Paper Rockets

An evening in May

2006-05-11T06:45:00.000Z

In England, a pleasant day of summer is a precious commodity and perhaps too invaluable to squander; all of you who've been through the grim winter will know what I'm talking about.

So, I took a walk after work along the river side and took this picture to sum it all up. I didn't go by the rule of thirds and tried a 1/2 composition. I agree, its not the world's best photograph but it makes me ask, 'Half-empty or Half-full world?'.

Anti-beggary law

2006-05-07T22:17:00.000Z

I came across this interesting news item where Prasadi Sharma appeared in the Supreme Court of India to contest against the Bombay Prevention of Beggars Act that has currently sentenced him to one year in detention in a beggars home in Delhi.

Read about here. http://in.news.yahoo.com/060507/211/642mi.html

Right here. Right now.

2006-05-02T06:46:00.000Z

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson; Copyright of Universal Press Syndiate; Published here for fun purposes only.

I opened my inbox in the morning and had a daily dose of my favourite comic. Here's sharing my smile with you.

2006-04-30T07:54:00.000Z

A Chinese policeman yawns as he waits for the start of a ceremony to launch their Olympic security training programme in Beijing April 27, 2006.
Source: Reuters.com

This guy reminds me of me. No matter how interesting your job is, waiting can always make you yawn! But more than anything I love this photograph because of the variety of facial expressions the photographer managed to capture within such a disciplinarian context.

Observe the third guy from the left, I really want to make an international call to him and say, "Buddy, that's the most intense expression I've seen since Schwarzenegger's when his daughter was kidnapped in Commando. Whoa!"

Don't try this at home..

2006-04-30T07:26:00.000Z

Spanish matador David Fandila 'El Fandi' jumps to drive banderillas to a bull during a bullfight at the Maestranza bull-ring in Seville April 28, 2006. Cortes won four ears of two bulls.

Source: Reuters.com/Marcelo Del Pozo

My visit to the barber

2006-04-12T14:47:00.000Z

It started well. He shrouded me with a white cloth with only my head sticking out. There on, it was a nightmare. Alright, a nightmare's an exaggeration but let's say my senses were heightened and I was prepared to dash for the door!

After being shrouded I found myself immediately in the middle of a flurry of snips, dodging attacks to my ear and protecting the hair on the back of my neck. A combination of heavy artillery fire, planes dropping Stephen King novels instead of bombs on my head, smoke in the air and random lengths of barb-wire in the obscure distance. A quick spray of cold water to my face brought me back to reality.

He left his scissors on the table, quickly damped my hair down with his hands and switched on the clipper (Dramatic music in the background)! I quickly followed with, 'I'll have number 5 please'.

What followed was a pleasant experience so I decided to let my guard down and closed my eyes for a few seconds. When I opened them again, he was at that critical influx point where if you're hair's any shorter you'll look like an egg from a very bad alien TV serial and if its longer you'll look like a badger after a good day of digging.

He decided to give me 'the egg'.

While leaving, I made pleasant conversation and asked him how long he had been in this profession. He said, 'twenty five years'.

I said, 'Wow!' and I kindly requested if I could practice my hair-cutting skills on him.

He said, 'No'.

I said, 'thanks and good evening'.

My foot and My mouth

2006-04-12T12:59:00.000Z

Over the years I've come to realise how easily my foot fits into my mouth. The process is quite simple really and the sequence of activities is as elegant and clean as the movement of a ballet dancer going into an arabesque. My mouth takes on the role of the fiery leader, throwing dragon-breath on all that dares to move and then my foot follows quickly after with a loud 'thunk' noise!

Somewhere in the middle of all the precision is an opposite environment filled with logic, chaos and bursts of electric pulses from one point to another. I could also add that a lot of the activity is me asking myself, "Why did I say that?" or "What was I thinking?"

Of course, finally and certainly the highlight of the occasion, the peeved woman. This time it was two of them. (it's getting hot in here) ;-)

Scene from the sitcom Home Improvement

Tim Allen (advising): Listen buddy, every morning I wake up, turnover to my side and say, "Honey, I don't know what I did but I'm sorry."

Note to Spammers

2006-04-05T17:40:00.000Z

What is the deal with spam mail? Why has some geek(s) written a smart mail software(s) to bombard me and the rest of the 'simpletons' - my term for a 'simple internet user', incessantly with silly messages? Some moron out there wants me to increase my sexual prowess, to rush out to the nearest pharmacy for diet-pills and ooze pheromones from my skin to attract more women than there is sand on the beach!

Obviously someone somewhere knows there's money to be made by maintaining a database of active email accounts. My request to you, while you're at it, could you please spread the message that our earth is in trouble? Perhaps also spread messages that AID organisations are trying to get across rather than have them spend it on TV advertising.

..If not for the sake of nobility, at least for kicks!

Bionics on!

2006-03-26T14:36:00.000Z

The Bionic 6.. I have such fantastic memories of that series along with others like Voltron, Transformers, Challenge of the Gobots, Dungeons & Dragons and so many many more. The fantastic thing is that each of these cartoon series is tied in with a whole other network of memories from my childhood and every time I think about them they bring back the laughter, the tears, the fears and the excitement of being a child!

5pm meant that I was going to be transported to another world, maybe on earth, maybe in another galaxy fighting robots, evil sorcerers and other baddies who were up to no good, although not as corrupt as a barrel of oil - that's right even with their plans to destroy the world and spread suffering! :-)

For those of you who miss them as much as I do.. here's a starter kit to rekindle your memories!

Bionic Six (video)
Challenge of the Gobots (video)
Thundercats (audio)
Voltron (video)
Silverhawks (audio)
M.A.S.K. (video)

Sakhir, Bahrain F1 2006

2006-03-12T18:58:00.000Z

A good race overall. I'm happy that the tension from competition in F1 is back. Finally, more than two teams have the machine and muscle to speed their way to the podium. Compared to the abyssmal lack of spirit from all the silly regulations and manufacturers' unpreparedness from 2005, this is a much welcome change.

Alonso got the gold and Ferrari are back. Raikkonen had a brilliant rush from the back of the line up to the third spot as well.

I was happy with the way that Honda pushed their car throughout the race. But I have to say that after a brilliant last few months of testing and excellent qualificiations results I was disappointed when Button had a clutch slip at start of the race putting him at 4th place in the end and the 3rd gear failure for Barrichello left him struggling for pace throughout the race.

I guess these hiccups part and parcel of the business and I hope Honda will gain the constructor's or individual driver's title.

Check this news item to read more: http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s169/st92374.htm

Beyond the rush, pink fluff and chocolate candy...

2006-03-05T22:26:00.000Z

National Geographic photographer Jodie Cobb travelled the world documented how people defined love and assimilate it into their lives.

This is a brilliant photo assignment, more so because of the way the assignment was conceptualised and because of the parallels and incongruencies the photographer highlights; a result of a great execution.

You have to play the video diary to understand why I'm raving about it. Here's the link(click). Enjoy!

Honda fastest at Bahrain

2006-03-04T13:31:00.000Z

Well well well, tickle my ears pink and do the moonwalk in your birthday suit because Honda's RA106 had the best lap timing during tests at the Bahrain circuit.

March 12th isn't far off is it? I can hear a few trembles from the other camps!

Read the news item: http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s169/st90805.htm

A synthetic world and a dual life

2006-03-04T09:30:00.000Z

Here's a cyber business that seems to be catching on and I must say, quite well. If you weren't already geeky enough and not already staring at a computer screen throughout the day; Second Life (SL) is for you! To quote second life's website in answer to the question, "What is second life?"

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by nearly 100,000 people from around the globe.

And if I read this news report correctly, second life's userbase is at 131,000+ now and its game maker, Linden Labs, reports that nearly $5mn. were exchanged among players in January 2006 alone. To extend my disbelief, people are actually earning a living designing objects in SL, islands, avatars and digital clothes in this world, with a maximum reported earning of $150,000 a year by one user. Crazy? Check out this site http://www.dalliez.com/, where you can rent/lease/own sophisticated pieces of online real-estate property! Real cash economies in an online universe, if you will.

According to 'Wired News' staff, the above mentioned objects in second life can include artwork, animation, coding, and 3D modeling. What users pay for is actually intellectual property; its beginning to make sense now, huh? The economics of fun.

What's most interesting is how it opens up a whole new world of research into human alter-egos, future of the gaming industry, online economies, online societies, future human interaction and so on.

More resources:

Edwards Castranova, an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Indiana University, studies synthetic worlds.
BBC News Article: 'Do avatars dream of electric racoons?'
Project Entropia
Everquest: Escape to Norrath

Photo essay of a spectacular Jain festival

2006-02-27T22:10:00.000Z

The Maha-mastaka-abhishekha is a festival held every 12 years in veneration of the Saint Gomateshwara Bahubali.

Jain legend has it that Bahubali, while he was about to hurl his brother Bharat to the ground in the middle of a duel to determine the ruler of the land, stopped mid-way having come to a realisation and gently put his brother down; he renounced his kingdom soon afterward. During the duel, he realised that the name, power and fame he would gain by hurting and humiliating his brother would be the fulfillment of a desire, which ultimately is an endless pursuit leading to unhappiness.

View a fantastic audio slide-show of the festival (photographs by Karoki Lewis and narration by Gordon Grant).

While this entry does not propagate Jainism, it is most certainly about good photography and about peoples' celebration for life and their respect for it.

Honda ends pre-season F1 testing

2006-02-26T07:51:00.000Z

Honda ended their pre-season testing of their RA106 car and the V8 Honda engine - RA806E.

Mmm.. Ah! As Mr. Burns (The Simpsons fame) would say, "Excellent Smithers! Excellent!"