Pics from an era long gone!

See more pics at http://www.shorpy.com

A trans-atlantic journey!

This has been on every news site, but its still funny. Google Maps asks you to swim 3000+ miles in 28 days for a trans-Atlantic journey from New York to London. Whats more, it first takes you to France and then to London! Perhaps a case for Google to have flight ticket system (like orbitz,kayak etc). A fully integrated solution : Flight tickets, Car rental and driving directions as a bonus!.

Art movies

I was talking to a friend recently about "Dor" and he said something strange "isn't that an art movie?". That got me thinking 'how do you classify a movie to be art movie'? I think the general perception of a movie in India is the following storyline (or its umpteen variations) : "boy meets girl, fall in love, fight for love, marry and live happily ever after", spiced with generous sprinklings of song and dance sequences. Other aspects of the story such as corruption, oppression are woven around this main thread. Of late, this definition of a movie has been relaxed a bit to include movies that have a big star listed in the credits. (Just imagine how much impact Rang de Basanti would have without Amir Khan.) Any movie that doesn't follow this 'formula' is an art-movie.

I was actually very impressed with Dor. Two things that worked in favor of this movie were the strong storyline (bought from a Malayam movie) and Nagesh Kukunoor's direction. The cinematography was rich (as rich as any mainstream movie!). Some of the locations were stunning. Despite all this, it was still considered an art movie because a) it didn't follow the accepted storyline b) it didn't have any big stars.


I also saw "The Namesake" a couple of days ago. Again, the story was what made the movie good. Strong performances from the lead characters made it even better. The episodic style of direction gave a feeling that we were being rushed through the story. I guess I'll have to read the book to actually get the nuances of the story. Now, if only I could find enough time for that!!

wierd pics!

Multi-lingual code!

Apparently, the following code compiles in ten different languages (shell scripting included)! The cool part is that it produces different output in all of them. Can someone verify this? The languages are C, C++, Perl, TeX, LaTeX, PostScript, sh, bash, zsh and Prolog.

Of course, hats off the the original coder!!

%:/*:if 0;"true" +s ||true<</;#|+q|*/include<stdio.h>/*\_/
{\if(%)}newpath/Times-Roman findfont 20 scalefont setfont(
%%)pop 72 72 moveto(Just another PostScript hacker,)show((
t)}. t:-write('Just another Prolog hacker,'),nl,halt. :-t.
:-initialization(t). end_of_file. %)pop pop showpage(-: */
int main(){return 0&printf("Just another C%s hacker,\n",1%
sizeof'2'*2+"++");}/*\fi}\csname @gobble\endcsname{\egroup
\let\LaTeX\TeX\ifx}\if00\documentclass{article}\begin{doc%
ument}\fi Just another \LaTeX\ hacker,\end{document}|if 0;
/(J.*)\$sh(.*)"/,print"$1Perl$2$/"if$_.=q # hack the lang!
/
sh=sh;test $BASH_VERSION &&sh=bash;test $POSIXLY_CORRECT&&
sh=sh;test $ZSH_VERSION && sh=zsh;awk 'BEGIN{x="%c[A%c[K"
printf(x,27,27)}';echo "Just another $sh hacker," #)pop%*/


-Source: http://weblog.raganwald.com/2006/12/just-because-we-can.html

A right to cheat

See the full article here.

Students and their guardians are demanding that cheating be allowed during the ongoing +2 examination in the state. The administration has been taken aback by the sheer "immoral force" of this demand and had to use guns at some places to ensure students don't cheat.

Students went on the rampage at several places this month, "enraged" by the strict arrangements made by the administration at exam centres. They set ablaze government vehicles, threw stones at the police, ransacked college buildings and, in one case, even fired guns. Guardians fought shoulder-to-shoulder with their children at most places.

Searching for tigers in Bangalore

Census goes where no tiger has ever gone before

Can you spot a tiger on the streets of Bangalore? You won't, but apparently forest minister C Chennigappa can!

If one were to go by his reply in the legislative council last week, tigers do roam about in IT city Bangalore, mining hub Bellary, arid Gulbarga and tourist spot Hassan.

And thereby hangs a tail! Chennigappa said the census was conducted in Bangalore, Bellary, Hassan and Gulbarga forest circles during 2005-06 and the expenditure incurred in these places has added up to Rs 5.41 lakh.

But none of these forest circles are home for tigers! Corroborating this information is the annual census report of the Wild Animals of Karnataka for 1997-98, which incidentally was also furnished by Chennigappa himself in the council.

Wildlife enthusiasts are not amused. "Has anyone seen a tiger in any of these places? What is the need to spend money and do a tiger census here?"

Wildlife conservationists have started questioning the government's motive. Chennigappa had said Rs 25 lakh was earmarked for tiger census in the state after PM Manmohan Singh directed the setting up of a Tiger Task Force, which was mandated with estimating the tiger status.

But to spend that money, the forest department has gone in for a census even in places where they know for certain there is no animal present, let alone tigers.

The government has spent Rs 2.18 lakh on Bangalore circle, Rs 2.18 lakh in Bellary, Rs 1.16 lakh in Hassan and Rs 82,640 in Gulbarga -- totalling Rs 5.41 lakh.

"There needs to be a prey base for tigers to survive in any area, but Bangalore doesn't even have an effective green cover! Pray,why will a tiger roam around Bangalore when there are no deer, wild pigs or sambars for it to prey upon?" a conservationist asked.

"They are spending lakhs of rupees in areas from where tigers have retreated some 60 years ago because of depletion of prey base," the conservationist added.

A forest department official, however, defended: "The money was used to conduct workshops and pay wages for those associated with the census work."

The forest officer, however, didn't have an explanation for undertaking such activities in non-tiger habitats.

Conservationists cry foul: "The money could have been used for some productive purpose, at least in addressing the man-animal conflict which is taking a heavy toll on wildlife population in the state."

But the official maintained: "We will get a clear picture of tiger population in the state after the ongoing survey by the Wildlife Institute of India (Dehra Dun) is completed."

Sources stated that the census is conducted to ascertain tiger population in national parks and Project Tiger areas and not in urban areas.

Flexi-Couch

May not be the most comfortable one... but given that it can be 'folded' into a very small package, I can imagine its usefulness.

Sharp Edges

An Inconvenient Truth

Ever wondered why the weather has become extreme in the last couple of years? Watch Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". It puts some science behind your intuitions. The increased CO2 levels in the recent years and the close relationship between the CO2 level and the temperature, the world-wide occurence of drastic weather changes, etc. all make a compelling argument. The images in the documentary are stunning.

It is easy to confuse the global warming issue with the drive to use alternate fuels. I'm not an expert, but I think even using ethanol based fuels doesn't help.... any combustion based process releases carbon dioxide. May be the answer lies in a process/product that converts CO2 to something less harmful.

Go Green!

Indian crab joke - its not a joke.

From Karan Thapar's "Is Britain a racist country?" (Hindustan Times - Jan 27, 2007)

"There’s one other British quality worth recognising. They have great respect for individuality and, therefore, each individual’s privacy. The Brits love eccentrics. Whilst we in India strive for uniformity, they cultivate differences. We look askance at people who stand out of the crowd. They accept those who dress to attract attention. We squirm at unusual behavior, they see in it the stamp of character."

And the famous Indian crab joke that’s more than just a joke.

A man once went to a seafood restaurant and asked for crabs. The waiter rolled up a trolley lined with dishes. Whisking off the cover of the first he said, “These are Polynesian crabs.” Whisking off the next, he said, “These crabs are the finest Hawaiian.” Lifting the cover of the third with a flourish, he announced, “These are Australian crabs.” Coming to the last uncovered dish he said, “And these are Indian crabs.” At which, the diner said, “Why aren’t they covered like the rest?’ And the answer was, “Because when one tries to climb out, the others pull him back.”

This is a sad commentary on the mindset of modern India.

Why cricket is BIG in Australia?

Take a look at the area around Albert Park Lake, Melbourne.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps

I could count upto 16 cricket grounds (with proper pitch strips & grassy outfields) in this area. Such facilities for cricket. Amazing.

Australia is at the top of my 'places to visit' list.

It happens only in India!

* Found this unusual wikipedia entry!

Lal Bihari (or Lal Bihari Mritak) (born 1961) is a farmer from Uttar Pradesh, India who was officially dead from 1976 to 1994. He founded Mritak Sangh or the Association of the Dead in Uttar Pradesh, India. He fought Indian government bureaucracy for 18 years to prove that he is alive.

When Lal Bihari tried to apply for a bank loan in 1976, he found out that he was officially dead. His uncle had bribed a government official to register him as dead so he would get the ownership of Bihari's land.

Bihari discovered at least 100 other people in a similar situation, being officially dead. He formed Mritak Sangh in the Azamgarh district. He and many other members were in danger of being killed by those who had appropriated their property. Nowadays the association has over 20,000 members all over India. By 2004 they had managed to declare four of their members alive.

Over the years Bihari tried to attract attention to his situation by various means. He organized his own funeral and demanded widow's compensation for his wife. In 1980 he added the word "mritak" ("dead") to his name and signed his letters "late Lal Bihari". He stood for election against Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 and lost, to prove that he is alive. In 1994 he managed to have his official death annulled after a long legal struggle.

In 2004 he ran for a seat in the parliament of Lal Ganj.

Bihari continues to support other people in similar situations. In 2004 he sponsored fellow Mritak Sangh member Shivdutt Yadav when he contested election against Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Film-maker Satish Kaushik will be making a movie about his life, death, and life. Bihari was awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Award in 2003 for his considerable "posthumous" activities.

Some Linux/ OpenSource cartoons.

Thanks www.foxtrot.com.

Stunning landscape/sunset pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepres/with/340661207/

Suspect!

Note the expression on the newsreader's face. "The police have released a sketch of the suspect and uh...mm... uh..."

Cache & 3-Iron

Recently saw 2 movies that were totally non-mainstream.

Cache: French movie that totally got on my nerves - thats what the director intended, so its a good movie. The screenplay and the narrative were very different and some scenes - especially the ones where the camera is still for long time with no obvious focus of interest - were really interesting. The movie apparently has many levels of interpretation. It also challenges the perception of a movie/story ending with all questions answered, all threads tied up etc. If you get the DVD, don't forget to watch the interview with the Director.

3-Iron: I hardly ever pick movies from a shelf in the store without having an inkling about the movie, be it the actors, the director, the language(!). But the line that got me was on the DVD cover of this Korean movie: "The two main characters never say a word to one another". (The cover pic also caught my attention.) Well, the movie was a very sweet one. Was amazed that a story could be told so effectivelty without any dialogue. I don't think it would have made a difference if I hadn't turned the subtitles on.

Best of 2006 in Web 2.0

http://www.rojo.com/story/MmclY6SagQ2N0kSN

This article mentions quite a few sites in addition to the usual favorites of MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, Netvibes, zoho.com.

I love whats happening with Web 2.0, and there is still a lot of scope for innovation and new ideas. But personally I feel the space is getting crowded with too many similar services. It's like "Oh ... one more social networking thingie". I know competition is good and will get the best out of everyone. All the websites mentioned above are constantly improving their service, but ultimately there needs to be profitability for all the players in the market. Otherwise they cannot sustain their business. I feel in the next couple of years "something's gotta give" and we can separate the "men from the boys". My only fear is another dot-com bust like environment.

Extreme High Resolution Images

http://www.xrez.com/

Check out the gigapixel resolution images of Half Dome (Yosemite). The urban image of Boston is also amazing.

They'vs used 'photo stitching' and other such tricks to generate this high resolution images. I think, we may have cameras with gigapixel resolution in the near future.

Also, check out the time-lapse photography of sunrise/sunset. Its amazing.

PingPong ball in a glass.

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vitual bubblewrap

For people who love 'popping' the bubblewrap, herez some thing to keep you occupied.
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/stu/bubblewrap.swf

Unique buildings of the world

Take a look at these pics
http://americatopten.blogspot.com/2006/12/amazing-unique-buildings-around-world.html

Cute Hyundai ad

Domino effect....... Ad for Honda Accord.

One of the best ads I've seen...

High FPS videos...

Watch the bow and arrow scene.... I can no longer use the phrase "straight as an arrow". The disintegration of balloons and also the machine gun action is quite fascinating to watch.

we have to do everything manually......

Virtual reality maps

Check out http://preview.local.live.com/. I'm pretty impressed with the applications possible. Pretty soon we may have maps with driving directions and a photo of the landscape at each turn. There may be many different possbile applications : VR tours of cities, etc.

Queen of Hearts shot into two.

This image is capture from a highspeed camera. More such pictures can be found at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/exhibit-3.html

H2O: Dangerous Chemical

This was found on the newsgroup: rec.humor.funny

H2O: Dangerous Chemical!

A student at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide."

And for plenty of good reasons, since:

1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
2. it is a major component in acid rain
3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
4. accidental inhalation can kill you
5. it contributes to erosion
6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients

He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.

• Forty-three (43) said yes,
• six (6) were undecided,
• and only one (1) knew that the chemical was water.
  

The title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?"

He feels the conclusion is obvious.

Federer: The God of Tennis!

These shots are just unbelievable! I wonder if he practises them.

Akeelah and the Bee

A very cute movie. Excellent acting by Keke Palmer who plays the role of Akeelah, a 11 year old schoolgirl. An interesting trivia is that the whole movie was filmed in 31 days and with a budget of 6 million dollars.

PS: I just cannot help but see shades of "Morpheus" whenever I see Lawrence Fishburne.

The aging process captured!

The guy in this video photographed himself everyday for 6 years (and he's still doing it. See his webpage at http://everyday.noahkalina.com/index.php).

Awesome pic

http://takaisin.fi/Camels.jpg

Geek kid!

\

What a mess!!

Funny bike!

Creative ads

A print of a cup of Folgers coffee was placed on top of manhole covers in New York City, USA. Holes on the print allows the steam to come out. Wordings around the cup reads 'Hey, City That Never Sleeps. Wake up." from Folgers.

An innovative idea on a large billboard in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It really makes you want that 'Heineken'.

This is a great advertisment campaign at Unicenter Shopping Mall in Buenos Aires, Argentina for Valentine's Day. It magnifies the romantic ambience with a simple idea.

Life-size stickers of people were stuck on automatic sliding doors at a mall in Mumbai, India. When someone approaches the doors move apart and it feels like the people on the door are moving away. The person enters to find the message 'People Move Away When You Have Body Odour'.

A sticker has been placed on the high voltage box depicting that Duracell's batteries were used. Cool advertisement found in Malaysia.

An ambient exercise to promote Eatalica burgers. A 'Caution Wet Floor' board was placed near an Eatalica burger signboard. The copy on the board reads 'Oogling at the burger may involuntarily cause drooling which may in turn lead to a wet floor. Issued for your safety by the management of Eatalica restaurant'. Eatalica is an American-Italian Food Joint in Chennai, India.

A giant mirror was built that allowed passersby to stop and look at themselves wearing Indivi clothes at a shopping mall in Tokyo, Japan

An advertisement for a job recruiting company in Berlin, Germany. Depicting people working in the vending machines, ATMs, it delivers the message that 'Life is too short for the wrong job'.

Stickers were placed in selected car park locations and car workshops where the product is sold in Malaysia. It delivers the message that M-Tech Plasma HID Lights are 300% brighter than regular headlights. The burn effect sticker from the headlights really leaves an impression.

This is an advertisement found in Vancouver during the National Non-Smoking Week. The car was placed at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the message reads 'Death from car accidents: 370, Death from smoking-related causes: 6,027, Quit now before it kills you.'

Life size images were stuck on glass doors at shops, airports in South Africa for the advertisement of glass and window cleaner I.C.U. The expression on the face is priceless.

Another creative idea by The Fitness Company. Heavy Weights were placed at various subways in New York City which creates an illusion that the person holding the safety bar is doing weights.

A very cost-effective advertisement in Hong Kong for a yoga school. It showcases the prowess of a yoga practitioner on the flexible stems of drink straws. A surge of enquiries and enrollment went after up this promotional stunt.

This is a creative ad by Mini Cooper placed at the Zurich, Switzerland train station. It gives the perception that the Mini Cooper has a large space.

Some of these innovations are funny!

http://funny-town.blogspot.com/2006/10/absolute-crazy-innovations.html?

Departed and other movies I saw recently

Departed: A tense thriller. Keeps you involved all the way. I'm beginning to like Martin Scorcese. ( I didn't really like Gangs of New York that much.) The storyline of Departed is quite complex and all the characters are intertwined. I felt that the psychiatrist would have a bigger impact on the storyline.

Tsotsi: A simple storyline, yet the movie was amazing. Don't miss this South African movie that won the 2005 Oscar for Best Foreign Movie.


Seven Samurai: Great storytelling. Difficult to imagine that this movie is from the 1950s. The movie is too lengthy, but it is from the 1950s ..

Murals on a pavement

Find more of such http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm

Free guitar lessons

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/f/p/fpm108/glw/lessons/

Back in beautiful SB

The weather is not at its usual best.. a bit gloomy.

Cool Flash game

http://www.nata2.info/humor/flash/bowman.swf

Enable the wind and the wall option to make it more interesting.

Breaking a fingerprint scanning system

Cool Google feature -- Create your own RSS feed.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/09/secret-feeds-in-google-video.html

"Here's a little Google Video secret. If you add "&output=rss" to the URL of a search results page in Google Video, you get a RSS feed for that results.

For example, if you search for "apple", the address of the search results page is http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=apple. Now append the output parameter and you'll get http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=apple&output=rss, a feed you can add to your favorite feed reader, so you can track the best videos about Apple."

Movie goofups

Stumble

http://ebcrennie.googlepages.com/boys

When do I get my hands on this??

Awesome accleration.

Most portable computer

Unreal cloud formation

http://earthchangestv.com/albums/Storm-Photos/hPICT0033a.jpg

US Open poll (& and try out zoho.com)

US open Poll

Check your internet speed

http://www.speedtest.net

Plane Landing on Road

Really funny video

RAR sharing website

http://www.rarhost.com/

Cool face recognition and family tree site

visit www.myheritage.com.

Longing for some cricket action

They think it's all over ...
Originally uploaded by reallyreallyrosie.

The speed of F1 cars.

English Patient

Beautiful movie - strong story, good performances. Worth a watch.

Amazing trick shots

Movies I saw recently-

Memoirs of a Geisha: An interesting look into the world of a Geisha. I am not sure I got all the nuances/subtleties of the Japanese culture. If I am not wrong, there are quite a lot of them in the movie and the movie would have had a more profound impact.

Constant Gardener: Nothing special. Got the feeling that the book might be more enjoyable.

Goodfellas: Great movie. Excellent story-telling.

Empire of the Sun: Spielberg is a master story-teller -- keeps you glued to the screen. Christian Bale plays the role of kid who grows up in the midst of a WWII setting in China. He has done an outstanding job. Its not often that a child artist is the solo main-character of a mainstream movie (i.e. not a children's movie).

Eat with chopsticks

"I should learn to eat with chopsticks" - everytime I eat asian food, I think like this. And a few minutes later, after gorging on the food with a fork I forget the chopsticks. Today I saw this link on digg - a neat little tutorial on "how to eat with chopsticks"

Next time I eat asian food, I'll try it with chopsticks.