. Learning from Tamina the true motives behind Alamut's invasion, Dastan must embark on a perilous quest to stop an evil mastermind's plot for ultimate power with a mystical weapon that can control the very fabric of time.

Review: (Taken from http://fwd4.me/Qp8)

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of movies based on video games. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," which is moderately entertaining chaos, dates to the Reagan administration (game creator Jordan Mechner gets executive-producer and story credit). What little story there is, however, goes out of its way to reference more recent political events. In the opening, the Persians invade a holy city to seize weapons of mass destruction (fancy swords, mostly) on false pretenses and bad intel. And the movie's most engaging character, played by a blessedly exuberant Alfred Molina, is an ostrich race promoter (!) who spews anti-government and tax rhetoric straight out of a tea party rally.

Molina saves the film from itself. A Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer co-production, "Prince of Persia" combines the mythic bombast of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" outings with the peppy brainlessness of the "National Treasure" films. Working with a credible lower-class-British dialect, that great Persian actor Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the grown-up street urchin adopted by the king. Ben Kingsley is his uncle figure and protector (or is he?). Gemma Arterton, straight from a barrage of second-rate computer-generated visual effects in "Clash of the Titans," plays a young royal trying to keep a magical dagger out of enemy hands.

What can the dagger do? It can turn back time and, in the wrong hands, unleash Armageddon. This is what you, the video gamer, are trying to prevent from happening. Oh, wait. This is the movie version. The viewer has no control over events.

The script races from set piece to set piece, in the gaming spirit, with dialogue on the order of: "OK, there are two gates." Or: "They've broken through to the first level of the tunnels!" Director Mike Newell, who fared well with the fourth " Harry Potter" film, is working a little lower down the fantasy chain here, and it'd be wrong to suggest that "Prince of Persia" offers anything like true magic. He keeps the camera rammed close to the action and to the actors' faces, and the battles have been diced into bits by no fewer than three editors. Plus, this may be the most orange movie ever made: Working in Morocco and on London soundstages, cinematographer John Seale's chief inspiration appears to be the heat lamps at Arby's.

And yet … it's sort of fun, certainly more so than the "National Treasure" pictures, as well as less manic (a little less) than the recent "Mummy" films. Mainly, for folks like me, it has Molina. His character's zest may be in a broader vein than Peter Ustinov's peerless turn in "Spartacus." But Molina's wit enlivens a product you might otherwise forget as it slips in one eye and out the other.

Those final moments..

2010-05-23T21:08:00.001+05:30

It’s ironic that the worst accident of the decade happened while the plane was just about to land on the runway. A misjudgment in the distance to land proved fatal as the plane from Dubai to Mangalore snapped and went down the cliff. Our hearts go out for the deceased as we see the news of death and fire all over. Bodies charred beyond recognition, the various theories of what might have happened, and the tales of the survivors are depressing to see.

It is, without doubt, one of the worst accidents ever to have happened in the history of Air India. Though the pilot and the co-pilot were experienced, the accident happened. Reasons? The terrain of Mangalore’s runway is such that it doesn’t permit the slightest of error in judging the place of landing. There are other places like Srinagar as well, where the runway is unidirectional – wind flows in only one direction, where the risk of landing is high. Some other theories like the pilots attempting a take-off after misjudging the landing still doesn’t prove the case. Nor does it bring back the dead.

There is something curious about this incident. The pilots, reportedly, didn’t call distress any time during the journey, which further complicates the case. The black box, found some time later, is believed to deliver the exact details and the conversations between the plane and the ground officials.

Some say that a hard-landing would have saved the plane, but the rules of DGCA declare the only a smooth-transition in landing take place. When a pilot records two cases of hard-landing, he is sent for training. In the case of “special” airports like Mangalore, only the most experienced pilots are allowed to operate the plane. Whatever happened as a cause of the accident still remains hazy.

Here is the tale of one survivor of the accident. http://sify.com/news/the-plane-broke-into-two-pieces-news-exclusives-kfwom4bcghf.html

On behalf of friends and family, I express sorrow for the deceased and their families.

Serenity by James Allen – Inspiring Story

2010-05-17T14:40:00.002+05:30

I found this article in http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/ which is a repository of inspiring stories.

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.

A person becomes calm in the measure that one understands themselves as a thought evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as one develops a right understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, one ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

The calm person, having learned how to govern themselves, knows how to adapt themselves to others; and they, in turn, reverence their spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of them and rely upon them. The more tranquil a person becomes, the greater is their success, their influence, their power for good. Even the ordinary trader will find their business prosperity increase as one develops a greater self control and equanimity, for people will always prefer to deal with a person whose demeanor is strongly equable.

The strong, calm person is always loved and revered. They are like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm. Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life? It does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise of character which we call serenity is the last lesson of culture; it is the flowering of life, the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, more to be desired than gold, than even fine gold. How insignificant mere money seeking looks in comparison with a serene life – a life that dwells in the ocean of truth, beneath the waves, beyond the reach of tempests, in the eternal calm!

How many people we know who sour their lives, who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful by explosive tempers, who destroy their poise of character, and make bad blood! It is a question whether the great majority of people do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack of self-control flow few people we meet in life who are well-balanced, who have that exquisite poise which is characteristic of the finished character!

Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt. Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

Tempest-tossed souls, wherever you may be, under whatever conditions you may live, know this: In the ocean of life the isles of blessedness are smiling and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming. Keep your hands firmly upon the helm of thought. In the core of your soul reclines the commanding Master; He does but sleep; wake Him. Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, “Peace. Be still.”

James Allen
1864-1912, Author

Song of the month - Behene De (Raavan)

2010-05-16T16:48:00.004+05:30

Singer(S): Karthik, Mohamed Irfan
Music Director: A R Rahman
Lyricist: Gulzar

Arrey Aankh Se Boondh Gira Koi, Chingari Ka Tukda Jala Koi
Umeed Ko Aag Laga Zara, Sehra Ki Pyaas Buja Zara
Umeed Ko Aag Laga Zara, Sehra Ki Pyaas Buja Zara
Gan Itna Baras Ke Galne Lagun Main Paani Ke Upar Tarne Lagun
Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Oo Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Behene De Ghangor Ghata, Behene De Paani Ki Tara
Sagar Mein Ja Girna Hai, Behene De Nadiyan Ki Tara

Shart Lagi Hai Mar Jaane Ki, Jeena Hai To Pyaar Mein
Deha Kahin Bhi Ho Mera, Jaan Rakhi Hai Yaar Mein
Beh Ja, Beh Ja, Hai Sagar Ka Kehna
Beh Ja, Beh Ja, Hai Nadiya Ko Behena
Patte Se Tapakti Boondh Ki Awaaz Sunayi Di Thi
Nadiya Mein Tapak Kar Gum Ho Jayo
Beh Gayo Beh Gayo, Jo Reh Gayo Reh Gayo
Beh Gayo Beh Gayo, Jo Reh Gayo Reh Gayo
Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Oo Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Behene De Ghangor Ghata, Behene De Paani Ki Tara
Sagar Mein Ja Girna Hai, Behene De Nadiyan Ki Tara

Mera Pal Pal Ang Ang Bar Diya, Tune Jaan Pe Junoon Sa Kar Diya
Mera Hai Kya Jo Main Haar Doon, Jaan Teri Hai Tujhpe Vaar Doon
Doob Gaye Jo Suna Hai Saare Tere Dere Aate Hain
Dil Ke Chulu Mein Bechaare Dubkiyan Ghote Khaate Hain
Beh Ja, Beh Ja, Chal Tod Kinare Ko
Beh Ja, Beh Ja, Dhar Le Majdhare Ko
Chingari Udha Ke Raakh Se Ik Boondh Gira Ke Aankh Se
Chalne Ke Ishaara Kar Gaya, Kar Gaya, Kar Gaya
Sab Bhar Gaya, Bhar Gaya

Kar Gaya Kar Gaya, Sab Bhar Gaya Bhar Gaya
Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Oo Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Behene De Ghangor Ghata, Behene De Paani Ki Tara
Sagar Mein Ja Girna Hai, Behene De Nadiyan Ki Tara

Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Oo Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De Mujhe Behene De
Behene De Ghangor Ghata, Behene De Paani Ki Tara
Sagar Mein Ja Girna Hai, Behene De Nadiyan Ki Tara

Team India’s World T20 Horrors Continue

2010-05-12T08:24:00.001+05:30

For the second year in succession, Team India have been “bounced” out of the World Cup T20. Despite clearly knowing their weaknesses, the team was unable to cope up with it. And for the first time, I feel sorry for MSD. Though T20 is not a real test of cricket, BCCI will watching MSD closely now. I wouldn’t really blame MSD this time, because of the fact that even the best of captains fail when the team fails to deliver.

There’s also a question of whether the selection was right in including some of the players like M. Vijay who prospered in the IPL but succumbed at the international level. Players must be groomed for International Cricket at the National Level before sending them for really big tournaments. This is the best that you can get out of a team that is considerably unprepared for World Cups. It’s fairly good that India didn’t proceed any further in the tournament.

The likes of Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan, who have had at least some experience, were left out, which further ditched down India. And Gambhir was not able to perform well in the T20s, despite the fact that he is a good Test Match player and had revived India from deep trenches (against New Zealand, for instance). Every team practically bounced him out, as the replays show.

Finally, MSD, an in-form captain, wasn’t able to do much, owing to his team’s inexperience and incapability in coping with situations. There’s nothing more you can do, as a captain, when you have a team like this. You can’t rely on Raina alone for India’s victory.

The situation is bound to improve when the most destructive Virender Sehwag joins the team, along with some experienced players. The selectors have experimented far too much which has ultimately led to India’s downfall in two successive tournaments. Experimenting with young players is enough. Try to win tournaments or at the very least, fight back even when the whole world is against you. Never give up easily.

Sura Review - Sorry Guys!!

2010-05-02T07:41:00.001+05:30

Usually, the reviews I find are long and detailed. However, sparing a thought for my friends suggested that I keep the review of "Dr." Vijay's latest movie, Sura, as short as possible, owing to the ferocity of the movie which threatens people of nausea, headache and even strokes, when they mistakenly buy tickets. Hence, I'd like to give only the bottom-line and the verdict of Sura.

Bottom Line -> Vijay has unleashed a deadly plague. Avoid it.
Verdict -> Nonsense.

The Start of the Exam season

2010-04-27T16:55:00.001+05:30

Finally, the nightmares of having to spend three crucial hours in a classroom have started. The mere thought of battling a tough question paper is unnerving. It’s amazing to realize that despite going to college for three years, we feel the creeps of writing a University exam. It’s not that we don’t study or while away our free time in staring at beautiful locations in the city – it’s just that the University sets a ridiculous question paper which is so unpredictable at circumstances. For instance, the last semester exams, as I felt, was one of the most maddening of all the exams, particularly, the “Theory of Computation”. It’s no surprise that Anna University is ranked No.2 among the Universities in India. Preparing for examinations is an important aspect for any student, considering a vast and a vague syllabus of vacant subjects.

As the preparation starts a day or two before the exams, we wonder how difficult the question paper would be, considering the status of the University and the difficulties endorsed on us during the last semester. We curse our teachers for being irresponsible during the daily classes, for it was them, who made us sleep during their sessions. (Sorry Sir/Madam/Professor(s), if any of you is reading this post, and I mean absolutely no offense). Of course, they are not the only source of our hues and cries – there are so many reasons which can be enlisted infinitely, some of which are the IPL, and the forthcoming World Cup T20.

The IPL T20 was another major source of distraction for us, students, in that the Chennai Super Kings went on to win the finals. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have even watched the IPL. And the chatterbox would have shut it’s big mouth. To hell with it. Now, the World Cup T20 would start and the Indian team has already started for the Caribbean. Oh Man! They wouldn’t let us sleep a wink! What a pathetic situation for us, students. At this young age, with a mind of determination, we need to conquer this.

Finally, whatever the distractions are, whatever exam it is, we’ll fight back and conquer the University exams; after all, we didn’t choose the course for nothing. We’d give it everything we got and we’ll win!

All the best Friends. I pray the Almighty that everyone do well and get high marks! God is with us!

Captain’s cool made the difference

2010-04-27T16:52:00.001+05:30

A genius finds his inspiration in adversity that usually fells lesser mortals. At the DY Patil Stadium, Chennai Super Kings’ iconic captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni demonstrated this special ability that defined the final and turned it irrevocably in his team’s favour.

The move to shift Matthew Hayden from a wider position to a virtually “straight mid-off” almost behind the bowler in the 19th over when Kieron Pollard was at full throttle, was at once daring yet subtle.

In fact, not many noticed Hayden until he took a catch to dismiss Pollard two deliveries later as the batsman converted a yorker-length delivery into a full toss, smashing it straight at Hayden.

Never mind that Dhoni dismissed this (so typical of him to underplay his own role), by saying: “We had worked this field position with Hayden during a practice game and in fact, got Haydos out! I remembered this. The big-hitters kept going down the ground and so I thought why keep a fine-leg? I hoped that Albie (Morkel) would bowl a yorker and he (Pollard) would mishit. It was no rocket science.”

To the discerning, that was the big moment of the game that could have gone either way, but on the night, the Super Kings came together for one final time in a spectacular fusion that blew apart their opponents.

The other move was to toss the ball to Suresh Raina for the 12th over with Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar looking well set. The over resulted in two wickets with Nayar run out and next man, Harbhajan Singh trapped leg-before.

“I give full credit to the team and the support staff. We were under pressure in mid-tournament when we lost a few matches. Our franchise owner Mr N Srinivasan kept telling us that we will make it to the semifinals. That gave us the confidence,” said Dhoni.

Looking back at the final, he pointed out that the excellent start off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and fast bowler Doug Bollinger was critical to the team’s success.

“We were expecting Ashwin and Bollinger to give us a good start. Both bowled well and the pressure kept mounting on Mumbai Indians. Not many, except Sachin Tendulkar, can deal with such pressure,” said the skipper.

There was just a touch of sentiment when Dhoni recalled the six weeks on the road with the Super Kings bunch and living together for such a long period helped the players to bond.

“We spent a lot of time together and had fun. It will be sad that some of the players might not be there with us after the next auction.

“The IPL gets bigger (with the addition of two more franchise teams) and better every year and the benchmarks keep going higher. Next year, we have more games and the players will have to sweat a bit more. The pressure also will be much more, but it will be exciting,” he said.

On his part, Morkel, the South African all-rounder who has been an integral part of the team over three seasons, admitted that there was pressure on him bowling the 19th over with Pollard going hammer and tongs with big hits.

“To be on the winning side is amazing and we won when it mattered most,” he summed up and recalling his bowling at the death, added: “When Dougie went (for 22 runs in the previous over), my heart skipped a few beats. Pollard is a serious talent.”

In fact, it was a particularly brilliant over from Morkel as he ran out Ambatti Rayudu and then got rid of Pollard the next delivery, conceding just five runs in the process.

Bollinger shrugged off the punishment that Pollard handed out to him by saying it was part of T20 cricket. “We thought 140 was a par score. We started slowly, but MS and Raina were awesome. And Pollard, well, that’s T20!” he summed up.

For Mumbai Indians, as skipper Sachin Tendulkar said, it was a case of dropped catches costing them matches. “Catches win matches,” said Tendulkar, repeating a cliche that put the game into perspective.

Raina was dropped on 13 and 28, both relatively sitter catches. The southpaw rode his luck to make an unbeaten 57 that helped Super Kings post a total that proved beyond the reach of the Mumbai Indians.

It is debatable as to how much more pressure can Dhoni handle with his customary calm composure. Even when Hayden dropped a sitter in the slips off Abhishek Nayar (on eight, score 38 for one) in the seventh over bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan, Dhoni did not react, but gestured to Hayden to get a move on.

While batting, he walked into a crisis situation, but along with Raina added 72 runs for the fourth wicket and more importantly, gave the much needed momentum to the innings with a 15-ball 22.

For sure, “Captain Cool” and “3-in-one champion” has been the cornerstone of Super Kings success.

Raavan – Music Review

2010-04-25T08:05:00.001+05:30

It's a folksy-tribal beginning to 'Beera Beera' which appears to be the introduction song of the character played by Abhishek Bachchan Raavan. In a routine scenario a song belonging to this genre would have immediately fallen into Sukhwinder Singh's lap. However, expect Rahman to do something different in each of his outings as he instead ropes in Kirti Sagathia and Vijay Prakash to come up with a cracker of a song which is a chartbuster in the first 60 seconds itself. Whether it's the lyrics, a massive orchestra, vociferous rendition by both the singers, or the overall spirit that 'Beera' carries, there is no looking back once one moves ahead in the album after this quick 3 minutes outing.

What follows next is relatively subtle, in fact almost oriental in appeal, as a beautiful amalgamation of different sounds come together to make 'Behene De'. Once Karthik comes on scene behind the mike, it is crystal clear that 'Behene De' has a trademark A.R. Rahman stamp all over it. The song sees many variations when it comes to its flow right through its six minutes duration as Karthik sings for a character which has a desire to break free and live life on its own terms. Situational, yet the kind of song which should make a very good impression on screen.

However, for those who were looking at yet another catchy number, there is 'Thok De Killi' which instantly reminds one of the spirited encounter that listeners had in Yuva. Sukhwinder Singh puts all stops as he brings in his characteristic singing style that differentiates him from the rest. Watch out for Gulzar's lyrics here, they are truly different and something that one has never heard before in a Hindi film parlance. Rahman too just lets himself loose in making this number orchestra heavy and ensures that audience would be glued to screen once this fast paced song plays in all its fervour.

Just when one had thought that this team had reached its peak with 'Thok De Killi' comes 'Ranjha Ranjha'. A number which is not just the best in the album (or even the best of the month), 'Ranjha Ranjha' will clearly stand out as one of the best that 2010 had to offer this year. Clearly, even Subhash Ghai would be proud of this song which reminds one of many a terrific song that his Taal has boasted of years back. This song by the trio of Rekha Bhardwaj, Javed Ali and Anuradha Sriram is a killer to say the least and has all in it to reach the top of the charts within a fortnight of the release. With a folksy base to it, 'Ranjha Ranjha' is energetic, sensual and exciting.

Reena Bhardwaj, who has sung primarily with Rahman during her limited singing career so far, is sweetness personified in 'Khilli Re' where she gets an opportunity to go solo. Presumably picturised on Aishwarya Rai, the genre of the song may limit its popularity due to its situational appeal but isn't a bad fit at all in the album. A poetic track which yet again clearly belongs to Rahman's background, 'Khilli Re' is almost devotional in appeal and is extremely soothing in appeal, hence creating a good balance in the album.

The ending of the album is vociferous though with a grand chorus coming together to sing 'Kata Kata'. A song which is about a man getting married and a bunch of friends teasing him on his last night of bachelorhood, 'Kata Kata' sees Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi and Kunal Ganjawala coming together. In a way, the song is an antithesis of Rahman's first big hit, 'Rukmani Rukmani' [Roja] which was about an interaction amongst friends post the first night. A good situational track which should find good prominence coming its way if the film succeeds at the box office.

Overall

Raavan delivers as expected. Now that's a good sign in itself since to begin with, the expectations were huge in any case. There are number of gems in the album, most notably being 'Ranjha Ranjha', 'Beera Beera' and 'Thok De Killi'. Go for it, this one is not to be missed as it has Rahman coming up with one of his best soundtracks in recent times.

Taken from http://hindi.galatta.com/entertainment/hindi/livewire/id/Raavan_Music_Review_37935.html

Top Ten Must-Have features in Today’s Homes

2010-04-23T08:40:00.001+05:30

Taken from ezinearticles.com

1. Large Kitchens, With an Island.

The kitchen is the heart of the home and takes on several roles throughout the course of the day. People love islands - it's where we prepare meals, our families gather, homework is shared, emails are answered and our work is done.

Kitchen islands provide the perfect surface for all these tasks and more. If you have the space, include an island in your kitchen plans. A great kitchen should yield a return on investment between 75 - 100%.

2. Energy Efficient Appliances, Insulation and Windows.

People want greener homes and product manufacturers are making it easier than ever for us to incorporate eco-friendly materials appliances and windows into our lives.

Whether your appliances need to be replaced or you're purchasing for your new and improved home, Energy Star appliances lead the way. Double and triple pane windows in all shapes and sizes immediately save you money on heating and cooling costs throughout the year.

3. Home Office/Studies.

Homeowners are spending more time working from home, and with the homepreneur trend growing people are opting for an extra space dedicated solely to operating their home-based business.

It seems that many folks would rather have a home office allocated and are willing to sacrifice a formal dining room if need be.

4. Main Floor Master Suite.

Access to the main floor is gaining in popularity.

Empty nesters and others, who no longer want to tackle stairs, prefer to have the master bedroom and bath retreat on the main floor level of the home. Immediate access to a gorgeous deck or patio outdoors also creates added living space and provides a quaint corner for morning coffee.

5. Outdoor Living Space.

People want to spend more time outside and need a peaceful oasis to unwind. Outdoor living spaces naturally transition the interior to the exterior - instantly expanding your living space.

Growing in popularity are wood-burning fireplaces, casual seating areas, hot tubs and outdoor kitchens - all of which add to the "vacation home" atmosphere - and it's all in your back yard.

The remaining 5 "Must Haves" to incorporate into your home are:

6. Ceiling fans
7. Master suite soaker tubs
8. Stone/brick exteriors
9. Community landscaping
10. Two car garages

The Longest Palindrome Ever

2010-04-14T21:56:00.001+05:30

Star? Not I! Movie – it too has a star in or a cameo who wore mask – cast are livewires. Soda-pop straws are sold, as part-encased a hot tin, I saw it in mad dog I met. Is dog rosy? Tie-dye booths in rocks. All ewes lessen ill. I see sheep in Syria? He, not I, deep in Syria, has done. No one radio drew old one. Many moths – I fondle his; no lemons are sold. Loot delis, yob, moths in a deli bundle his tin. Pins to net a ball I won – pins burst input. I loot to get a looter a spot paler. Arm a damsel – doom a dam. Not a base camera was in a frost, first on knees on top spot. Now a camera was a widened dam. Ask: Cold, do we dye? No, hot – push tap, set on to hosepipe. Nuts in a pod liven. A chasm regrets a motto of a fine veto of wars. Too bad – I all won. A sadist sent cadets – a war reign a hero derides. A bad loser, a seer, tossed a cradle – he begat to cosset – a minaret for Carole, Beryl, Nora. We’re not as poor to self. I risk cold as main is tidal. As not one to delay burden, I don’t set it on “hot”. A foot made free pie race losses runnier. As draw won pull, eye won nose. Vile hero saw order it was in – even a moron saw it – no, witnessed it: Llama drops – ark riots. Evil P.M. in a sorer opus enacts all laws but worst arose. Grab a nosey llama – nil lesser good, same nicer omen. In pins? No, it is open. If a top spins, dip in soot. Madam, as I desire, dictates: Pull aside, damsels, I set a rag not for a state bastion. A test I won e.g. a contest I won. Kidnap, in part, an idle hero. Megastars, red, rosy, tied no tie. Blast! A hero! We do risk a yeti’s opposition! He too has a wee bagel still up to here held. Demigods pack no mask, cap nor a bonnet, for at last a case is open – I left a tip – it wets. A dog wets too. Radios to help pay my tip, pull a tip. Ale, zoo beer, frets yon animal. Can it? New sex arose but, we sots, not to panic – it’s ale – did I barrel? Did I lose diadem, rare carrot in a jar of mine? Droop as tops sag – unseen knots. A cat ate straw as buck risk cud; evil foe, nil a red nag ate? Bah! Plan it – silage. Model foot in arboreta. I, dark Satanist, set fire – voodoo – to slat. I design a metal as parrot, I deem it now. One vast sum is no ten in set – amen! Indeed, nine drag a yam, nine drag a tie. Dame nabs flower; can we help man? Woman is worse nob. Mud level rose, so refill a rut. A nag of iron I made to trot I defied – I risk leg and its ulnae. Can a pen I felt to bid dollar or recite open a crate, open a cradle, his garret? Sample hot Edam in a pan. I’m a rotten digger – often garden I plan, I agreed; All agreed? Aye, bore ensign; I’d a veto – I did lose us site. Wool to hem us? No, cotton. Site pen in acacias or petals a last angel bee frets in. I met a gorilla (simian); a mate got top snug Noel fire-lit role. Manet, Pagnol, both girdle his reed bogs. Flan I reviled, a vet nods to order it, Bob, and assign it. Totem users go help mates pull as eye meets eye. Son – mine – pots a free pie, yes? No. Left a tip? Order a dish to get. A ring is worn – it is gold. Log no Latin in a monsignor, wet or wise. Many a menu to note carrot. Cat in a boot loots; As I live, do not tell! A bare pussy, as flat on fire, I know loots guns, fires a baton, nets a hero my ale drop made too lax. If it is to rain, a man is a sign; I wore macs, no melons rot. I use moths if rats relive, sir, or retire. Vendor pays: I admire vendee, his pots net roe. Nine dames order an opal fan; I’ll ask cold log fire vendor to log igloo frost. Under Flat Six exist no devils. Marxist nods to Lenin. To Lenin I say: “Mama is a deb, besides a bad dosser.” Gen it up to get “ova” for “egg”. I recall a tarot code: yell at a dessert side-dish sale. Yes/nos a task cartel put correlate: E.S.P. rocks a man. I am a man, am no cad, I’m aware where it’s at! Fire! Its an ogre-god to help, man, as I go. Do not swap; draw, pull a troll! It’s not a cat I milk – calf, for a fee, sews a button - knit or tie damsel over us. Mined gold lode I fill until red nudes I met in a moor-top bar can. I sit, I fill a diary – trap nine men in ten-part net – oh, sir, I ask, cod nose? No, damp eel. So, to get a name! I say, Al! I am Al! Last, I felt, to breed, deer begat. To can I tie tissue – damp – or deliver Omani artist – a man of Islam. In a den mad dogs lived on minis a signor who lived afore targets in at. As eremites pull, I, we, surf, fantasise, mend a bad eye. No hero met satyr; Tony, as I stressed, won’t, so cosset satyr. A vet on isles made us sign it, a name. Foe man one sub. Aside no dell I fret a wallaby; metal ferrets yodel, like so. On a wall I ate rye. Bored? No, was I rapt! One more calf? O.K., calf, one more, bossy! No! Lock cabin, rob yam, sip martini. Megastar was in a risk. Cat? No, I’m a dog; I’m a sad loyal pet. A design I wore – kilts (a clan); if net drawn, I put it up. Royal spots snag – royal prevents rift. Composer, good diet, are both super, God – label it a love of art, lustre. Video bored, no wise tale e.g. a mini tale – no sagas seen. Knack: cede no foes a canal. Pay – as I sign I lie; clear sin it is; e.g. “Amadeus” sign I – lira for ecu, decimal – sin as liar. Trad artistes pull a doom, a drawer won’t. Is it sold loot? No, I suffered loss. A man is god; Amen! I came nice Tahiti (sic). It’s ale for a ban if for a fast – is role to help mash turnip? Use zoo? No - grasp order – use no zoos. Warts on time did sag. No grade “X” “A” Level? Oh, “A”! I’d a “B” or a “C”. So – pot? No, we lop. Date? Take no date! Bah! Play L.P. Miss (a lass, all right?) flew to space in NASA era. Rose no (zero) cadets ate raw. As a wise tart I fined rags red Lenin, we help pay bet – a risk – cash to Brian. I put a clam in a pool – a pool wets. Mahdi puts a stop to harem – miss it in one vote, lost in one, veto of none. Post-op, no tonsil; I ate; no tastier, eh? We sleep at noon time so I dare not at one; no time stops as I time tides. A bed: under it, roll; in a mania, panic! In a pond I did as Eros as Lee felt tenrec. “Ink” – list it under “I”. Termites put pen in a way. Democrats wonder, I too. To slay moths a dog did. I saw elf; elf, far now, is a devilish taboo, rag-naked. I hid a bootleg disc. I, saboteur, toss it in. Oops! No legs! Laminated, a cask, conker in it, negates all if it is simple. Hot pages are in a mag, nor will I peer, familiar tat, so lewd, native rot. Toner, ewe wore no trace; vagabond ewes do. Oh, Ada! Have pity! A pitiable eel – “Oh wet am I!” - to save, note: bite gill as I do. Call a matador minor, eh? As I live, don’t! Is torero no rigid animal debaser if tipsy? Ale drew esteem in a matador. A bolero, monks I rate play or go dig rocks; a can I step on. Go! Gas – it evades a bedsit – set a roost on fire. Boss sent a faded eclair to green imp or dog, I’d don a belt to boot it; if Ada hid a boot, panic. I mock comic in a mask, comedian is a wit if for eventide. Vole no emu loved is not a ferret, so pet or witness a weasel if not. I hired less, am not so bossy, as yet amateur. To stir evil, Edna can impugn a hotel: bad loos, hot on Elba: I may melt. Tart solicits it rawer, gets it rare. Push crate open; I ram buses, use no trams. Did I say, not to idiot nor a bare ferret, to trap rat, strap loops rat? Stewpot was on. Hot? I was red! Lessen it! Fine man on pot? No, pen inside by a bad law. So I made rips – nine delays. Some Roman items in a.m. ordered “Is room for a ban?” “It is,” I voted: I sat pews in aisle. Beryl, no tiro to my burden, made off for a contest, I won kiss. I may raid fine dales. I raid lochs if I to help am. Forecast for Clare v. Essex: If no rain, a man is ref. Fusspots net foxes. Senor is a gnome, latinos’ bad eyesore. Help misses run to border, Casanova, now, or drab hotel. Ma has a heron; I sleep, pet’s on nose, sir! Rev. I rag loved art live – fine poser. Ultra-plan: I feign, I lie: cedar to disperse – last one? No, last six. Enamel bonnet for a dark car to toss a snail at. In it all, Eve lost; Seth’s a hero slain on a trap – Rise, Sir Ogre Tamer. Upon Siamese box I draw design. I, knight able to help, missed an alp seen in Tangier of fine metal pots. Tin I mined rages – order nine, melt ten. Tone radios; tones are not to concur. Ten-tone radar I bomb – best fire-lit so hostel side meets eerie mini red domicile. A gulf to get is not a rare tale; no time to nod. Row on, evil yobs, tug, pull. If dogs drowse, fill a rut. An era’s drawers draw. Put in mid-field in a band I dig a tub deep. Staff on a remit did refill a minaret. Sam’s a name held in a flat, or, sir, bedsit. I wonder, is it illicit ore? No ties? A bit under? Retarded? Is ‘owt amiss? I’m on pot; not so Cecil, a posh guy a hero met. A red date was not to last so Cecil sat. Tip? An iota to pay, a dot; sad, I drop item. I’d ask, call, Odin, a Norseman’s god: “Pay payee we owe radio dosh o.n.o.” I to me? No, I to media. Peril in golf – is ball a “fore”? K.O.! Vexed I am re my raw desires. Alto has eye on nose but tone-muser pianist is level-eyed. I lost a tie. Blast! In uni no grades are musts. Avast! Never port! Sea may be rut. Part on rose? - It’s a petal. Define metal: Tin is … (I gulp!) can! I am a fine posse man, I pull a ton. Ron, a man I put on, I made suffer of evil emu’s sadism. Leo’s never a baron - a bad loss but evil – topple him, Leo’s lad. Assign a pen, can I? A pal is note decoding. Is damp mule tail-less? No, ill; I breed for its tone. Radio speed, to grower, grew. Open a lot? No, stamp it; if for a free peso – not ecu -deign it. Times ago stone rates, e.g. at Scilly, display a wont. No wish to get a design I, Sir Des, I’ve let? No bus sees Xmas fir. O.K. – cab – tart it up; tie lots – diamond, log or tinsel; first end errata edit. So “le vin (A.C.)”, Martini, Pils lager, one tonic. I pegged a ball up to here when I got a top star role, Beryl. Gun is too big – won’t I menace? Yes? No? Ill? A cold? Abet icecap’s nip. U.S.A. meets E.E.C. inside tacit sale – see! Beg a cotton tie, ma! No trial, so dodo traps exist. Arabs under-admire card label good hood stole. In rage erupted Etna. Will a rotunda, bare villa, to tyro. Lack car? Non-U! Get a mini! My, my, Ella, more drums per gong; get a frog – nil less. Rod, never ever sneer. Got to? I disperse last pair of devils (ah!) here today or else order cash to breed emus. Said I: “Are both superlative?” C.I.D. assign it lemon peel still. I wore halo of one bottle from a ref (football) – a tip; so hit last ego slap a mate got. Late p.m. I saw gnu here (non-a.m.) or an idea got a dog to nod – I made felt to boot. Fill in a lad? Nay, not all, Edna – lash to buoy. Did you biff one Venus? Not I! “Broth, girl!” ladies ordered – “No, with gin!” – a fine plate, maybe suet; no carton I made rots in it. Med: a hill, Etna, clears in it. Ali, Emir, to slap in/slam in. All in all I made bad losers sign it – alibi. Set a lap for a level bat. A bed, sir, eh? To put cat now? Drat! Such an idyll of a dog’s lair! That`s it, open it – a cage! Big nit sent rat! Some day (A.D.) send ewe. No, draw a pot now, do! Of wary rat in a six ton tub. Edna, ask satyr: “Tel. a.m.?” No, tel. p.m.; Israeli tuner is damp. Use item: “Anna Regina”. No! Dye main room (“salle”) red! Nice caps for a sea cadet in U.S.A. – Now I, space cadet, am it, sea vessel rep. Pin it on Maria, help Maria fondle her fine hotpot. No! Meet; set up to net, avoid a lesion. Set acid arena: Bruno one, Reg nil. Like it to sign in? Even I am nine-toed! I vote votes. Oh, can a nose-rut annoy? No, best is Dorset. I know, as liar, to snoop, malign. “I’ll order it to get a bedroom door,” began a miser I fed. Am I to peer, fan? Is a door by metal? Ere sun-up, drowse, nod, lose magnet. Food? Buns? I’ll ask. Corn? I’ll ask. Corn – I snack. Cats snack (cold rat). Sum for a bag: nil. First, is remit “traps in net”? Yes, on a par. Coots yell over a dam I made. Bared nudist went a foot, I made roots. I tip a canon: “Row, sir, at same tide; man one: row tug.” Sewer of denim axes a wide tail – a terror recipe to hero made manic. I, to resign? I ? Never! “OFT I FELT ITS SENSUOUSNESS” – title fit for evening is erotic; I named a more hot epic – error retaliated – I was examined for ewe’s gut, wore no named item. A star is worn on a cap, it is too red. Am I too fat? Newts I’d under a bed. Am I mad? Are volleys too crap? A nosey tennis part-timer sits rifling a bar of mustard. Lock cans, stack cans in rocks, all in rocks, all I snub. Do often games, old ones, word-pun use; relate, my brood, as in a free pot I made fires, I manage brood. Moor debate got tired rolling, I lampoon, so trail saw on kites. Rod sits, ebony on nature, so Nana chose to veto video. Ten in main evening is O.T.T. i.e. killing; Ere noon, urban eradicates noise, lad, I ovate not. Put esteem on top (to hen, if reheld). No fair ample hair – am not I nipper-less? Eva estimated ace caps I won as united. A Caesar of space, Cinderella’s moor, Niamey Don (a Niger-an name), ties up mad sire, nut! I, Lear, simpleton male, try tasks “A” and “E” but not “XI”. Sanitary raw food won top award one Wednesday – a demo. Start nesting, I beg a cat. I? Nepotist? Ah, trials, God! A folly, Dinah, custard won’t act up; other is debatable. Velar: of palate; sibilating is “s”. Resold: a bed, a mill, an ill animal – snip, also trim. Eilat in Israel can tell I had ‘em. Tin I stored (am I not raconteuse?) by a metal pen. If a night, I wondered, rose, I’d all right orbit on sun, even off. I buoy, did you? Both Sal and Ella, Tony and Alan (“Ill if too bottle-fed, am I?”) do not. God! A toga! Ed in a Roman one, rehung! Was I, M.P. et al., to get a map? Also get salt? I, hospital lab to offer, am, or felt to be, no fool – a hero. Will it sleep? No, melting is sad ice. Vital re-push to be raid, I assume. Deer, both sacred roes, Leroy (a doter, eh?) has lived for. I, apt sales rep’s idiot to greens, revere vendors selling or fat egg-nog reps. Murder O’Malley, my mini mate – gun on rack. Calory total: liver, a bad nut or all I wanted (“et puree garnie”): lots. “Do, oh do, ogle bald racer,” I’m dared – N.U.S. bar at six. Esparto, dodo’s lair to name it, not to cage bees, elasticated, is nice. Esteem, as up in space, cite bad local lions, eye can emit now. G.I. boots in ugly rebel or rat’s potato gin (eh?) were hot. Pull a bad egg – epic, I note, no regal slip in it. Ram can … (I’ve lost idea!) Tarred nets, rifles, nitro, gold – no maid stole it. Put it, rat, back or if Sam (“X”) sees sub on televised rising, I sedate Goths. I won’t – no way. Alps, idyllic stage set, are not so gas-emitting, I educe. To nose, peer, far off, I tip mats onto lane. Power grew or got deep so I dare not stir. Of deer, billions sell. I ate lump – mad sign, I do cede – tonsil a pain, acne pang is sad also. Elm I help pot, live – tub’s sold; a ban or a bar, even so, elms, I’d assume, live for. Effused am I not, up in a manor, not all up in a mess. Open if a main A.C. plug is in it. Late men I fed late – pasties or not. “Rapture” by a maestro prevents a vast sum erased. Argon in units, albeit at solid eye level, sits in a … (I presume not) … tube, son. No eyes: a hot laser – is Ed wary? Mermaid, ex- evoker of all A.B.s, I flog. Nil I repaid. Emotion! Emotion, oh so do I dare, woe! Wee yap-yap dog’s name’s Ron. An idol lacks a dime tip, or did, as today a potato in a pitta slice costs a lot – tons. A wet adder ate more hay. Ugh! So, pal, ice cost on top? No, miss, I’m a two-sided rat, erred nut, I base it on erotic ill; It is I, red now; it is debris, rot. Alf, an idle he-man as “master animal lifer” did time, ran off at speed, but a G.I. did nab an idle if dim nit. Upwards rewards are natural life’s words, God. Fill up guts, boy, live now or do not emit one later. A rat on site got flu. Gaelic, I’m odd Erin, I’m Eire, esteemed islet. So hostile rifts ebb. Mob, I.R.A., dare not net R.U.C. – no cotton. Erase not, so I dare not nettle men in red rose garden – I’m in it. Stop late men if foreign at nine. Esplanades, simple hotel, bath, gin – king is Edward IX; obese; Ma is no pure mater. Go! Rise, sir; part anon. I also rehash tests – ‘O’ Level Latin, Italian. S.A.S., so, to track radar. Often nobleman exists alone – not sales reps – I do. Trade ceiling, i.e. final part, lures open if evil trade. Volga River rises on no steppe. Elsinore has a hamlet – Oh, Bard, row on Avon! A sacred robot nurses simple hero’s eye; dabs on it a lemon. Gas, iron, Essex often stops, suffers in a mania. Ron fixes several crofts, acer of maple. Hot, I fish; cold, I arise laden; if diary amiss, I know it set no car off. Foe-damned ruby motor, it only rebels. Ian I swept aside to visit, in a bar of moorside red, Romanis met in a more mossy ale den. Inspired am I, Oswald. A bay bed is nine p on top. No name, niftiness- elder saw it. Oh no! Saw top wet star’s pool – part star, part otter. Refer a baron to idiot, Tony, as I did. Smart ones use submarine. Poet, arch-super-artiste, grew artistic. I lost rattle; my amiable, not oh so old, able to hang up, mina, can deliver it, so true. “Ta, matey!” – says so Boston (Mass.) elder I hit. On file S.A.E. was sent – I wrote poster re fat on side, volume one – loved it, never off it, I was in. Aide mocks a manic; I mock comic, I nap: too bad I had a fit, I too. Bottle ban odd, I go drop mine, ergo trial ceded a fatness, sober if not so, or a test is debased. A vet is agog – no pet’s in a cask – corgi dog, royal pet, a risk no more. Lob a rod at a man I meet. Sewer delays pit fires – a bedlam in a dig – iron ore rots it. No devil is a hero – Nimrod. At a mall a cod is all I get. I bet on Eva, so Tim ate whole eel bait, I pay tip, Eva had a hood sewed. No B.A. gave car to Nero, we were not to rev it and we lost a trail; I’m a free pill, I wrong a man. I erase gap; to help miss it, I fill a set. A gent in ire knocks a cadet. Animals’ gel on spoon – it is so true to basics – I’d gel; too bad I hide kangaroo baths – I lived as I won raffle, flew as I did go, dash, to my, also too tired now, star comedy: A wan, inept, upset I’m retired, nut; its ilk, nicer. Nettle feels a sore; sad, I did no panic in a pain, am an ill or tired, nude, based item; it is a spot. Semitone, not a tone, radios emit; no, on tape; elsewhere it’s a tone. Tail is not on; pots open on foot, even on it, so let oven (on, it is) simmer – a hotpot’s a stupid ham stew. Loop a loop, animal – cat up in air. Both sacks I rate by apple hewn in elder’s garden if it rates, I was aware – tasted a core. Zones or areas, Annie, cap, so twelfth girl, lass, alas, simply (alpha beta) done, Kate. Tadpole won top Oscar, Obadiah, “O” Level axed. Argon gas did emit no straw, so ozone sure drops argon, oozes up in Ruth’s ample hotel or sits afar off in a bar – of elastic, is it? I hate cinema; cinema dogs in a mass. Older effusion to old – lost, is it now? Reward: a mood. All upsets it. Radar trails an Islamic educer of a riling issue, damages it in Israel. Ceiling is, I say, a plan, a case of one deck. Can knees sag as one Latin image elates, I wonder? Oboe diverts ultra foe, volatile bald ogre – push to berate; I’d do, ogre. So, p.m., Oct. first, never play organ’s stops – lay or put it up in ward ten. Final cast like rowing – I sedate play, old as am I, God! Am I! On tacks I ran; I saw rats. A Gemini tramp is May born. I back colony’s sober omen of lack of lace. Rome, not Paris, a wonder. Obey retail law – a noose killed oyster. Reflate my ball, a water-filled one. Disabuse no name of emanating issue. Damsels, I note, vary tastes so cost now desserts. I say no! Try taste more honeyed. A bad nemesis at naff ruse will upset. I, mere Satanist, e.g. rater of a devil – (Oh wrong is a sin!) – I’m no devil’s god, damned. Animals, if on a mat, sit. Rain, a more vile drop, made us site it in a cottage. Breed deer – bottle fits a llama. I lay, as I emanate, go to sleep, mad ones on docks – air is hot. Entrap, net, nine men in party raid - all if it is in a crab-pot room, an itemised, under-lit, nullified old log den – I’m sure voles made it rot in knot. Tubas we see far off lack limit. A cat on still or tall upward paws to no dog is an ample hot-dog, ergo nastier if tastier, eh? We, raw amid a conman, a mama in a mask, corpse et al., err. Octuple tracks at a son’s eyelash side distressed a tall eye doctor, a tall ace, rigger of a vote: got put in egress; odd, abased, is ebbed, as I am, Amy, asinine lot! Nine lots! Don’t six rams live? Don’t six exist? Alfred, nuts or fool gigolo, trod never if gold locks all in a flap on a red rose; made nine or ten stops. I heed never, I’m Daisy, a prod never, I terrorise viler starfish. To me suitors, no lemons, came rowing. Is a sin a mania? Rot! Sit! I fix a looted amp or delay more, hasten not. A baser if snug stool, wonkier, if not - Alf says - super, a ballet to no devil, is a stool too. Ban it, actor, race to no tune. May names I wrote wrong (Is no man in it, a long old log?) sit in row, sign irate Goths; I dare drop it. At felon’s eye I peer, fast open – I’m nosey, esteem eyes. All upset, ample hogs resume totting. Is sad nabob tired? Roots don’t evade liver in Alf’s gob. Deers I held right; oblong, apt enamel or tile rifle on gun spot to get a man – aim is all. I rogate, minister. Feeble gnats, alas late, prosaic, a canine pet is not to consume hot. Loo, wet, issues old idiot; evading, I sneer, obey a deer, gall a deer, gain alpine dragnet for egg I’d net to ram in a pan I made to help master. Rags I held, arcane poet, arcane poetic error, all odd; I bottle fine panacean lust. I’d nag elks I ride if editor toted a minor. I fog a natural life. Roses, or level dumb ones – rows in a mown, ample, hewn acre. Wolfsbane made it a garden in May, a garden indeed. Nine mates, nine tons I must save now on time – editor raps a late man. G.I.s edit also, too. Do over if tests in a task radiate. Rob ran; I, too, fled. “Omega” – list in alphabet. A gander, a line of live ducks, irk cubs. A wart, set at a cast on knee, snug as spots. A poor denim for a janitor, racer, armed aide, solid idler – rabid; I’d elastic in a pot, tons to sew. Tubes or axes went in a clam, in an oyster. Free booze – lap it all up. Pity, my apple hot, so I’d a root stew. God, a stew! Tip it at feline! Posies, a cat’s altar often, no baron packs. A monk caps dog – I meddle here – hot? Pull its leg! A bee was a hoot, eh? No, it is opposite. Yaks I rode wore hats, albeit on deity’s orders. Rats age more held in a trap, nip and I know it – set no cage now. It’s eta; no, it’s a beta – Tsar of Tonga rates isles. Mad Ed is all upset at cider, is Ed? Is a madam too? Snip? I’d snip, spot a fine position, snip nine more cinemas. Do ogres sell in a mall? Yes, on a barge so rats row tubs. Wall last canes up or Eros, an imp, lives to irk, rasp or dam all tides sent. I won’t – I was no Roman – even I saw tired row – a sore. He lives on. “No!” we yell. Up, now! Wards are in nurses’ sole care. I, peer, fed, am too fat? Oh, not I, test no dined ruby ale; dote not on salad it’s in – I am sad. Locks I rifle so troops atone re war. Only rebel or a crofter animates so cottage beheld arcades, so trees are sold, abased. I redo, rehang, I err – a wasted act; nests I’d – as an owl – laid. A boot’s raw foot, even if a foot to master, germs (ah!) can evil do. Pan is tune-pipe – so hot notes, paths up to honeydew. Odd locks, a maddened (I was aware) macaw on top, spot no seen knots, rifts or fan, I saw. Are maces a baton, madam? Oodles, madam? Rare laptops are too late – got too lit up. Nits rub – snip now, I’ll abate, not snip, nits I held. Nubile Danish tomboys I led to old loser as no melons I held; no fish to my name. Nod lower, do I dare? No, one nods a hairy snipe. (Edit: one hairy snipe, eh?) See silliness, else we’ll ask cornish to obey deity’s or god’s item. I, God, damn it! I was in it! To Hades, acne trap, sad loser! As warts pop, a dosser I – we – vile rat, sack! Same row, oh woe! Macaroni, rats, as a hoot, tie. I vomit on rats

A Palindrome

2010-04-14T07:19:00.002+05:30

A man, a plan, a casa, a bait, a lag, a malt, an ami, an abr, a bayard, a liang, an apa, a jager, an adder, a gaw, a nut, an oca, a net, a caps, a rail, a karat, an amalaka, an agron, a brev, a kit, a ballet, an eel, a bar, a lama, a dan, a patina, a grama, a tin, a manak, a japer, a pupa, an oka, a lev, a trad, a cab, an ala, a papaya, a loma, a cam, a catalpa, a mon, a kor, a tam, a haloid, a regal, a lub, a war, a peen, a stob, a gad, a spin, a ward, a slag, a toom, a we'd, a pos, a marg, a cedar, a daraf, a wat, a dater, a carapa, a lot, a tennis, a laic, a farer, a dame, a haemin, an agal, a tsar, a misaim, an enate, a halo, a garrot, a gip, a rom, a lca, an elem, a yell, a ganoin, a waver, a boma, a ball, a waxer, a tid, an agr, an app, a y-axis, a lion, a lack, a burg, a motmot, a rata, a vil, a satrap, a mart, a rank, a lex, an annot, a pol, a tael, a drub, a nome, a dale, a batwoman, a mara, a lob, a tarp, a res, a drawer, a rot, a doh, a nib, a saw, a harem, a gater, an imam, a llama, a let, a bel, a hamal, a gasser, a cadi, a ramrod, a saga, a bass, a cad, a ya-ta-ta, a flan, a cig, a malam, an anus, a keep, a cuda, a crum, an alapa, a doc, a nett, a laggen, a loofa, a cola, a roman, a vac, a snug, a mass, an ass, a tarpan, a frt, a neb, a reel, a corp, a yob, an ana, a but, a tpd, a pant, a cate, an alb, a napper, a gum, a knot, a daud, a pipa, a ruse, a call, a haar, a matador, a bot, a mod, a cor, an aug, a dop, a bud, a buran, a sika, a nork, a yoga, a kip, a rood, a tanga, a pap, a loop, a rein, a pat, an anadem, a leman, a brocatel, a says, a jad, a nomad, a tau, a nunatak, a drab, a gob, an amt, an andron, an orc, a maim, a kaiak, a saber, a puca, a rab, a rabal, a kabala, a rem, a canoe, an aid, a water, a minah, a yarak, an okay, a redan, a gala, a liza, a coir, a car, a vav, a hail, a guna, a min, an aroma, a mix, a manikin, a capita, a cap, a tsi, a waw, a spira, a rub, an att, a matsu, a hat, a fan, a taj, a ray, a jar, a lah, a datum, a gayal, a bus, a coss, an alias, a lin, a gata, a cabana, a nail, a nod, a vas, a lam, a recall, a nasal, a bat, an aba, a rec, a nim, a gauss, a baba, an ign, an agura, a gleba, a lune, a pastel, a yew, an inner, an exon, a moor, a mir, a pas, a dir, a canalis, a bason, a beg, a kop, a yam, a fader, a citer, a pan, a lunarian, a mot, an alif, a yes, a jaw, a pay, a salad, a poll, a waggon, an ore, an asp, a tabor, a cariama, a kab, a kabob, a lac, a deb, a mun, a dalasi, a daff, a raki, a halal, a sanies, a cast, a hwan, a cay, a dad, an ogam, a ma'am, a japan, a vakeel, a fac, a duel, a sial, a patin, a magot, a roll, a pain, a rall, a fats, a bap, a cerat, a call-up, an abb, a radiov, a gid, a loot, a god, a tenner, an eta, a gar, a grad, a dap, a dirt, a hair, a parr, an agon, a dual, a nonet, a mural, a soda, a teff, a tal, an omasum, a tug, a vat, a doom, a deil, a str, a dam, a gaff, a camoca, a mud, a flow, a fed, a gpm, a tod, a fcp, a reflet, a hay, a nav, a lulab, a tail, a maniac, an ikan, a maid, a salep, a lass, a pall, a gab, a watt, a bay, a map, a lair, a sax, a mar, a madam, a palet, a ramon, a won, a wet, a fen, a nipa, a dBm, a lai, a bag, a haeres, a bun, a ratton, a tana, a sem, a gtc, a giron, a bros, a navar, a carotin, a jab, a dayan, a lever, a fun, a macoma, an iter, a nies, a dak, a yaw, a sera, a tef, a nek, a xat, a boob, a haler, a cir, a daw, a camass, a topaz, a gator, a taw, a lapser, a mut, a biga, a nag, an atlas, a bad, a doodah, a manas, a puna, a fut, a sima, a gen, a facsim, a liard, a gym, a spot, a sex, a nae, a wap, a zax, a way, a tapis, an ord, a habu, a datura, a mel, a kadi, a qat, a mas, a banana, a cran, a bird, a pus, a drain, a lacer, a valor, a pav, a lad, a wamus, a garg, a tamis, a kaon, a tort, a leg, a baht, a lapin, a ref, a wall, a mac, a samaj, a boar, a sunn, a pappus, an aced, an ann, a manor, a barege, a jai, an alap, an acad, a fakeer, a remit, a get, a toil, a gat, a local, a baff, a wain, an akela, an uta, a slab, a rattan, a lyc, an atoll, a banian, a retem, a dorp, a poort, a vug, a supr, a canon, a far, a fanatic, a dep, a caid, a qaf, a kas, a carfax, a patness, a nabob, a catnip, a minima, a must, a sal, a caracara, a manioc, a til, a lip, a rag, an amir, a hareem, an arcs, a teel, a cram, a yawn, a main, a ban, a rasa, a lud, a ragi, a tapir, a top, a dil, a lat, a razz, a jag, a sass, a jalor, a calix, an asb, an ayre, a nap, a tannin, a garb, a sports, a gem, a reed, an esu, a hap, a raglan, a sis, a baronet, a snit, a madras, a plug, a gula, a ros, a scf, a gelder, a terr, a gag, a fay, a fag, a garret, a redleg, a fcs, a sora, a lug, a gulp, a sard, a matins, a tenor, a basis, an alg, a rap, a hausen, a deer, a meg, a strops, a brag, an inn, a tap, an aery, an abs, an axil, a carol, a jass, a sag, a jazz, a ratal, a lid, a pot, a rip, a taig, a radula, a saran, a bani, a manway, a marc, a leet, a scr, an ameer, a harim, an agar, a pil, a lit, a coin, a maar, a caracal, a satsuma, a minim, a pint, a cabob, an assent, a pax, a fracas, a kaf, a qadi, a caped, a cit, an afar, a fanon, a carpus, a guv, a troop, a prod, a meter, an ain, a ballot, an acyl, an attar, a balsa, a tuna, a lek, an ani, a waff, a bal, a colat, a galiot, a teg, a timer, a reek, a fad, a canap, a lanai, a jaeger, a baron, a mannan, a decan, a supp, a pannus, a raob, a jam, a sac, a mall, a wafer, a nip, a lath, a bagel, a trot, an oak, a sim, a tagrag, a sum, a wad, a lav, a parol, a varec, a laniard, a sup, a drib, an arca, an anabas, a mat, a qaid, a kalema, a rut, a daub, a hadron, a sip, a tay, a wax, a zap, a wae, an axes, a tops, a myg, a drail, a misc, a fanega, a mis, a tufa, an upas, an amah, a doodad, a basalt, a nagana, a gib, a tum, a resp, a law, a tarot, a gaz, a potass, a macaw, a daric, a rel, a haboob, a tax, a ken, a feta, a resaw, a yak, a dasein, a retina, a moc, a manuf, a revel, a nay, a dab, a janitor, a caravan, a sorb, an orig, a ctg, a mesa, a nat, an ottar, a nub, a sere, a hag, a bai, a lambda, a pin, a nef, a tew, a now, a nom, a ratel, a pam, a damar, a max, a sari, a lap, a may, a batt, a wab, a gall, a pass, a lapel, a sadi, a manakin, a cain, a mali, a tab, a lulav, an ayah, a telfer, a pcf, a dot, a mpg, a def, a wolf, a duma, a com, a caff, a gam, a darts, a lied, a mood, a tav, a gut, a mus, a monal, a taffeta, a dos-, a larum, a tenon, a laud, a nog, an arr, a pariah, a trid, a pad, a darg, a raga, a ten, a rennet, a dog, a tool, a dig, a void, a rabban, a pull, a cat, a recap, a bast, a fall, a rani, a pallor, a tog, a manit, a palais, a leud, a caf, a leek, a van, a pajama, a mam, a gonad, a day, a can, a what's, a casein, a salal, a haik, a raff, a dais, a ladanum, a bed, a cal, a bob, a kabaka, a mair, a carob, a taps, an aeron, a nogg, a wallop, a dal, a say', a paw, a jasey, a fil, an atom, an air, an ulan, a paretic, a red, a fam, a yapok, a geb, a nos, a basil, an acarid, a sap, a rim, a room, an oxen, a rennin, a wey, a let's, a paenula, a belga, a rug, an angina, a babassu, a gamin, a cera, a banat, a balas, an all, a ceramal, a sav, a don, a liana, an abaca, a tag, a nil, a sail, an assoc, a sub, a lay, a gamut, a dah, a lar, a jay, a raj, a tan, a fat, a haust, a matt, an abura, a ripsaw, a waist, a paca, a tip, a canikin, a maxima, a mor, an anima, an ugali, a hav, a var, a carioca, a zila, a lagan, a deray, a konak, a rayah, an imaret, a wadi, an aeon, a camera, a lab, a kal, a barabara, a cup, a reb, a sakai, a kami, a macron, an ordn, an atman, a bog, a bard, a kat, an unau, a tad, a monad, a jasy, a salet, a corban, a melamed, an anat, a panier, a pool, a papa, a gnat, a door, a pika, a goy, a krona, a kisan, a rub-a-dub, a pod, a guan, a roc, a dom, a tob, a rod, a tamara, a hall, a caesura, a pip, a duad, a tonk, a mug, a repp, an abl, an aet, a catnap, a dpt, a tuba, a nan, a boy, a proc, a leer, a ben, a trf, an apr, a tass, an assam, a guns, a cav, an amora, a loca, a fool, an egg, a latten, a coda, a pal, an amurca, a duc, a peek, a sun, an amal, a magic, an alfa, a tat, a yad, a cassaba, a gas, a dorm, a raid, a caress, a gal, a mahaleb, a tela, a mallam, a minaret, a gamer, a haw, a sabin, a hod, a tor, a reward, a ser, a prat, a bola, a ram, an amowt, a bael, a daemon, a burd, a leat, a lop, a tonn, an axel, a knar, a tram, a part, a saliva, a tar, a tom-tom, a grub, a kcal, an oil, a six, a yapp, an arg, an adit, a rex, a wallaba, a mob, a rev, a wanion, a galley, a melena, a clamor, a pig, a torr, a gaol, a haet, an enami, a simar, a stalag, an anime, a haem, a darer, a facial, a sinnet, a tola, a par, a caret, a dat, a waf, a radar, a decagram, a sop, a dew, a moot, a gals, a draw, an ips, a dag, a bots, a neep, a raw, a bul, a lager, a diol, a ham, a tarok, a noma, a plat, a camaca, a mola, a yap, a paal, an abac, a dart, a vela, a kona, a pup, a rep, a jak, an amanita, a marga, a nit, a panada, a malar, a baleen, a tell, a batik, a verb, an organa, a kalam, an atar, a kali, a rasp, a catena, a con, a tun, a wag, a redd, an areg, a jaap, an agnail, a dray, a barb, an aim, a natl, a mag, a lati, a baas, a canal, Panama

Rediscovering Myself

2010-04-12T11:29:00.001+05:30

On the road to a long and arduous journey called life, I lost myself in its dense forests, not knowing where to go and how to proceed further. Realizing now, that life has so much to offer than I had initially thought, I begin a new voyage – a journey to rediscover myself. The nostalgia for days left behind and memories long forgotten has rekindled a passion which cannot be described by words. Fortunately, I recorded almost half of my life in paper which would keep the old days still fresh as ever.

Solitary, I sit here and look at the sky gazing at the stars reflecting upon the times that were memorable – times that haunt me in the dark. The magic of such days still linger and evoke a smile when ever I feel distressed.

I often wonder why the world changes all the time – couldn’t it just be constant and never change? Why is it that the world moves on to discover lots of things without which life could have been much simpler? And sustainable. To seek necessity our of luxurious things doesn’t make the world a better place to live. While peace of mind achieves this to a certain extent, I feel that people should socialize more and adjust among themselves to make their environment better.

Humans, as I realized, are blessed with their senses which makes them unique from the other life forms. Also, each human is different from the other. And when humans control their senses and their uniqueness, what is the point in being a human? Whenever I see people around me, I often think of how they were, a few years ago and how changed they are, now. And when the change is for the good, I feel happy for them.

The world, as of now, is driven by competition – nothing is spared and only the fittest survive. Competition would, in a way, surface the dreams, hopes, and passion that advocate success for great people. However, negative competition may spark a virulent change for the rivals as well as their environment.

What I have done so far does not account for even a small percentile of what life teaches us. Why is it that when I look at my past, I feel that it was much better than the present. Mistake. The only way you can rediscover yourself is by looking at yourself. And when you realize that your past life was better, you shouldn’t strive towards the past. Past is something that is over. Left behind. It leaves nothing but memories. Present occurs forever. Striving towards making your present, better, is rational.

Having realized this, I try to get the melancholy of the past out of my mind and assess what can be done to make the present, beautiful. Life has so much to offer and I wouldn’t restrict myself to anything. I’m going to let my imagination soar. I’m going to be what I was created for. I’m going to be myself again.

A Mother

2010-04-12T07:29:00.002+05:30

I found this wonderful poem on Moallima's Blog, CrystalsBouquet.

A lady who gives birth to an innocent life,
A lady who takes pains for her young life,
A lady who sacrifices her desirous mind,
A lady who sheds the tears of affection behind,
Of course is a Mother.

A lady who stands by always around her child,
A lady who feels the very essence of her child,
A lady who serves indeed without compensation,
A lady who is the only care taker one in a million,
Of course is a Mother.

A lady who is like a charm the luckiest,
A lady who shares the grieves very deepest,
A lady who absorbs all wounds so wisely,
A lady who teaches never to be wily,
Of course is a Mother.

A lady who never shirks her duty,
A lady whose deepest love is for eternity,
A lady who can listen to the heartaches,
A lady who whose patience never shakes,
Of course is a Mother.

A Mother is the most glorious blessing in this world,
A Mother is the tenderness of pearl so lustrous,
A Mother is the reality of the illusionary dream world,
A Mother is the symphony of a music so sensuous.

-Crystal

Majesty 2 – The Fantasy Kingdom Sim

2010-04-04T21:49:00.001+05:30

To start with, Majesty is, was and will always be my favourite game – I started playing it when I was still studying high school. It had been five years since I’ve played the game. I still don’t know how I remembered that game – I just woke up and something reminded me of the game. I downloaded the demo immediately and started playing it to my satisfaction.

Now, here’s a brief overview of Majesty 2 – The fantasy Kingdom Sim.

"I laugh in the face of danger, and then I hide until it goes away."
In the world of Majesty, you are the ruler of the kingdom of Ardania.

At your service are your loyal and somewhat obnoxious subordinates, who have their own minds about how things should be done.

Majesty is the only game where your heroes decide on their own what should be done and when, leaving you to try to control them through monetary incentives.

Features in Majesty2:

- Real-time strategy game with indirect control - your heroes have a will of their own.
- Play through a campaign with 16 missions divided into 4 chapters, as well as a few quick missions and a variety of multiplayer maps.
- Build the fantasy city of your dreams and experience an engaging world, but beware: monsters are waiting to lay siege to your domain.
- Defend your realm with noble warriors, spell-wielding wizards or wild barbarians. Choose from more than 10 different classes to oversee the protection of your lands.
- Game Spy multiplayer for up to 4 players over LAN or Internet, including support for ranking ladders and tournaments.
- The official sequel to the best-selling game "Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim" of 2000.

Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is available for purchase in retail stores everywhere, as well as all major digital distribution outlets.

Here’s a detailed review of Majesty 2.

“It is ironic that Majesty 2‘s subtitle is The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, since it simulates economy much more realistically than most games of this type often do.

The reason for the word “fantasy” in the title is, of course, not actually related to an improbable economy. Instead it serves to describe the setting of the game as a medieval version of a real time strategy game. In the game, the player takes on the role of the ambitious ruler of a kingdom charged with developing enough power and resources to take on a demon that has been terrorizing the land since his unfortunate release. The player will play through a number of scenarios and maps that allow him or her to practice building an economy and developing resources to complete minor goals before taking on this central threat to the kingdom.

The game has a charming presentation in this regard. Narrated by a Sean Connery sound-alike, fantasy inspired mission goals (build up your forces to defeat a slumbering giant before he awakens, gather enough gold from local rogues to fuel your war machine, defeat minotaurs that threaten your borders, etc.) are dictated in a whimsical way by this often pithy advisor. The game doesn’t take itself terribly seriously and mission briefings are sometimes marked by clever bits of dialogue. This isn’t riotously funny stuff, but it is often chuckle worthy and forcing the player to crack a smile once in awhile in a more didactic, strategic game of this sort serves as a nice break between some often challenging scenarios.

As noted, though, what is interesting about Majesty 2 is not especially its commitment to storytelling or humour but its commitment to developing the resource building mechanics that are often at the heart of combat simulations into a compelling and reasonable game play mechanism. Indeed, economy is the central focus, not only in the ultimate goal of building an army sufficient to completing the goals of any given mission in the game but also in issuing orders to those minions as well.

The central conceit of majesty is that authority is derived from economy, which means that (unlike in other real time strategy games that diversify resource management and presume that once you have spent the resources to build troops that those troops will do as they are told) in this game your “loyal” followers are only loyal if you have the cash to buy those loyalties. In other words, you don’t build a unit of rangers, clerics, or wizards and then issue them commands that they blindly follow. Those troops must be encouraged to explore, attack specific targets, or defend specific targets by assigning those goals with “encouragements” that come in the form of the currency of adventurers of this sort: treasure.

This is an ironic means of realizing the motivations of “heroes” in a fantasy setting. What “really” motivates the legendary heroes and knights of a fantastic story, their commitment to the greater good or their loyalty to their liege? Or, is it that taking dangerous risks sometimes results in substantial material reward? Thus, by making every element of successful troop development and management contingent on cold hard cash, the game’s mechanics are highly suggestive of that aforementioned idea that the game seems to have about the relationship between wealth and power: “He who has the gold makes the rules.” It also means that a poorly handled economy will cause a monarch to fail miserably in any of these scenarios.

As a result, despite the whimsical, fantasy setting the game does take the business of accruing wealth and the development of a realistic economy much more seriously than a lot of real time strategy fare. I am often struck by the almost absurdly progressive economic systems that often underlie these sorts of games. While often starting missions in this sort of game relatively impoverished with not much access to resources, a reasonably level headed RTS player can get a pretty fearsome war machine rolling pretty quickly if they understand the right order to gather resources and the right order to create resource development buildings in and can keep that economic machinery balanced with the right types of troops to develop to keep these economic resources safe enough until a bustling if not booming economy is established.

Indeed, the “boom” that occurs at some point in the economy of these games is wildly unbalancing and often seemingly difficult to believe. What economy becomes so perfectly sustainable that money becomes no object, and thus, any amount of capital can be transformed into a limitless amount of troops and weapons? Basically, in a lot of RTS games, there is a point where your resource development takes off so much that building and upgrading military units is no longer difficult because you have the perfect economy underlying that development: money is no longer an object and victory is assured merely by limitless access to military power.

Majesty 2 takes an approach less American in its conception (economic progress and a sensible strategy leads inevitably to boundless wealth) but an approach to game economies that I have more often seen in European board games; reasonable limiting factors (usually some time factor that staunches the economic growth of a booming system in a board game—this usually amounts to a limited number of turns or a number of game ending factors like the depletion of a specific type or multiple types of resources that trigger a game’s ending in Euro games) need to be in place that cause the machine of economy to eventually stall out before the player is able to just buy anything that they want. In the case of Majesty 2, this limiter comes in the form of sometimes subtly realized “time limits” in scenarios that mean that you cannot merely hunker down in a defensive posture in one area of the map and grow the most amazing economic dynamo before releasing your limitless troops across a map.

If there is a sleeping giant on the map in Majesty 2, he will wake up eventually and tear up your little fiefdom, so if you aren’t economically soluble enough to build a force sufficient to destroy him at that point, you aren’t going to succeed. Additionally, if you are successful enough to build a system that can produce enough military might to challenge the giant, you can’t spend time “overbuilding” this military by simply continuing to wait until your economy blossoms into a bottomless well of war funds. The giant’s inevitable awakening limits the economic efficiency of any system that you build by putting the kibosh on the system before it becomes unrealistically overpowering.

These mechanisms make the elements of resource development much more challenging than other RTS games, and at times, the game’s difficulty ramps up pretty quickly from scenario to scenario as factors that mitigate overpowered army building become more and more aggressive in threatening your initial set up very early on. Often you will struggle to at least get a working economy going before some mythical beast comes tearing in to consume the market that you intended to be the bulwark of your economic development. I grew frustrated at how quickly I was overwhelmed in some very early scenarios in the game (there are only two “novice” level scenarios that allow you to learn the basic mechanics of the game before you are launched into “advanced” scenarios”). I suspect that as a newcomer to the series, though, that I may be missing out on not learning the system at a slower pace in the first iteration of the game. It feels like a few additional tutorial missions might help make the game more accessible to newbies.

Nevertheless, this is a solidly designed simulation. In particular, the idea of having to manage your “heroes” through what amounts to bribery makes this a compelling lucid satire of the romance of heroism and loyalty usually present in more fantastic stories and games. Through the game mechanics themselves, Majesty 2 suggests that maybe we should consider myths about heroes and monsters a little more pragmatically. Our heroes may be more motivated by booty than we might like to admit.”

I’d like you guys to try the game at least once. I’m sure the game is doomed to bind everyone to their computers as the friendship with the game progresses.

del.icio.us Tags: majesty

The Firm by John Grisham – Review

2010-04-02T08:10:00.003+05:30

Taken from http://goo.gl/054N

The Firm runs deep with deception. It all starts when a lawyer, Mitch McDeere fresh out of Harvard Law school, gets recruited by Bendini, Lambert & Lockre one of the top law firms in the world. The firm is filled with forty very wealthy lawyers and partners, whose business was very secretive and looked after. When Mitch signed on to the firm they bought him a house with a very low interest rate and had it furnished by a interior designer and let his wife, Abby, choose the carpet and furniture, and the wallpaper, they also bought Mitch a black BMW. To top it all off they even paid off his student loans for him.

Little did Mitch know the Firm had a key to both the house and car. The board of the Firm got worried when an FBI agent by the name of Wayne Tarrence approached Mitch in a cafe asking questions and telling him not to trust any body at the firm. Not knowing what to do Mitch goes to the board of the firm and tells them most of the conversation that he and Tarrence, the FBI agent, had leaving out minor details that he thought he should keep to himself. Getting worried the people at the Firm decide to use the keys to Mitch’s car and house to gain access to his house without any body noticing so they could plant microphones and transmitters in his phones, the walls of every room in the house and in the attic.

Later on in the book, the head of the firm send Mitch on a business trip to the Caymans with another employee of the Firm. The head of the firm set it up so that Mitch and the other employee would meet two girls have dinner, a few drinks and maybe a little more might happen. Mitch doesn’t take the bait and ditches his date. As he is walking down the beach a young attractive women approaches him and they begin to talk. After a few more drinks Mitch decides nobody would find out and that there is nobody on the beach to see what happened. Little did Mitch know the firm had hired her too and they had taken pictures and everything to use against him.

This book is a perfect example of how large corporations can deceive and manipulate its employees with money and other ways of black mail. This book shows that deception is everywhere, including the legal system.

No favorites in T20

2010-03-16T08:27:00.001+05:30

This is the third season of the Indian Premier League and it really makes one wonder how quickly time flies. It still seems just the other day that this mega-event got rolling. We are ready to play the first game of the new season and the boys are all geared up, mentally and physically. The first game of a tournament is always crucial from various aspects and we are raring to make a strong start.

We face Deccan Chargers, last year's winners, in our first match. Though they are the defending champions I'm pretty sure they will have to start from scratch, like any other team, in this tournament. The simple reason is that the Twenty20 format has no favourites - you can have no one claiming that they will walk out and maintain a winning streak.

The Deccan's four overseas cricketers are Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Chaminda Vaas and the captain, Adam Gilchrist. That's some fire-power in that line-up! Gilly and company must be happy to be playing their home matches away from Hyderabad because they have a horrible record at home. They have won none of the nine matches [including the Champions League] they played at their original home, which would have definitely had a bearing on their mind had they been playing there this year. Maybe the change of residence will bring Gilchrist's team better luck in the new season.

The DY Patil Stadium is a treat for the eye. I have never seen it before, leave alone played here, and I was pleasantly surprised by its appearance and was even more astonished when I was informed that it is owned by a university. It definitely qualifies as one of the world's best cricket stadiums.

I am sure there will be an electrifying atmosphere during our first game. The wicket has been re-laid, the person in charge of the 22 yards is a former India player and my one-time team-mate Abey Kuruvilla. I am sure he will give us a wicket with just the right kind of bounce and carry to facilitate both the fast bowlers and the stroke-makers.Twenty20 is generally considered a feast of runs, with nothing much for the bowlers. A good 22 yards, with even pace and bounce, at times balances the contest. The first sighting of the pitch indicates that there will be nothing much for the spinners.

We do have an attack that can exploit any given condition. There is a group of fast bowlers who, I am sure, will generate pace on any sort of wicket. As a captain I am looking to them to provide early breakthroughs.

We have prepared well for this year's tournament. We practised all year round and have proceeded carefully in spotting a few talented Indian youngsters. Much effort has gone into polishing them so I am looking forward to the Indian players to deliver this IPL. The likes of Manoj Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda and Murali Kartik have a fantastic platform to showcase their talent, put across to the selectors how good they are and make a name and a career for themselves.

For the start of the new IPL season we have the services of Brad Hodge, Owais Shah, Charl Langeveldt, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis and Mashrafe Mortaza. We will be joined shortly by Chris Gayle, Shane Bond and David Hussey. It really will be tough for the team management to decide what would be the best combination of foreign players for us. But it is a situation we don't mind - the more the merrier.

This article was written by Sourav Ganguly for Cricinfo

Foobar

2010-03-16T07:16:00.000+05:30

So, what’s the best Windows 7 Audio Player? There are many freeware audio players out there, but one is currently becoming more and more popular amongst music lovers. Do you know which one?

The best free audio player for Windows 7 is clearly Foobar! With nearly 200,000 downloads on Softpedia this is one of the hottest audio players for Windows 7. One of the reasons why Foobar2000 is so popular is that the layout of foobar can be customized just as you need it and provides a lot of useful features.

Here’s the quick appearance setup of foobar:

You can choose from many preconfigured layouts that provide a lot of rooms for Spectogram, Spectrum, VU Meter, Oscilloscope, meta data, playlists and a lot more:

Many music fans love foobar2000 more than VLC because it provides a lot of features that VLC does not have, e.g. the VU Meter that allows musicians to tweak their audio settings.

Foobar Main Features

Fully supports the audio formats: MP3, MP4, AAC, CD Audio, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, Musepack, Speex, AU, SND
Gapless playback.
Full unicode support.
Easily customizable user interface layout.
Advanced tagging capabilities.
Support for ripping Audio CDs as well as transcoding all supported audio formats using the Converter component.
Full ReplayGain support.
Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player.

Download Foobar here -> http://2.ly/rtq

Why Oscar Chose Hurt Locker over Avatar

2010-03-16T07:02:00.005+05:30

But “Hurt Locker” was anything but a sure thing. In a historical context, its win is surprising. After all, it is the lowest-grossing best picture winner of all time; it was never on more than 535 screens; and it beat the highest-grossing movie in modern history, one that has been playing on thousands of screens for nearly three months. In the era of blockbusters, “Locker” cost a mere $11 million to make compared with the more than $230 million cost of “Avatar.”

To earn its gold, “Hurt Locker” had to break what producer Greg Shapiro called “The Iraq War Curse,” referring to all the movies touching on that conflict that had failed to find an audience. It had to weather attacks in the media and from some in the military who questioned the realism of how it portrayed the bomb-removal unit. The film also drew censure for the illicit campaign methods of one of its producers, the first to be banned from attending the Academy Awards. And it had to win with backing from Summit Entertainment, a relatively new and small distributor that had never before won an Oscar.

There also is the parallel question of whether “Avatar” and distributor Fox contributed to their own demise in the best-picture race. The sci-fi epic had been critically acclaimed, far more widely seen and was widely heralded for its breakthrough technology. And it boasted the deep-pocket backing of a major Hollywood studio. Could it be explained as the ultimate example of the split personality in Hollywood, where movie choices are mostly driven by the need to make large amounts of money but where the people behind the camera still want to be seen as making art? And was it hurt by attacks from the political right on the movie’s plot, which was seen as a dig on America’s Iraq incursion?

Or was “Avatar” doomed because it was sci-fi, a genre that rarely has been rewarded by Oscar? After all, there are precedents. In 1977, when “Star Wars” was the breakthrough movie, it lost best picture to Woody Allen’s low-budget comedy “Annie Hall.” And in 1982, when “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” was rewriting box office records, it was beaten for best picture by “Gandhi.”

The path that “Hurt Locker” took was anything but standard. After Summit picked up domestic distribution rights in September 2008, it put the movie on the shelf because its release schedule was crowded. It eventually opened “Hurt Locker” last summer as counter programing instead of in the fall, when most serious dramas get a showcase launch.

Summit turned the Oscar strategy over to PR firm 42 West, where veteran campaigner Cynthia Swartz called the shots. Swartz was criticized for waiting until early December to send out the DVDs, even though the whole strategy revolved around getting the movie seen by as many voters as possible.

She also had to get attention from Academy voters and guild members for a movie without any marquee names and a subject that put off many people already weary of a war that never seemed to end. What Swartz did right was to center the campaign around Bigelow, a woman who directed with as much glory and guts as any man, and to feature writer/producer Mark Boal for his screenplay and real-life story as a journalist who was embedded with a bomb disposal unit in Iraq.

She had bound copies of the “Hurt Locker” script sent to every member of the Writers Guild of America, earning guild honors for the original screenplay and the same award at the Oscars.

Meanwhile, Fox seemed to downplay awards campaigning, letting Cameron take the lead. And what Cameron wanted to talk about was how frustrated he was that his actors, whose performances were captured by computer-generated technology, were not taken as seriously as live-action actors.

While his righteousness was sincere, that didn’t go over well with many real-life actors who feel threatened by the possibility that they might be replaced by synthetic performers. That backlash might have mattered, because actors are by far the largest bloc of voters in the Academy.

In the end, both movies tried to position themselves as important parts of screen history. That worked for “Hurt Locker” but not for “Avatar,” which will have to settle for being the biggest-grossing movie, even though it didn’t gain the respect that comes with the best picture trophy.

Taken from : http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6272CJ20100308

Saturn's Beauty and Power

2010-03-16T07:01:00.000+05:30

Taken from : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8564405.stm

It’s exactly 400 years since Galileo first pointed a telescope at the planet Saturn. He immediately realised he had discovered something remarkable: the planet appeared to have ears.

Today, we know the mysterious bulges he described are a magnificent network of rings.

Their intricate beauty is captivating but Saturn’s rings are more than cosmetic wonders.

Many astronomers now believe the patterns encoded in the rings tell us something fundamental about the forces that formed the entire Solar System.

And that is part of the story we wanted to tell in the second episode of BBC 2’s Wonders of the Solar System – Order Out of Chaos.

Seen from a telescope on Earth, the rings of Saturn appear to be a solid disk that encircles the planet.

But we know they cannot be solid – the gravitational forces around the planet would tear them apart. The rings are actually made of billions of chunks of ice all independently orbiting Saturn in a belt that is over 70,000km wide, but as little as 3m thick.

And, although the rings are a billion kilometres away, you don’t have to travel far to get a sense of what they must be like.

A glacial lagoon in Iceland, packed with icebergs was the perfect filming location for the series, which left a lasting impression on the programme’s presenter, Brian Cox.

“I climbed up a floating iceberg in the lagoon and was left there alone whilst we did a series of sweeping helicopter shots,” he recalls.

“It was a magical and quiet place (until the helicopter flew past) and I allowed my mind to drift. The rings are magnificently pure water-ice, just like the icebergs, and I genuinely felt transported three-quarters of a billion miles away to the rings of Saturn.

“I make a comment on the show to that effect in an astonishingly broad Oldham accent, which shows that my mind was elsewhere!”

It’s by studying the dynamics of the icebergs in the rings that scientists hope to understand how the whole Solar System formed.

One of the enduring mysteries of the Solar System is how the ordered network of planets orbiting the Sun spontaneously emerged form the chaos of space. In Saturn’s rings, we can see similar ordered patterns and structures assembling themselves from the chaos of the ring particles.

Images sent back from the Cassini spacecraft (which has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004) have revealed how the fine structure of the rings is broken up into intricate patterns of thousands of ringlets and gaps.

Carl Murray, from Queen Mary, University of London, is one of the senior British astronomers on the Cassini mission.

He believes the whole Saturn system is an excellent model for the early Solar System. “In the rings, we’re learning something about our own origins,” he says.

Because the physical processes that go on in the rings are probably similar to what went on in the early Solar System and we’ve got this incredible opportunity to observe those processes happening in front of our eyes.”

One of the key discoveries has been the role Saturn’s moons play in maintaining the order and structure of the rings. Saturn has a network of over 60 moons and as they orbit the planet their gravitational influence sweeps through the rings.

In some of the most breathtaking pictures from Cassini we can actually watch the moons at work. As the moons pass close to – or even through the rings, their gravitational pull tugs waves of the ring particles towards them, twisting and shaping the ring and sweeping paths through them.

These close-range effects are wonderful to watch. But the most significant influence is wielded by the moons that orbit thousands of km outside the rings. Even at this distance, they carve delicate patterns in the rings through a phenomenon called orbital resonance.

The particles of ice in the rings orbit Saturn like cars speeding along a road.

Particles nearest to the planet move more quickly than those further away. Beyond the rings, the moons orbit even more slowly.

Resonances occur between the moons and ring particles whose orbital rate is a simple ratio of the moon’s orbit. For instance if a ring particle orbits the planet in exactly half the time that the moon does, it will always line up with the moon in exactly the same place in orbit and will repeatedly get a gravitational tug in exactly the same direction.

Over many orbits, these tiny nudges add up and shepherd the particles into one of Saturn’s countless ringlets.

But orbital resonances can do much more than gently sculpt Saturn’s rings.

It’s now believed orbital resonances between planets played a crucial role in the evolution of the whole Solar System – and may ultimately have helped make Earth a habitable planet.

Influence on Earth

It is thought that the giant planets did not form where they are now – instead their orbits drifted for hundreds of million of years. Eventually, the two giants of the Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn, fell into a resonant order – where Jupiter was orbiting exactly twice in the time it took Saturn to complete one lap of the Sun.

This resonance had such a powerful gravitational surge that it distorted the orbits of all the outer planets.

It’s believed that Neptune was catapulted from its orbit into the heart of the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy comets surrounding the Solar System, where it caused chaos.

For a hundred million years, a rain of comets was fired from the Kuiper Belt into the inner Solar System. It was called the Late Heavy Bombardment.

The comets left their scars. The craters they caused can still be seen on the moon – and the Earth would have received similar damage.

But the effects weren’t all bad. It’s believed that up to half the water we have on Earth today was delivered by that rain of comets.

The same forces of orbital resonance we see carving the delicate patterns in Saturn’s rings helped to make our planet the place it is today.

Alice in Wonderland Holds on to US Box Office Title

2010-03-16T07:00:00.001+05:30

Taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8567747.stm

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland kept its place at the top of the US box office chart for a second week, taking $62m (£41m) in the last three days.

It was well ahead of Matt Damon’s Iraq war movie, Green Zone, which took second spot with $14.5m (£9.6m).

Romantic movies She’s Out of My League and Remember Me were hot on its heels, taking $9.6m (£6.4m) and $8.1m (£5.4m) respectively.

Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island was in fifth place.

Horror virus

It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Marshal Teddy Daniels, who is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a mental health hospital.

Our Family Wedding, featuring Ugly Betty star, America Ferreira, debuted at number six ahead of James Cameron’s Avatar, now at seven.

Eighth and ninth place were taken by police movies – Brooklyn’s Finest, starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle, and comedy Cop-Out, starring Bruce Willis.

Horror movie The Crazies rounded out the top 10 – it follows the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.

We Salute The Lord of Cricket

2010-02-24T22:30:00.000+05:30

As the tears of joy flow freely onto my cheeks, I sit here witnessing with wonder, with inspiration, passion and the pride given to us by the Little Master - The Lord of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, who achieved what was thought to be impossible. The first person to have scored a double century in ODI Cricket.

The only person ever to have reached a double-ton in One Day Internationals, Sachin Tendulkar has brought immense pride to our country. Would someone believe that a person, at an age nearing retirement, play so gracefully, yet with such passion that one is inspired to the core?

Wow! An absolute class of an innings. Sachin played the role of a perfect batsman through his twenty years of cricket. And it isn't too surprising that the ultimate honor went to him, which he truly deserved.

In the final tense moments of India's first innings, sitting glued to my chair in front of the TV, I could nearly sense how Sachin felt in the ground. Surrounded by a jam-packed crowd and a pack of South Africans ready to pounce on him any time, the Little Master showed what a perfect batsman is required to play and what he is rewarded thereof.

Then on, I realized what PASSION is all about. It's not just about breaking our own records - it's all about involving yourself so intimately with something that you drown in it, becoming the master of your times. PASSION includes caring for your mates - be it your family or your country.

As an Indian, I'm really REALLY proud as are all of my fellow mates in the country. I bow to the Almighty that He create many such persons in our country and MAKE THEM REALIZE themselves, their passions and act accordingly.

To Sachin, I'd say that he was always my role model - not in cricket, but in life. You've made us proud Sachin.

"And that is the reason why this victory is great, because different players have made contributions to the win." - Sachin Tendulkar.

Check out Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar

2010-02-14T09:49:00.001+05:30

Title: Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar
Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=-739669948399420849331

Save our Tigers!

2010-02-14T09:43:00.001+05:30

With just 1411 tigers remaining, it's up to us to save these animals for the forthcoming generations. The national animal of India is about to die in large numbers – die slowly. If the number gets reducing at the rate it is, now, there’ll be no more tigers left to live. Tiger, I agree, is a wild animal and doesn’t bother to eat humans. But humans, who are in greater numbers, aimlessly kill these animals for the products obtained through these, like the tiger’s skin. Despite numerous laws imposed by the Government, it seems as though no one heeds, or more importantly, realizes the importance of protecting these animals.

Let us consider this formidable situation where, instead of humans, it is monkeys who are the most intelligent creatures in the earth and they, just like the humans, destroy the beautiful earth. While there are just about 1500 humans in a country like India, and the human species is about to become extinct, how would the world look like, to us? Not even sanctuaries, like the zoos are comforting.

I would strongly recommend everyone to watch this video

From around 40,000 at the turn of the last century, there are just 1411 tigers left in India. What started as a Royal Sport during the olden times is now a target of Poaching and Depleting Habitat. Our National Animal is fighting for its life!

The rich biodiversity and natural capital of India can be witnessed in the Tiger Sanctuaries. Knowledge of these sanctuaries helps build awareness for the cause.

Tiger Facts

From around 40,000 tigers at the turn of the last century, there are just 1411 tigers left in India. 2009 was the worst year for tigers in India, with 86 deaths reported. There are 37 Tiger sanctuaries in India. However, 17 sanctuaries are on the verge of losing their tiger population. Corbett National Park is the oldest tiger park in India. It was created in 1936 as ‘Hailey National Park’. The Kanha National Park’s lush sal and bamboo forests, grassy meadows and ravines provided inspiration to Rudyard Kipling for his famous novel, The Jungle Book.

Image taken from http://www.saveourtigers.com/KnowTheStoryTigerPark.php

SA ready for any kind of pitch - van Zyl

2010-02-10T19:23:00.001+05:30

Taken from Cricinfo.com
Corrie van Zyl, victorious in his first Test as South Africa's coach, has said that his team will not be intimidated by a probable turning track at Eden Gardens because the visitors are now mentally much stronger than they were on their last visit in 2008.

Two years ago Dale Steyn had broken the back of India's batting with a powerful burst of fast bowling in Ahmedabad to put South Africa one up going into the final Test in Kanpur a week later. India opted for a turning pitch at Green Park, which Steyn called a "bunsen burner", won the Test and levelled the series.

This time, though, Graeme Smith is leading a unit that is not just consumed by the possibility of beating India in India but is confident of doing so. That, van Zyl points out, is the difference between this squad and the previous ones. "Mentally, the South African team is better prepared," van Zyl, who was appointed the interim coach after Mickey Arthur resigned, said.

"It is still going to be a challenge to deal with turning wickets or whatever the wicket is," he said. The South African think-tank has already assumed the Indians will opt for a pitch that play to their strengths. "India have more control over the conditions," Smith had said yesterday after the innings win in Nagpur.

van Zyl echoed his captain's sentiments today. "I won't say it would be a minefield, but I do expect something that will help the Indian team."

But the South African coach said they would not be in a hurry to change their gameplans, especially after they worked so well in Nagpur. Speaking about the aggressive bowling lines adopted by Steyn, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell, van Zyl said it was a conscious decision. "It would be part of our gameplan going forward. We need to make sure as a bowling unit we start operating together and we don't work as individuals. That makes you a lot more effective."

Still there was an individual effort that stood out and that came from Paul Harris. The left-arm spinner had been targeted going into the series but produced a concerted effort of bowling to strict lines and lengths that clamped the movement of the specialist Indian batsmen, especially in the crucial second innings.

"Just the fact that he bowled so many overs, and his economy rate, shows he was really effective," van Zyl pointed out. Importantly Harris knows exactly what his role is within the bowling unit. He said that the decision to enforce the follow-on became viable only because Harris kept an end tight and delivered marathon spells on the fourth afternoon.

Asked whether the leg-stump line against Sachin Tendulkar was deliberate, considering the batsman's past vulnerability to such a ploy, van Zyl indirectly confirmed it. "The line of the attack is determined by the amount of the turn on offer and the line where it turns from. And we had to assess where it was more difficult to score against."

van Zyl has been part of the South African coaching set-up for the better half of the last decade and worked closely with various coaches, including Arthur. His previous assignment, before moving into the present job, was to deal with the emerging talent at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. A fast bowler during his playing days, van Zyl said the most striking aspect about Smith's squad was its "professionalism".

"I was telling the team and the team management that I was pleasantly surprised by the level of professionalism," van Zyl said. According to van Zyl the main reason for the superior mental strength the players possess now could be the structure Arthur worked hard to create. "Credit must be given to Mickey and what he put in the place. That does make my introduction a lot easier."

Both Smith and van Zyl have no illusions about that the second Test, which begins on February 14, being just another hurdle that can be easily crossed. "If the first Test was a challenge then the second Test is a bigger challenge," van Zyl said.

Smith said an extra day's break would be welcome given the amount of preparation that went into the Nagpur Test. "The guys need a few days' rest to regain the mental energy more than anything else. This [first Test win] has taken a lot out of the guys," he said. But he is not losing any sleep yet. "There is enough in the group now and we have beaten India enough number of times. I don't think anything will surprise us going into Kolkata."

Remedies against Laziness

2010-02-09T20:31:00.001+05:30

Life is full of thousands of pleasures and activities that can mean very fond moments of joy to share with the people who want and taking advantage of every minute of life, because no one knows when that becomes an obligation or a problem that will not allow Time to enjoy full freedom, for while both were available free to enjoy every minute as much as possible it is best to unleash the energy and not lose valuable time because of the laziness that is an evil that will waste time and in ociosidades things that did not represent any value.

It is quite true that when it is under the effects of laziness is very difficult to get out of this state which borders both human action, however when the laziness there are several very useful remedies to combat this evil as limiting and go and perform many pleasant activities and if appropriate to meet obligations in the best way.

One of the best remedies to combat laziness and perform certain actions is that would be much more beneficial to life than sitting or lying down without doing anything, the motivation both from a personal point of view as a group of people who located at around. So the motivation is given encouragement to do something and think about the benefits, leaving behind laziness, it is said that a very good offer activities like going out and find something where one can be distracting as a sport where it is healthy exercise the body and are happy to spend time with friends or go out to walk and enjoy a good conversation, they also go shopping. Another important factor in relation to combat laziness by the motivation is to have people happy and animated to change the perspective of life and awaken the desires of the act by taking advantage of time and energy it takes to enjoy the many delights of life.

Another remedy for laziness is to think about all those things that can be done by leaving the mere fact that it is laziness, to think that valuable time that may never recover this lost is thrown on a sofa watching pass the time without a harness, which can sometimes cause problems with other people in the case of debt or create discomfort, whereas if we would be doing something useful will be the satisfaction of having sufficient time in an appropriate way where they could have done many tasks at one time or another will have to do or simply be enjoying a pleasant atmosphere and a lot of fun doing a sport or recreational activity that meant a future in a pleasant recollection of life.

The choice is whether to laziness are to analyze the effect of the actions, but rather in the case of laziness and lack of action that will have consequences, which quite possibly remorse in the future will feel very bad, so it is better change your attitude towards life and make the most and without any limitation as laziness.

Article Source: http://www.gestbiz.com/articles , written by Roberto Garabell

The Picture of Dorian Gray

2010-01-31T06:46:00.002+05:30

Credits to http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=16797

You can download the book from here.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray is yet another novel portraying evil. The theme is very much reflected by the book’s setting, plot structure and characterisation. It shows how individuals can slowly deteriorate because of the evil lying within themselves. The evil of this book is the evil created by one’s self and thrusted upon one’s self. The power of greed and selfishness take over Dorian Gray and create an ugly evil side to him.

The mid eighteenth century was a very influential era, specially in England. This period judged much upon appearance and status. Dorian was a very wealthy, intelligent man with a very high status. He knew the very influential and rich people in his town as well. His beauty charmed the world. Basil was inspired to draw his portrait in order to preserve his beauty and youth.

Dorian recognised that as long as he remained young he would be handsome. He dreaded the day that he would age slightly and start to form wrinkles and such ugly (in Dorian’s opinion) ugly things. He believed that that day would deprive him of triumphs that would result in him being miserable.

The degree of evil within Dorian increases as the plot develops. By trading his soul for his youth, Dorian rids of the good inside of himself. The plot proves to us that evil does actually lie within an individual. From the moment that he becomes forever young he begins to deteriorate. Even once he reached his epiphany and saw his evil through the portrait he simply denied seeing it and continued his malicious deeds.

The characterisation of the book is one of the most important elements of this book. Dorian begins by being a very naïve lad. He is very easily influenced by others especially his two new good friends; Basil and Lord Henry.

Basil, the painter of the portrait, influenced Dorian in more of a good, honest way. While Lord Henry, although not being evil himself, gave him a more evil insight on life. Both of them changed his life forever. How little they both knew what went on inside that man.

Basil does not have any real direct influence on the youngster; without him the lad would have never been caught in his evil destiny. Basil was an inspired artist when he first met Dorian. He admitted that his picture of Dorian was the best picture he ever painted. To him it was more than a painting, it was as if he created another life. He put himself into it. He did not know

that he was creating his own murder when he made the painting. He was always a good friend to Dorian. When Dorian talked about ageing being such a dreadful thing, something worth killing yourself for, Basil tried to calm him down.

At the same time, Lord Henry was more of a directly harmful influence on Dorian. Within the couple of minutes in which he lectured Dorian about youth and living, he developed a whole other side to him. He had such a big cynical impact on Dorian and yet he did not realise it. It was because of him that Mr. Dorian Gray decided that he would like to remain young and exquisite. He is also the one who brings out Dorian’s first bad deed with Sibyl Vane.

With a multitude of different influences around Dorian Gray, he is still the one to blame for all his wrong doings. His character is a tragic one, much like Macbeth’s. His flaw was excessive ambition. Even once he knew he was doing something wrong he could not control himself. He even yearned for self reformation but could not make it possible.

He started off as one of the kindest, most modest and innocent men ever.

That all changed once he traded his soul for his youth with the painting. He entered a life of gradual dissipation. It became easier and easier for him to sin because he always had a maginot line; that he does not have a soul. In my opinion that was a poor excuse because his greediness and selfishness began before he abandoned his soul. His first act of covetousness was when he craved to be infinitely young. He wanted to be different, to be superior to others, to have something that the whole world would be envious of. He believed that to live a simple life was merely to live at all.

When he first started his life of debauchery his uneasy conscious made him avoid those he knew. Although once he became regulated to a life of degradation he no longer cared what others thought of him. This is one of the biggest ironies of the story; that he no longer cared what people think of him.

He originally wanted to stay young and lovely so others would recognise his greatness so he may still be able to do audacious things. His pride of individualism was half of his fascination of evil.

The author was very successful in finding the right means to represent the evil in this book. The different aspects of the book made this possible.

In Dorian’s attempt to redeem himself he must terminate his life. The book ends on more of a good note than a bad; that there is hope in stopping evil, we just have to have a want for it.

Oscar beckons A.R. Rehman for the 2nd time

2010-01-23T08:46:00.000+05:30

After making the entire world dance to his mellifluous tunes from Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, Rehman makes America sit up and take notice yet again. After picking up 2 Oscars last year, Indian musical maestro A.R. Rehman has earned an Oscar nomination this time for a Hollywood flick ‘Couple’s Retreat’.

Rehman has been nominated in the shortlisted names of composers for the ‘Best Original Song’ category. The ‘Mozart of Madras’ has garnered adulations for his Tamil number ‘Na Na’ that’s very close to his heart as the song has been sung by Rehman’s 6-year old son Alim.

However, the final list of nominees will be declared on 2nd February and Rehman’s song is up for a healthy competition from 62 other songs. If, Rehman makes the cut, then the whole of India will once again watch with baited breath the unfolding of the 82nd Academy Awards on March 7th.

The song is available here

Vellai Pookkal - Song of the Month

2010-01-23T08:44:00.001+05:30

Song: Vellai Pookkal
Movie: Kannathil Muthamittal
Singer: A.R.Rahman
Lyrics: Vairamuthu
MD: A.R.Rahman
****************************************************

Pallavi
——–
Vellai pookkal ulagam engum malargavey!
Vidiyum bhoomi amaithikkaga vidigavey!
Manmael manjal velichcham vizhugavey!
Malarey soambal muriththu ezhugavey!
Kuzhandhai vizhikkattumae, thaayin kadhakadhappil
Ulagam vidiyattumey, Pillayin siru mudhal sirippil…

Charanam-1
———–
Kaatrin paerisayum,
Mazhai paadum paadalgalum,
Oru mounam, poal inbam, tharumo?

Kodi keerthanamum
Kavi koartha vaarthaigalum,
Thuli kanneer, poal artham, tharumo?

Charanam – 2
————-
Engu siru kuzhandhai,
Than kaigal neettidumo,
Angu thoandraayo, vellai, nilavey!

Engu manidha inam,
Poar oindhu saaindhidumo,
Angu koovaayo, vellai, kuyile!

Congrats, My Friend

2010-01-04T19:40:00.001+05:30

It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog post of my own. Generally, I write my own posts only when it’s a special occasion. Here it is – the story that lies beneath. My friend, U. Vedhapuri, who sits on the same bench as mine, in college, has just qualified for the highly esteemed Microsoft Student Partner. I’ll tell you in a short while why it’s a highly esteemed post and why not only I, but the whole section of our Department, consider it as a pride.

Well, it all started when a very good friend of ours, our senior in college, Mr.Nandan Agarwal, a talented and eminent personality of our college, met us at an Engineering college in Chennai, for a National Level Technical Symposium. He informed us that Microsoft, the software giant, comes to our college once in a blue moon, to recruit candidates, who are eligible for representing them on behalf of their company.

The benefits? Free access to their technology and a higher scope of getting into Microsoft. In return, we would conduct workshops, seminars and discussions and be an active partner for Microsoft, whenever a new technology or a product was released.

So, he asked us to prepare for this in advance, so that when they do come, we’d be better equipped with the proper knowledge and competitive spirit to face this off. To be candid, I was interested at first and I thought of preparing for this event. That was 2008, a year when I didn’t know many things. Then came 2009, when I got to know a lot of things and gradually lost interest in Microsoft. I knew I wouldn’t make it anyway. But not Vedhapuri. He was quite different and he actively participated in Microsoft’s selection requirements and did a good job on making a video about XNA Game Studio.

He was selected by Microsoft for this and was interviewed through phone. He was asked a set of questions on general Microsoft interests which he correctly answered. Mind you, it’s not always that you find someone who can answer all of Microsoft’s questions. He did. He got selected as Microsoft’s Student Partner.

And that’s not all. The best thing about it is that Vedhapuri is the first student in almost five years to be selected from our college by Microsoft. He’s done us proud. Best of luck to your future endeavours!

Congrats Vedha!

P.S : Dude, when’s the treat?

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T07:43:00.001+05:30

The New Year is all about New year sms, mobile text messages, new year quotes, new year calendar, new year wallpapers, Scraps for orkut and facebook, parties, greetings, cards, shopping and many more.

People are searching the net for the list of New Year messages, SMS to send to their family, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, colleagues, boss etc. They have already started sending the New year 2010 messages from their mobile phones.

Mentioned here is the list of some of the best, most popular latest sms, messages, scraps for the New Year 2010.

Beauty..
Freshness..
Dreams..
Truth..
Imagination..
Feeling..
Faith..
Trust..
This is beginning of a new year!
My best wishes for you!

Like birds, let us, leave behind what we don’t need to carry…
GRUDGES, SADNESS, PAIN, FEAR and REGRETS
Life is beautiful, Enjoy it.
Happy New Year

Tom Cruise
Angelina Jolie
Arnold
Jennifer Lopez
& me
All the Stars wish u a Very Happy New Year.

Oh my Dear, Forget ur Fear,
Let all ur Dreams be Clear,
Never put Tear, Please Hear,
I want to tell one thing in ur Ear
Wishing u a very “Happy NEW YEAR“!

Years come n go, but this year I specially wish 4 u a double dose of health n happiness, topped with fortune. Have a gr8 year ahead!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

In ‘The Universal Bank of God’…
God stores his blessings & deposited 365 days full of love, faith & happiness for you…
So, enjoy spending…
Happy New Year

New is d year,
New are d hopes
And d aspirations,
New is d resolution,
New are d spirits and
Forever my warm wishes are 4 u.
Hv a promising n fulfilling New Year

Years come n go, but this year I specially wish 4 u a double dose of health n happiness topped with loads of good fortune. Have a gr8 year ahead! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
New is the year, new are the hopes and the aspirations, new is the resolution, new are the spirits and forever my warm wishes are for u. Have a promising and fulfilling new year.

How Tsunamis Rise From Sea to destroy

2009-12-26T08:38:00.000+05:30

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was caused by a major earthquake under the seafloor north of Aceh in Sumatra. Scientists say another massive undersea earthquake is long overdue beneath the Mentawai islands in Indonesia and could trigger another deadly tsunami anytime.

HOW TSUNAMIS OCCUR

In the Sumatra area, the tectonic plates meet in a subduction zone, where the boundaries of one plate are forced beneath the other plate. The Indo-Australian plate is sliding northeastward (at about 7 cm per year) and dipping under the Eurasian plate, along a fault line called the Sunda megathrust which runs southwest from Myanmar down Indonesia towards Timor.

Tremendous geological strain builds up, over many decades or even longer than a century, until a section of the megathrust gives way. This rupture causes the oceanic plates beneath Sumatra to lurch forward suddenly, by many metres, in a big earthquake.

If the ocean floor ruptures, it suddenly moves a massive amount of water. This is what happened in the earthquake that caused the deadly Indian Ocean tsunamis of December 2004.

The water displaced by the Aceh earthquake was like tipping out the volume of Sydney Harbour within a few minutes.

Major quakes that rupture the ocean floor are usually shallow quakes occuring at a depth of less than 70 km (44 miles). The quake that caused the 2004 tsunami was 30 km below the seafloor.

TSUNAMIS RISE UP

On the ocean surface, tsunamis start as an insignificant ripple capable of passing under a ship unnoticed, but they become giants as they approach land and the ocean becomes shallow.

A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of waves. They can travel across the ocean at speeds of up to 1,000 km (620 miles) an hour, the speed of a jet aircraft.

The vast size of the Pacific Ocean and the large earthquakes associated with the "Ring of Fire" combine to produce deadly tsunamis in the Asia-Pacfic. A tsunami can travel across the Pacific Ocean in less than a day.

As the waves approaches land, the ocean recedes dramatically exposing reefs, as the waves draw the water out.

As the trough of the wave drags along the sea floor, slowing it down, the crest rises up dramatically and sends a giant wall of whitewater onto land. The first wave may not be the biggest.

The destructive force of a tsunami comes not from the height of the wave, but from the volume of water moving. It is as if the ocean floods the coast, smashing everything in its path, and then just as quickly recedes. Many people who survive the initial wave impact are washed out to sea as the tsunami recedes.

WORLD'S WORST TSUNAMIS

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was the world's most deadly, killing around 226,000 people, with a wave height about 100 feet.

The world's biggest tsunami, caused by a magnitude 8 quake which caused a massive landslide, hit the remote Lituya Bay in Alaska on July 9, 1958. As the wave swept through Lituya Bay, it was forced to rise up, reaching an estimated height of 1,720 feet on the other side of the bay, becoming a mega-tsunami. The sparsely populated bay was devastated, but damage was localised.

The Krakatau island volcanic eruption of 1883 generated giant waves reaching heights of 125 feet, killing some 30,000 people. It was the most violent volcanic eruption in modern history.

Source : Yahoo.com

The Irresistible Christmas Spirit

2009-12-25T21:23:00.000+05:30

For a moment, you wonder whether he is Branson in a scarlet robe, shooting a Virgin Atlantic Airways campaign in Rovaniemi, Finland. But reality kicks in when the flashbulb pops: you have to fork out 35 euros to the elf for the privilege of having posed with Saint Nick on digital Polaroid! That’s the power (sigh) of Brand Santa, which today entails giving, not getting, coins, from Father Christmas in Finland.

“What an idea Sirji !” you might protest in favour of Santa who goes bump in the night with his overstuffed sack and his overstretched paunch. “Nobody asked you to pose with St Nick in Finlandia. You posed, therefore you pay.”

Come to think of it, Santa may actually have done you a favour by sitting (for the) still. Imagine how many households he might have visited in the time you took for the snap! Had he come down to your parlour and asked you to pose for a photo-op with him, you might have been within your rights to expect some greenbacks in exchange from the bearded senior citizen posing as a scarlet chimneysweep.

Also imagine he could as well have flown to the other side of the world, to cavort on a golden beach with other scantily-clad denizens, senior or otherwise. For, as British artist Raymond Briggs shows in his award-winning graphic novel, Father Christmas, Santa is a grumpy, but lovable, old man who has to go all over the world, which is happily enjoying a holiday, only to deliver gifts and presents in all that snow, sleet and hail while trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible.

In Briggs’ comic, Santa does complain incessantly about the ‘blooming snow’ . But you would too if you had to wrangle that team of wilful reindeer, don’t forget the red-nosed one. Imagine, just to deliver a parcel marked with an X and holly wreath to some poor kid who believes with all her spirit in every kind of magical thing like Santa or the angel dropping the very gift she wanted in her torn stocking.

To be fair, the cartoonist also drops copious hints about the golden heart that lurks beneath the deceptively curmudgeonly exterior. It is that prospect of sudden, rousing kindness in a chaotic churn of numbing coldness that encapsulates the spirit of Christmas for adults and children alike. For as Guy Finley, the bestselling author of spiritual books says, “The true depth and breadth of the heart is measured not only by what it can hold, but also by how willing it is to let go (and give freely and fearlessly).”

That is exactly what Santa does: he brings cheer to a planet that’s been waiting for an eternity for the good news – Hark! The Light of the World has been born at last: in a holy manger, in the silent night, in the holy night, when “all is calm, all is bright round yon virgin mother and child” , sings Joseph Mohr’s famous Christmas carol, translated into English from the German by John Young. “Holy infant, so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace.”

Does it matter if we ‘believe’ or not in the power of this holy miracle of the light? Some scholars have spoken of December 25 as being a Natalis Invicti or “the birthday of the unconquered one” . That invincible one is supposed to be Sol Invictus or the Sun. But don’t forget Jesus Christ has also been called “the Sun of Righteousness” and his life “the light of men” .

December 25 also happens to be the Roman date for the winter solstice with the first detectable lengthening of daylight hours. So, does that rob Christmas of its jollity and merry spirit today? Not really. That’s because, long ago, Christmas turned into a meme, a benign mind virus that spread across cultures like wild fire.

It’s another matter that the power of these memes can also be harnessed, hijacked or parodied for a variety of purposes – yobbish behaviour on the pretext of Christmas festivities, for example; or serial shopoholism and reactionary rejection of piety as displayed by Grinch, the cartoon character created by Dr Seuss in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. In sweet contrast stands Santa Claus, a wholesome ‘who’ that is not a ‘what’ like the green-eyed prankster. But even his cold heart is unable to resist the redemptive power of Jesus Christ’s nativity in Nazareth: in Ron Howard’s movie version, the Grinch gets back his childhood sweetheart ; he is accepted back into society and all of Whoville goes up to the Grinch’s cave on Mt Crumpi for a sumptuous feast.

Merry Christmas and Bon Appetit to you too!

Taken from Times of India website.

Avatar – Movie Review

2009-12-21T21:10:00.001+05:30

Put simply, Avatar is the most visually fantastic film I've ever seen. It will be hailed as the groundbreaking 3D release of its time while setting a new standard by which all blockbusters are measured. Yes, it's that good.

I'm not going to talk about plot (or that I thought to myself, Dances with Wolves in space more than once). I'm not going to talk about dialog or pacing (or that the limited narration was totally unnecessary). There are other reviews, more reviewy type reviews, that have all that covered. I'm not going to spoil anything, either. Heck, I'm not even going to talk aboutAvatar...not just yet.

I want to talk about Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park was the first movie I remember being excited to an unhealthily obsessive level. My dad, a huge Michael Crichton fan, did his best to tempt my young self into reading the full-out book. So he told me a sort of good parts version, filling my head with tales of dinosaur resurrection from amber dug up deep in the Earth, all while I would do my best to get more and more out of him without actually having to crack open a book.

So when I heard Jurassic Park was becoming a movie, not only did that dash any chance of me reading the story, but I literally could not fathom a world in which I'd be patient enough to wait to see it (not that I had any other option). I mean, dinosaurs, theme parks, and terror?Jurassic Park was biologically engineered for young boys.

All of this is nice background, but my point is simpler. When I saw those dinosaurs on screen, knowing that, in many cases, they'd been modeled purely by computers—computers!—I felt like anything was possible. Yes, it's a cliche feeling. That's actually why I'm sharing it. Because ultimately, we all have that movie—be it Star Wars or Terminator or whatever—that movie we actually felt a bit humbled, even challenged, watching because it was was an amuse-bouche of the future, even if a bit cheesy at heart.

Avatar is that movie for the new generation.

I don't expect you to believe me if you haven't seen the film yet. I, myself, was a huge skeptic until a few hours ago. Blue people? Papyrus font?? What the fuck happened to dinosaurs and light sabers and killer robots from the future? Did we use all the cool stuff up?

But about 30 minutes in to the film, you realize that the marketing has undersold the movie. In an era when every great moment of a film makes its way to a trailer, Avatar surprised me with an endless amount of unparalleled optical overload. Every single shot is just so full of detail that you literally open your eyes wider to take as much in as you can before each cut.

Gizmodo readers will love the tech, especially as that about 50% of the film's budget apparently went to rendering badass 3D curved displays and absurdly awesome cockpits. But sequences from Pandora's woods at night...let's just say they're the first luminescentvisual effects I've seen that made 1982's Tron look like a 27-year-old movie.

Also, while shots of the Na'vi (the blue dudes) clearly deviate from a 50/50 balance between real footage and CGI depending on the scene, their body animation, even for motion capture, is unparalleled. While their faces and eyes especially can appear a tad cartoony at times, the overall effect is not done justice by YouTube trailers or that shot pasted above. Call the effect hyperreal or even unreal, but it's certainly doesn't look "fake." I don't know that I've ever witnessed complete humanoid models move so realistically, especially given their exposure (in both screen time and skin).

Of course, Avatar's 3D is the basis of my obnoxious zeal for the aesthetics. I viewed the film in a full-sized IMAX theater. And while I knew that a fair share of missiles would fly off the screen (and ZOMG the mechs look amazing), I couldn't have expected the sheer tangibility that 3D—what I once supposed a gimmick—added to the experience. I mean, I saw texturesin this film that I've never seen in a movie before, like wet, rubbery skin on the wildcats of Pandora that made people around me gasp more than once. There's a more understated moment, too, when Sam Worthington shaves and you realize, wow, stubble is pretty remarkable in 3D. The jagged hairs bring a level of humanity to his character, adding something unexpectedly corporeal to what's really a 30-foot-tall head in closeup.

So yes, 3D is more than a gimmick. The glasses are still a pain, but 3D is here to stay.

Avatar doesn't handle this new technology perfectly, however, and I hope that other filmmakers learn from its mistakes. Especially early in the film during shots in close quarters, the direction allowed many objects to break frame (think of a person walking from one end of the screen to the other). For my untrained eyes, seeing a figure go from 2D to 3D to 2D was not only distracting, it was tiring. And the same can be said for a constantly shifting depth of field—based upon where the camera is focusing, you'll need to figure out whether to look deep into the screen or right in front of you.

An out of focus shoulder breaking the corner of the frame is pretty much the worst implementation of 3D I could imagine. Luckily, the forest sequences that make up the majority of the film seemed to have been planned with a wider depth of field—more of the shot is in focus.

After 2 1/2 hours in the theater, I am exhausted far more than the same amount of time playing an FPS would make me, but Avatar was so remarkable that it was well-worth the work of watching it.

I still can't imagine popping on a pair of glasses to watch the evening news after a long day of work, and I sympathized for the guy sitting beside me as he started rubbing his eyes about halfway through. As someone with a slight uncorrected astigmatism, my left eye was ready to fall out of its socket by the final climactic sequence.

But as viewers, we'll adapt to the new tech. And as technicians, Hollywood will learn the rules of 3D as it writes them.

So for now, I'm not quite ready to see every piece of the world's media in 3D. But Avatar? Yeah, I'll be seeing it again...and maybe again...just in hopes of absorbing a bit more of the visual splendor.

Leashed Passion!

2009-12-09T22:19:00.001+05:30

Many of you might wonder what LEASHED PASSION means. Well, it’s a drawing by Laurie Lipton and I’m going to describe that image now.

What’s so special in this post? Well, it’s just that if you have some time to think, just read on and imagine the things I write. After you’ve read on and have an image of the things I described, please scroll down and look at the image and see how far my description and your imagination have matched. So, here’s what Leashed Passion is all about.

“The little child, sitting on top of the gray-coloured beast, smiled as though he achieved something great. He had blonde hair which were not neatly trimmed, but instead, grew almost to his shoulders. He held the leash to which the beast was tied. There was something haunting about the whole scene. The room was painted with shades of blue and white with different fractals one could imagine. The child wore a shoe, a canvas shoe, used by most people for jogging, yet, why should a child wear one? The smile on his face was genuine, pure hearted and bore no hint of evil. His little hands gently caressed the black fur of the beast which seemed to obey every word the child said. Toys were strewn all over the room, which represented a typical baby’s room.”

Let’s see how far the description has matched the picture.

Here’s the actual picture.

Stupid Messages!

2009-12-05T22:32:00.005+05:30

Example #1: There are some messages which are silly, make you laugh, and even make you wonder how the writers made up ideas without even thinking once about the messages! Once, I received an SMS from one of my friends that said , "Hi....This is ma new no:. Please save it. Don't delete the old one."

Example #2: My favorite is a close friend of mine that likes to sing. He literally sang his message on his phone and when I heard it for the first time, I was rolling on the floor laughing, not realizing that he'd already picked up his phone.

Example #3: These are related to Windows and how they deal with things! Enjoy!

Keyboard not found. Hit F1 to continue.
Windows has found an unknown device and is installing a driver for it.
Your system shell has changed. The Compaq software will work with your new shell, but the new shell will not work with your Compaq software. Do you wish to keep your Compaq software working? Click yes if you are unsure.
An Internet error occurred.
Printer on fire.
The procedure failed with the following error: The command completed successfully.
Your mouse is not working, please click here to acknowledge.
Cannot delete tmp150_3.tmp: There is not enough free disk space. Delete one or more files to free disk space, and then try again.
You need to supply a fax number in order for your request not to receive fax notifications to be processed.

Here's more that I found in this site: http://www.farid-hajji.net/fun/cj-errormessages.html

% cat "food in cans"
cat: can't open food in cans

% rm God
rm: God nonexistent

% ar t God
ar: God does not exist

% ar r God
ar: creating God

% "How would you rate Quayle's incompetence?
Unmatched ".

% Unmatched ".
Unmatched ".

% [Where is Jimmy Hoffa?
Missing ].

% If I had a ( for every $ the Congress spent, what would I have?
Too many ('s.

% make love
Make: Don't know how to make love. Stop.

% sleep with me
bad character

% got a light?
No match.

% man: why did you get a divorce?
man:: Too many arguments.

% !:say, what is saccharine?
Bad substitute.

% %blow
%blow: No such job.

% \(-
(-: Command not found.

$ PATH=pretending! /usr/ucb/which sense
no sense in pretending!

$ drink matter
matter: cannot create

Think of more and comment!

NOTHING PHYSICAL MIGHT HAPPEN IN 2012

2009-12-04T22:02:00.002+05:30

Andrew Hennessey

Now before I roll this one out, let me state for the record that I really really hope that a major change happens in the horrible status quo on this oppressed Annunaki slave planet. If something really major happens with pole shifts and earths crustal displacement such that big ships lovingly intervene, flights of Angels descend, we Ascend and etc it frankly couldn’t be soon enough for me.

This article therefore isn’t selling negativity and spiritually disheartening pessimism.

BUT, do you remember Y2K on the Internet ? and also a whole series of alleged something or others between then and now that didn’t happen.

We all tend to feel collectively gutted and hopeless after these farces don’t we.

This article will hopefully show that if a geological 2012 doesn’t happen then it isn’t the end of the end of the world !!

There could be an Angelic 2012 or even a Geological 2014 or 2010.

The real science of chaos theory that could more accurately help us out with predictions of this nature has been suppressed – probably after it started taking Darwin out of the equation in the early 1990’s. [e.g. Dr S Kauffman’s, ‘Autocatalytic self-organising polymers’ model, project and paper at Santa Fe Institute – now almost untraceable.

The historical Status Quo on this planet is entirely artificial and alien controlled in my opinion but alas so is the data pertaining to pole shifts that might affect the HU-man livestock performance on the farm.

In my own mind, having seen and collected lots of evidence there is no doubt that aliens control this planet and that they tend to be anti-human in disposition.

I’m also pretty sure that there isn’t much that’s good in this galaxy given that they are all accessories to the fact of 20 millennia of soul farming where the only changes taking place for the long term recycled inmates under the frequently departing and historically depicted Repto-Grey alliance spacecraft – has been the style of historic footwear and license plates and mail bags that we have all been collectively sewing.

Our hitek interstellar overlords operating a farming matrix here for 20 millennia have operated an artificial pig sty with mud and pointed sticks and stones – a technological cul de sac rather than giving us 20 millennia of detention in metallic spires and domes and skies full of silvery shuttles. [I’ve spoken with several people who remember the Orion and Pleiadean galactic wars and the events of their capture.]

There is probably a reason for keeping things unpleasant here but that B Movie that’s rather like the Aliens 3 laboratory isn’t covered here in this article. The story of the reptilian HU and their nesting material HU-man is the subject of another article. Although I do tend to find new age channelling talk about ‘harvests’ and the bursting forth of the illuminati Hrumachis rather sinister !

Ascension, salvation and or repatriation can happen for us HU-mans – it must for many of us and because Angels and the Higher Dimensions of Love do exist, Ascension is a certainty in many different ways for most of us.

However the actual fixed Mayan date idea of a fixed date the 21st December 2012 being the exact date and time and hour at which something gravitationally huge is going to happen between planet, geology and star because the Mayans predicted it – has to be a fallacy.

I’m not saying that Earths crustal events and pole shift will not or cannot happen, I’m saying ET might have the precise date wrong.

I’m saying that the idea that even an Extra Terrestrial civilisation can extrapolate gravitational data from; galactic mass, other massive scale cosmic movements in our supercluster of galaxies, and precisely relating our solar system behaviour and planetary spin to such degrees of accuracy over thousands of years in a chaos based mechanical process such as our supercluster, our solar system and its galaxy is a fallacy. It would be like exactly predicting next years weather over one city on one day in Scotland.

In reality if some sudden chaos driven tipping point is to happen it could be in 2012 plus or minus a couple of years.

If it doesn’t happen to the minute in December 2012 at the precise end of the Mayan calendar on the 21^st of December – we haven’t necessarily been Blossomed or been Badchilded it just means that natural chaos is unaccountably running through the energy, mass and gravity of our solar system and galaxy and also through the massive scale changes in the systems of galaxies to which our galaxy belongs.

In 1992AD a Paris University think tank produced the refutation of Newton’s Laws of Planetary Motion – where the previously held idea of the harmony of the spheres in orderly clockwork was blown away by modelling the paradoxical quirks in planetary orbits by a Chaos Theory algorithm.

Nature is based on Chaos and fractals they are in; the rocks, the chemistry, in the sea, in our cardiovascular systems, in the trees and planets and atomic motion, and in our weather systems and in our cosmos and its galaxies and their large scale plasma behaviour and in our aether. Chaotic processes dictate the motion of the planets and galaxies, and of course tectonic plates and rock formation movements and pole shifts etc

We don’t really get to be informed as a rule allegedly because we don’t need to know.

On a planet where you can see the alien matrix droids parked outside your bedroom window on satellite photos from flashearth.com[well some of us can – see my http://www.youtube.com/outshore ], on a planet where aliens can manufacture printed paper out of thin air, they can also make and decay fake artefacts and also have the technology to rematerialise them underground making it appear to archaeologists that they have been there for a long long time.

This is a planet where the governing aliens who write and control and edit the books can use energy over matter technology and can dematerialise and rematerialise anything, anywhere, so we cannot take everything in our culture for genuine.

Rematerialisation can happen to people taken from their beds or outside a theatre or mall into spaceships or it can also happen to strange artefacts from some alien lab that can be beamed down into undisturbed soil to be found by e.g. Michael Cremo for his ‘Forbidden Archaeology’ research [2001].

On such a planet as this where our reality can be bent by negative aliens we cannot set our faith in what we think is the historical record as it appeals to our mind.

HU-manity is often deliberately misled and confused so there will inevitably be a sickening circus and torrent of chaos and disease and charades attaching itself to the 2012 issue.

We must take a step back from that and use our own resources to supply us with perspective.

The scientific and historical record has to be very false.

Consequently although I am not saying that Mayan pyramids were built yesterday, on a planet where it academically and allegedly takes 500 years to adapt a Roman ox harness to a heavy horse for the plough hence postponing industrial and scientific revolution and the urban specialism of society and population in western Europe for half a Millennia [Burford A, in Chant and Goodman, 1999, Open University Press, also in OU Course AT308] – things are obviously Not Right.

We think we can know about our world – but do we ?

We cannot say that by any historical or scientific record when we can expect a pole shift in the face of Repto-Grey engineering of our society, its evolution and its historical and scientific records.

Disney cartoons on an Ice Age or a film on Jurassic Park and other paradigm re-enforcing media don’t count as sources of legitimate research even though they are or seem to be cornerstone realities in our lives.

We must observe for ourselves.

What we can collectively do instead to realise the truth is take a note of seismic activity via our own homemade measurement networks.

We can bypass misleading media and conduct our own research.

IF Primary, Secondary AND Tertiary [fairly dormant] fault lines have become more and more active – we can work out for ourselves without recourse to our television or magazines when our plate geology is starting to change.

For example if globally, everybody says it’s getting colder, then how can there be global warming from a sun with observably no sun spot activity like in the cold days of the last Dalton Minimum in the Middle Ages.

Also there was a man at Damien University in Hawaii that ran his own earthquake predictions service producing more accurate and more successful results than the geophysical scientific establishment.

He had noticed from a Hawaiian folk tale that earthquakes followed eclipses and had worked out that when planets and moons line up with the sun there was a tidal surge of magma caused by the combined gravitational pull under the plates directly in the shadow area and that the earthquakes seemed to follow the path of the shadow zone. He used a fairly basic astronomy software.

We can inform ourselves about the real world but only our hearts can inform us about the realms of our Angelic brothers and sisters.

The other possibility that will happen to our world whether or not it is preluded by geological cataclysm is Angelic ascension and intercession. Some lives can be suddenly full of loving Angelic encounters.

If nothing physical does happen at the prophesised time – many many people looking for some way out of the despair farm and for some intercession are going to be desolately sickened. Nothing new.

Having looked at a lot of witness stories I do say that this is an Annunaki planet that specialises in the engineering of despair and other such alien harvests.

Angels of Light though don’t really respect the clock or geology or obstacles to our salvation and salvage so maybe they will come in at the time we hope for the most … an Angelic 2012 rather than a Geological 2012.

We know this because love exists and we know that Angels come into the world, sometimes into our own private world.

The main issue though is that the exact date given for a geological 2012 even though historically calculated by ET’s, might because of natural and cosmic chaos, be a total non-event at that specified time. That does Not Mean that it could not take place very near the actual date of the prediction.

More realistically and logically, given the Mayan Cycle idea is genuine, we should all be thinking with chaos theory in mind - in terms of a geological 2012 plate shift plus or minus a couple of years !!!

World’s Largest Tsunami

2009-12-03T23:50:00.001+05:30

"What is a tsunami...? And I don't see a huge wave in the picture, anywhere." Well, a tsunami (it's actually a Japanese word) is a word scientists use to describe an enormous wave (or series of waves) that happens when an large amount of energy is released into the waters of the ocean - creating a ripple effect. The effect is similar to what you'd see when you drop something heavy in the bathtub, or throw a rock into a lake. In the case of a tsunami, the the "ripples" in the water can come from:

1) an earthquake (movement of the sea floor)
2) a volcanic eruption (lava and rock going "kersploosh" into the sea)
3) a huge landslide, as was the case in Lituya Bay

The incredibly massive size of the material 'plopping' into the ocean (or the shifting of the sea floor) creates MAJOR ripples that are so big they are gigantic waves traveling at speeds of up to 300km/h over really long distances in the open sea. But, when the waves reach the beach they are incredibly high and wash way inland causing major damage and sometimes loss of life.

You're asking, "why no wave in the picture?" Well, close up shots of tsunamis actually happening are pretty rare and hard to get, as you can imagine. Would YOU stand on the shore with a camera to take a picture of a ten-story high wave coming right at you? Most people turn and run for the hills because their lives are in serious danger.

Enormous Earthquake

Lituya Bay is a large inlet along the coast of Alaska that is in a seismically active area - part of the "Pacific Rim of Fire". What happened at Lituya was movement along the fault that runs from left to right in the above picture. If you pretend you're actually standing on the ridgetop looking out over the Bay (like the view in the above picture) the fault would be in the mountains behind you. The "movement in the fault", of course, is called an earthquake. The magnitude of the quake was about 8.3, although some

This photo shows the damage to the headland; every living thing was completely wiped off where the first major wave struck.

sources say it was a 7.9, on the Richter Scale(a scale for measuring the magnitude, or amount of energy released, from an earthquake). Pretty awesome shaker. Well, shaker it was...it "shook" loose an estimated 40 million cubic yards of dirt and glacier from a mountainside at the head of the Bay, about where you're standing in the above picture. When the stuff went "kersploosh" into the water it created a massive wave that washed 500m high over the headland in the right side of the above picture. The tsunami inundated approximately 5 square miles of land along the shores of Lityua Bay, sending water as far as 3,600 feet inland, and clearing millions of trees.You can see the damage to the trees that were growing on the headland when the wave washed over the top of it - there were no trees left...wiped 'em clean off. The picture above gives you a closer view of the damage to the headland that the tsunamil waves caused.

Human Witnesses

There were three fishing boats anchored at the mouth of Lituya Bay on the day the awesome waves

U.S.G.S. Aerial photo of Lituya Bay taken after July 9, 1958 event. Note the extent of the non-forested areas of land lining the shore of the bay, which marks the approximate reach of the tsunami's runup.

happened. That's the main reason we know it happened. There were human witnesses to the catastrophic event. Unfortunately, one of the boats was close to shore and the huge waves overtook it killing the two people on board. Amazingly, the other two boats "rode" the tidal waves as they washed from the source of the landslide and resonated around the bay, like water sloshing in a wash basin. The boaters watched in horror as the first enormous wave engulfed the small fishing boat and wiped everything in its path off the land. If there had been a town or city on the shores of the bay everyone in it would have been killed. Fortunately, because it was an unpopulated area, the loss of life was minimal (although, the family of the victims hardly think that it was good fortune).

How Do They Know?

To measure the height of the biggest wave, all scientists had to do was look for the high water mark- that's the line where the water reached its highest point on the nearby land. It's real easy to find you just look for the uppermost edge of the damaged area (see photo at left).

Then, they measured the elevation of the highest point on the high water mark to get a measurement of 500m high - the biggest wave ever measured.

Other Big Waves

There are waves out on the ocean all the time, which are created by the friction, or the dragging motion, of

The yellow mark illustrates the maximum height the wave reached as it washed over the headland.

the wind over the vast surface of the sea. When big storms develop out at sea creating fast winds it causes really big waves, called storm waves. Ships out at sea during these really big storms have experienced some pretty big waves, some as much as 30m high, but that's about as big as storm waves get out on the open sea. Nothing like the "big one" at Lituya Bay

Here's something to think about...There happened to be people fishing in the Bay the day that the landslide and resulting tidal wave occurred. That part of Alaska is not populated, but people come to that area for many reasons. There are places on this earth that are so inhospitable (really bad) that few people ever visit. For example, the Arctic, or the Antarctic, in winter are some pretty nasty, cold places. Not only are they not fun places to visit, but they're virtually inaccessible to humans in winter. It's totally possible that in early spring, when the ice starts to melt, and glaciers calve into the ocean (break off HUGE chunks) that really big waves occur. Possibly even bigger than the massive one at Lituya Bay! The wave may wash up over ice and ice-covered land, but the evidence melts away so that no human ever knows it happened.

We say that the tsunami at Lituya Bay was the biggest wave ever, but that's just the ones humans have witnessed and have been able to record. There have probably been even BIGGER waves that have happened in the past when human witnesses didn't even exist. And you never know, there may even be a bigger wave to happen yet!

The Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani Movie Review

2009-11-28T08:39:00.002+05:30

Bumpy joyride
RATING: 6 /10

It’s a joyride with a fair amount of bumps and de tours. At places genuinely funny, at times hyperbolized and even begging the viewers to feel sympathy for the self-sacrificing bumbling do-gooder Prem, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is a screwball comedy going zig-zag throughout its running course of two and half hours.

Prem (Ranbir Kapoor) and problems are twins. Wherever Prem goes, the twin inevitably follows. He rides a cycle without breaks and bangs right between the legs of a robber (ouch!) and almost becomes a hero in the eyes of his townsfolk. He is the President of the cash-strapped Happy Club located right inside a coffin shop. Prem’s mantra? Make others happy. Only Prem’s father (Darshan Zariwala) isn’t happy with his day-dreamer and idler of a son.

Then enters Jenny (Katrina Kaif), and Prem falls head-over-heels for her. For him she’s a chalti phirti Vanilla ice-cream with silky baal and milky gaal. But is he a match for her? She loves books. He’s ninth fail. Her Mr. Right would be a working man who also gives time to his family. Prem is neither. He decides to change himself.

Phir kya! Prem takes up job of making laddoos at a halwai shop and becomes a good son for his dad and mom. All this he does for Jenny; to win her love. And whenever Jenny is in trouble, Prem goes full throttle to help her. He even takes Jenny’s troubles upon himself only to find out that she loves someone else.

Must mention that director Rajkumar Santoshi adds in a lot of Chaplin flavour to the lead character, but his attempt to evoke sympathy for the self-sacrificing hero isn’t as subtle. The gags in ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’ keep unspooling endlessly unless interrupted by the melodrama highlighting Prem’s heart ache. In a wink the movie switches gears from comedy to drama, confusing a viewer which one to take seriously. For instance, Ranbir and Kat’s characters stammer when they get emotional. The idea, intended to pull heart strings, doesn’t work. What works is a number of hilarious sequences like the kidnapping at the start of the film, or Prem’s gimmicks at the ballroom dance.

If there’s a best dancer award, it should indeed be reserved for Ranbir Kapoor. The young gun surely carries a shade of his granddad Raj Kapoor who in turn was hugely inspired by Charlie Chaplin. The funny leg-break dance Ranbir does in the ballroom sequence is easily one of the high points in the film. Another highpoint is the climax (pun unintended). Agreed that it’s a little overblown and we have seen the menagerie of similar madcap characters going haywire in a chaotic climax, Santoshi presents it in a way that you get a few laughs out of it.

Ranbir Kapoor is stellar as the bumbling Prem, while Katrina is rusty at places. Must say she’s come a long way and can now emote a few scenes quite well. Upen Patel is all beefed up in a small role as Kat’s rich loverboy. Both Zakir Hussain, as the extorting don, and Govind Namdeo, as Upen’s politician father, are over the top. Darshan Zariwala is superb once again.

Like sensex, APKGK keeps going up and down. It’s not a patch on Santoshi’s Andaz Apna Apna but does pack in a good number of gags to keep you smiling.

Go with Prem!

Rating: 6/10

By N.K. Deoshi (http://www.apunkachoice.com)

We won't survive unless we get a bit crazy

2009-11-26T08:11:00.001+05:30

IMAGINE being in London early next year when buses start carrying the message (funded by the British Humanist Association): “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

I had a moment of feeling like that last week after listening to Robert Manne interview Tim Flannery about climate change. I was overwhelmed by a wave of relief when I found myself thinking: “Look on the bright side — it seems we’re all going to die fairly soon. Global warming will fry us or we’ll drown in the rising seas.”

What confronting and confusing times we’re living in. It’s not just the environmental catastrophe and the financial crisis. Technology is advancing at breakneck speed and the radical evolution in the media landscape is impacting on the way we live, work and educate.

Add to this our general existential melancholy, exacerbated by and contributing to many turning their back on organised religion. Depression is rising, obesity’s an epidemic, binge drinking’s up, divorce is through the roof … sometimes it feels like: “Where are we going and what are we doing in this hand basket?”

We have no idea what’s going to happen next. What once worked no longer does. The pendulum has been pulled right back and it’s trying to find a new natural centre. A bit like the cycle of bushfire and regeneration. Everything’s changing. We’re terrified. We’re excited. We’ve got no choice.

Think back to the 1960s and the brink of the huge social and political upheaval that was in store. No one could have predicted the massive cultural change that lay ahead. Not only were drugs and rock’n'roll invented some time in 1968, so, it seems, were sex, peace, love and macrame. Who would have known they were in for such culturally vivid times? And bad jumpers.

But we do. We know how much things can change. And how fast. Not too long ago, computers didn’t exist. Now we don’t leave home without one. I had to laugh the other day when a mate said: “What do you mean, you don’t have the internet on your phone?”

He’s got the whole world in his hands.

In our attempt to adapt to the explosion of change thrust upon us over the past decade, we’ve simply cobbled up Band-Aid solutions to keep us going. Our car’s been limping along and now it’s up on blocks. We can no longer keep upgrading the tyres, topping up the oil and filling the water in our hemorrhaging radiator. We have to stop making do.

It’s time for a new vehicle for new terrain. And the truth is, my friends, we’re off the map. What an adventure.

Everywhere people are saying: “Now what?”

At the end of the Flannery interview, the floor was flooded with questions, all very worthy and scientific. I wanted to ask: “What do we tell the kids? How can we avoid inciting panic yet convey the urgency of this situation? How do we encourage them to find solutions and not paralyse them with inertia due to the colossal task ahead?”

According to Albert Einstein, imagination is more important than knowledge. We never know what world we’re educating our kids for. But we do know the times ahead will be full of massive change and huge challenges. The only solution is to encourage kids to use imagination, teach them to solve problems creatively and equip them to adapt to change.

According to British education expert Sir Ken Robinson: “Creativity is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”

He argues that we quash creativity in schools and that we’re educating people out of their creative capacities — capacities we need to mine and nurture for our future now more than ever. He says we’re frightened of being wrong and if we’re not prepared to be wrong we’ll never come up with anything original.

Due to the universal hierarchy of subjects in education —maths and languages at the top, arts at the bottom — talented, brilliant and creative people are slipping by the wayside because what they’re good at isn’t valued and is often stigmatised.

A part of me would love to fast-forward five years and see where we’ll find ourselves, but I’m fascinated to watch how it unfolds. Who knows what’s going to develop in the next few years that we’ll wonder how we ever lived without and what canny ways of communicating will be cooked up next? Who knew people wanted juice bars, life coaches, Facebook, pilates, 30 flavours of dip, bottled water or prams for jogging? How can we have the answers? We don’t even know what the questions are yet.

It’s time to encourage imagination. Don’t just be prepared to stuff up, expect it. Encourage it. Experiment. As Zorba the Greek says: “Life is trouble. Only death is not. To live is to undo your belt and look for trouble.”

Exams are Over!

2009-11-26T07:32:00.003+05:30

Ha! Finally, the great wave of examinations has receded. What an experience it had been. All the way through, it was an amalgamation of happiness and sorrow. It started off with an easy one. The second one was a shocker and was as hard as it could get followed by another paper which I messed through and in both of them, I’d be happy to ace. An then, things started to get smooth. Everything that followed became much easier. Imagine! All the way long, I had to lose most of my happiness. Couldn’t blog, couldn’t watch movies and hell! 2012 was released mid-way between the exams! So, couldn’t even write a review of it.

But, as they are over now, I can always do what I want with a brand new semester heading up my way. So, I’m back to blogging! As for you guys, keep visiting my blog now and then!

Cheers!
S.G.

2012 and the Earth

2009-11-25T21:54:00.001+05:30

Taken from : http://voiceforhumanity.blog.co.in/2009/11/15/2012-beginning-of-the-end-or-why-the-world-wont-end/

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won’t be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice.

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we’re frequently asked regarding 2012.

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 — hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then — just as your calendar begins again on January 1 — another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Q: Could a phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?
A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway.

Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?

A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?
A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?
A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

Windows 7 Released – First Look

2009-10-22T23:31:00.000+05:30

The world was waiting so long for this – a highly polished interface of Vista and the performance of XP was the perfect combination anyone could have asked for. And it seems that Microsoft has done everything in its power to ensure this so as not to disappoint its customers. Luckily, the combination works out and the magic is inherent in the nature of this new, shiny OS.

The first review of Windows 7 was released by CNET today, and it seems they’ve appreciated it well. Here’s what they wrote:

The good: Strong design and Microsoft don’t always go together, but they do in Windows 7. Users might take a while to get used to the new taskbar and Aero Peek, but they’re a pleasure to use.
The bad: Performance is still hit-or-miss in Windows 7. At the ripe age of seven, Windows XP still performs better in some categories.

The bottom line: Windows 7 is more than what Vista should have been, it’s where Microsoft needed to go. How much damage Vista did and whether Windows 7 is enough for people to finally abandon Windows XP are questions that nobody has the answers to right now.

Deserved or not, Microsoft had dug itself a cool, deep, dark hole with Windows Vista. Users demanding that Redmond extend the life of Windows XP wasn’t exactly something they could be proud of, either. Bombarded by complaints and negative press even after the first service pack was released, the bar had been set high for Vista’s successor: Windows 7.

Luckily for Microsoft, Windows 7 is more than just spin. It’s stable, smooth, and highly polished, introducing new graphical features, a new taskbar that can compete handily with the Mac OS X dock, and device management and security enhancements that make it both easier to use and safer. Importantly, it won’t require the hardware upgrades that Vista demanded, partially because the hardware has caught up, and partially because Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make Windows 7 accessible to as many people as possible.

It’s important to note that the public testing process for Windows 7 involved one limited-availability beta and one release candidate, and constituted what some have called the largest shareware trial period ever. As buggy and irritating as Vista was, Windows 7 isn’t. Instead, it’s the successor to Windows XP that Microsoft wishes Vista had been, and finally places it on competitive footing with other major operating systems like OS X and Linux.

Microsoft is offering six versions of Windows 7: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, OEM, and Enterprise. The three versions that Redmond will be promoting most heavily are Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, although Starter will also be available to consumers.

Windows 7 will support both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The bare minimum requirements for the 32-bit include a 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB available hard-disk space, and a DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. 64-bit systems will require at least a 1 GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 20GB of free space on your hard drive, and a DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. A touch-screen monitor is required to take advantage of the native touch features. Do note that some users have claimed to have limited success running the Windows 7 beta with less than 1GB of RAM, but that’s not recommended.

Verdict: Way to go Microsoft and Windows 7. XP Sucks.

The Bermuda Triangle

2009-10-22T13:59:00.000+05:30

The Bermuda Triangle or “Devil’s Triangle” is a triangular-shaped area off the coast of Florida that is famous for reports in which strange disappearances occur and magnetic compasses go haywire. The area is situated in the Atlantic Ocean and is generally thought of as having apexes at Miami, Bermuda, and San Juan.

This area contains some of the deepest sub-oceanic trenches in the world, encompasses the fast-moving waters of the Gulf Stream, and has frequent strong water spouts and violent storms, making at least some of the reported odd phenomena attributable to human error or mishap.

The US Coast Guard acknowledges the fact that there are definite environmental anomalies in this area, but goes on to say that human error is by far the more bizarre phenomena that happens in these waters.

The area sustains heavy traffic, both by air and by sea, and certainly accidents are bound to happen. Inexperienced mariners or pilots who don’t take into account variations in compass readings or environmental anomalies in the area can and do get into serious trouble, accounting for many of the unexplained disappearances in the area.

However, even if every one of these stories were found to be attributable to human error or natural phenomena, the area is still fascinating for other reasons, not the least of which includes speculation that it encompasses the lost continent of Atlantis, and that it is a doorway to other dimensions. There is also speculation that the seabed in this area contains huge amounts of methane gas that is released suddenly due to changes in the sea bed, releasing large, unpredictable plumes of gas that have the capability to swallow ships or planes within minutes – without a trace.

One interesting theory is that the Bermuda Triangle is just one of many “vile vortices” that exist in both hemispheres all over the globe, a subject that we are researching and will publish more information on very soon.

Rather than dredging through the reports of disappearances, we are going to attempt to look at the area of the Bermuda Triangle with all it’s anomalies and try to make some sense of it all on this page. There are several interesting aspects of the area that warrant a closer look:

Triangular Shape: The triangle has had mystical and magical connotations attached to it since before written history – after all, the Great Pyramid is sitting out there for all to see – and it is a perfect triangle with a whole slew of unknowns surrounding it. Having said that, is the triangular shape of the Bermuda Triangle of any significance? Yes, but not like one might think……..it indeed does appear to be on a strong energy line or vortex in addition to all the variations described above, but this appears to be more relevant to its placement on earth than the actual triangular shape made by the 3 reference points by which we identify it.

Electromagnetism: Certainly electromagnetism has played a role in the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. This is one of only two places in the world where the compass points true north. However, the fact is that as you circumnavigate the earth you find compass variations of up to 22 percent at various locations. At first glance, this does not seem significant in any real sense, but again, if one looked worldwide very closely, this points to a strong vortex of some sort within the Bermuda Triangle area. We are continuing research in this area and will post updates soon.

The Lost Continent of Atlantis: Speculation that Atlantis was located in or very near the area of the Bermuda Triangle is probably the most interesting aspect of the Bermuda Triangle phenomena. Mainly because of psychic Edgar Cayce’s revelations, the Bahamas and surrounding sea in particular have been pinpointed as a likely site for this lost continent. Speculation has it that if the water was lowered in the area by 300 feet or so, the dimensions and topology originally described by Plato would match almost exactly. Indeed, a report in 2001 of an underwater city that has been found off the western tip of Cuba may shed some light on this mystery. It could be that the continent encompassed the entire Caribbean area and that the land forms we know today are the highest mountain peaks of that lost civilization.

Unexplained variations in compass readings other than those attributable to normal compass variation discussed above have been reported in the Caribbean area, and most agree that psychic energy is very high here. Some suggest that the Bermuda Triangle phenomena is directly related to sunken batteries or crystals from the lost continent of Atlantis still emitting energies from the ocean floor.

Portal to Another Dimension: Another interesting theory about the Bermuda Triangle area is that certain places there serve as portals to other dimensions. The sheer number of credible eyewitness UFO reports makes this an area warranting serious further study with respect to either permanent or ever-changing possible portal sites. Credible scientists making careful observations in the area have reported anomalies in magnetism and gravitational forces here that cannot be explained by conventional physics, introducing the possibility that there is a dynamic opening and closing of other dimensional doorways in the vicinity.