atheist - "Happy holidays" or "Merry christmas"

Yestarday me, Jack and David had this discussion during our lunch.

Topic: How should an atheist greet people for Dec 25?
-Happy holidays
-Merry christmas
-Season's greeting


Dictionary point of view

Happy holidays: In word 'holidays', 'holi' stands for 'holy'. So an atheist may have subtle difficulty when using this. Some christian believers may get offended when they hear Happy holidays instead of Merry christmas

Merry christmas: An atheist may have real difficulty when using this.

Season's greeting: Sounds perfectly fine...


Humane point of view
Greetings does not directly make things happen, but the greeting-reciepient's mind can certainly affect events.
So, while greeting, its good to use what the reciepient would like to hear.
So, I think, an atheist should use Merry christmas if it makes the recipient happy...

Adobe CS2 "Smart Sharpening"->"HighLights"

I had not realized effectiveness of "Smart Sharpening"->"HighLights", till I started viewing the image at 400%.

Here are samples to proove the effectiveness of "Smart Sharpening"->"HighLights"..:-)
This control is supposed control sharpening of highlights; I had not observed its effect because I would normally view at 100% but at 400% effect is very apperant.

"Smart Sharpening"->"HighLights" is 17%
Click to see the percentage

"Smart Sharpening"->"HighLights" is 90%
Click to see the percentage


This way I can reduce the over-shrpen effect

depth & distance

Realization of distance and depth happens only when we dare to stroll along edge of the cliff

Panoramic Photography - Projections

Imagine looking at the world map printed on paper.
You may ask, Why some have curved lines while some have straight lines?
May be, I too should have asked this question long back.

Today, as part of my research(loose usage of word..:-)) in to panoramic photography, I started reading about projections.
I found this very usefull information.

http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/CartDef/MapDef/mapDef.html

http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/CartDef/cartDef.gr.html

Panorama photography - AUTOPANO

After a gap of few months break I made a second attempt at panoramic photography.
My first stop was at PTAssembler site. The automation done to PTassembler, a panorama stitcher s/w, surpraised me; especially the addition of AUTOPANO.

AUTOPANO
--------
AUTOPANO is based on the research called "Recognising panoramas" done by two great people Matthew Brown and David Lowe

Here is nice a presentation on "Recognising panoramas"
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~lowe/425/slides/12-Panoramas.ppt

Also research paper http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/papers/cvpr05.pdf

..life is pleasant...

"Life is pleasant.
Death is peaceful.
It's the transition that's troublesome" -Isaac Asimov


This is one of the most convincing quote I have heard in recent times.

In my opinion....
Many people wish to be dead; even such people would have experienced pleasant moments at some time in their life. In those pleasant moments, world/life would have looked like a paradise to them.

Once dead, person is a senseless meat, so she/he can't experience the peace; but still the person thinks that death is peaceful. For a person in misery this makes perfect sense because by dying he/she can escape from dreaded tomorrow. So for such a person peace means just no-misery.

Means to reach death: accident, natural, suicide are certainly trouble-some.

My friend Jack's opinions....
Many people do not consider life to be pleasant at all; for them life is never ever pleasant. Another thing is, for the one who does not believe in life-after-death, peace after death is meaning less.

Anyway...it's great quote.

thanks giving...

there were few notable things in this long weekend...

-Friday dinner cookie said "Friendship is the only rose with no thorns"
-Later that night,coffeshop conversation had a long awaited aroma and nice..

poem - even clock shrink

as the days pass
our horizon differ

trains run on time
signal starts to fade

even clock shrink
start to mute thunder

moon, last night's star
is now a nondescript scar

fall best pictures

1) Till recently I was hesitant to create photo opportunities. My friend influence helped me to over come this. Here is my first such work


2) Casual shot taken in my house


3) Foliage in Central park, Newyork city

some questions?

This weekend I had a friend to talk the whole weekend and it produced following unnecessary thoughts...

1) Secrecy is relative
2) Can there be a two-way river?
3) In an Indian marriage, everybody is spirutially involved except the couple themself..!!!
4) Why statue of liberty, in Newyork, is woman?

natural, synthetic color pigments

natural, synthetic color pigments
Artist colors are made using pigments. Some pigments are found in the nature and they are called as Natural pigments
Pigments can also be prepared in lab and are known as Synthetic pigments. Paints based on Synthetic pigments, on thier labels, may have "hue" as prefix.

Single pigment color and multi pigment color
Single pigment colors are made out of one pigment.
Multi pigment colors are mixture of more than one pigment.
Colors produced this way may not be as brilliant as Single pigment colors.
Ex: Alizarin Crimson is a mixture of Quinacradone Violet and Naphtol Red. Quinacradone Violet has blue bias and Naphtol Red has orange bias When we mix Alizarin crimson with someother color; we may get unexpected colors because of orange bias and blue bias of original colors.


What is pigment?

colors represent emotions

colors and emotions
Artists use different color to portray various emotions.
I came across this material while reading about the preparation of artist paints.

Red-----> Aggressive, passionate and strong
Orange--> Fun, cheerful, warm and exuberance
Yellow--> Positive & sunshine
Green---> Tranquil and fresh
Blue----> Authoritative, dignified and secure
Purple--> Sophisticated, expensive and royal
Brown---> Utilitarian, earthy
Gray----> sombre, practical and corporate
Black---> serious, bold, classic
White---> peace, refined, truthfull
pink----> feminine, innocence, soft

mother effort v/s father's effort

As adults, when we look back at our childwood, we remember mother's effort in bringing us up than the father's. Father's efforts goes unnoticed by child because they are indirect.

poem - mist is gone now summer is on

--- "mist is gone now summer is on" -----
starting from winter headed to summer
my mind is driving in time forever

thinking of her decision with pain
searching for reasons in vain
fog of confusion is making me insane

radio is speechless and car stereo is silent
and rear view mirror shows no head light
but engine's breath is breaking the quite night
while mind is busy disecting the past,
I, alone drive with no haste
to picture the mountain soaked in mist...

morning dew glistens on the mountain
and loses its glue to the piercing sunshine
grass have droplets waiting in line
to plunge in to that unknown
in the mean time breeze whistles on
"mist is gone summer is on "...

dry grass blades are dancing under the late sun
with disappointment I squint in to orange horizon
this is what I find written around the slipping sun
"mist is gone summer is on "...

While driving back home I felt like beaten
like those mist and dew which lost to the sun
and I hear my radio say again and again
"mist is gone summer is on "...
------------------------------------------------------

find yourself

After eating chicken in Steak house, these thoughts hatched out of mind...

"...in a noman land, there is none to discover except yourself.."

painting - using warm & cool colors


size 16" x 20" medium - "water based oil"

More details...
Colors can be devided in to Warm colors(orange, yellow, red, white) & Cool Colors(black, gray, blue, green, voilet)

This painting is based on real still-subject, not a photo. I replaced white parts of the subject with warm colors. And replaced dark parts with cool colors.

Example: Drapery was actually whitish-cream in color. I replaced it with warm colors.
Similarly, I used cool colors to represent shades between Drapery's folds .

Here is a blog on my experience when doing this painting

http://asnowfall.blogspot.com/2005/10/warm-cool-color-painting-painting.html

painting - tree



Size - 10" x 16" Medium - Acrylic

More details..
Inspired by my picture taken near Golden Gate bridge, California, USA.
This painting tought me how to create rocky texture.

This is an experience while doing this painting http://asnowfall.blogspot.com/2005/10/saved-painting.html

painting - jean farm


size- 18"x24" medium - "Acrylic & Water based oil"

More about subject...
I need few pages to document the experience of painting this..:-)
Let me brief..this is based on a picture that I took in Woodstock, Vermont, USA.
My friend, an experienced artist, responded saying "...this painting is too naive..." I feel her comments are very much true..

depeche mode's "playing the angels" lyrics

A PAIN THAT I'M USED TO

I'm not sure- What I'm looking for
anymore - I just know - That I'm
harder to console - I don't see who
I'm trying to be - Instead of me - But
the key - Is a question of control

Can you say - What you're trying to
play anyway - I just pay - While
you're breaking all the rules - All the
signs that I find - Have been
underlined - Devils thrive on the
drive - That is fuelled.

All this running around - Well it's
getting me down - Just give me a
pain that I'm used to - I don't need
to believe - All the dreams you
conceive - You just need to achieve -
Something that rings true

There's a hole in your soul - Like an
animal - With no conscience -
Repentance unknown - Close your
eyes - Pay the price for your
paradise - Devils feed on the seeds -
That are sown

Can't conceal what I feel - What I
know is real - No mistaking the
faking - I care - With a prayer in the
air- I will leave it there - On a note
full of hope - Not despair

All this running around - Well it's
getting me down -Just give me a
pain that I'm used to - I don't need
to believe - All the dreams you
conceive - You just need to achieve -
Something that rings true



SUFFER WELL
Where were you when I fell from
grace - A frozen heart an empty
space

Something's changed and it's in
your eyes - Please don't speak you'll
only lie

I found treasure not where I thought
- Peace of mind can't be bought -
Still I believe

Just hang on - Suffer well -
Sometimes it's hard - It's hard to tell

An angel led me when I was blind -
I said take me back I've changed
my mind - Now I believe

From the blackest room I was torn -
You called my name my love was
born - So I believe

Just hang on - Suffer well -
Something it's hard - It's hard to tell



JOHN THE REVELATOR

John the Revelator - Put him in an
elevator - Take him up to the highest
high - Take him up to the top -
Where the mountains stop - Let him
tell his book lies

John the Revelator - He's a smooth
operator - It's time we cut him down
to size - Take him by the hand - And
put him on the stand - Let us hear his
alibis
By claiming God - As his holy right
He's stealing a God - From the
Israelities - Stealing a God - From the
Muslim too - There is only one God
Through and through

Seven lies multiples by seven
Mutlipled by seven again - Seven
angels with seven trumpets - Send
them home on the morning train

Well who's that shouting - John the
Revelator - All he ever gives us is
pain - Well who's that shouting -
John the Revelator - He should bow
his head in shame

By and by - By and By - By and By
By and by

oscar wilde - quote

-Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

-What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

click to enlarge

blackpoint compensation in Adobe PS

http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2004/05-04/pt/05-04_blackpoint.htm

corneal transplant

my corneal transplant
On 22nd Feb 2005, I underwent Corneal Transplant. That day, my cornea was replaced by dead person's cornea. Even before the surgery I had plans of documenting my eye's post-surgical progression. I took picture of eye before and after the surgery.

picture Before surgery
click to enlarge

post-surgical period
Because of bleeding in my eye, I was not able take picture of my eye on the first day. On the 2nd day, I tried shooting myself, using a mirror but I was not able to focus to my eyes. A week later my friend, Long, took some pictures (using Pentax 100mm f2.8 macro)

picture After surgery (see cornea & stitches)
click to enlarge
White tissue is the new cornea and black threads are the stitches.

Keratoconus
My eye disease is called as Keratoconus. This will result in distorted, and virtually useless, cornea; this makes any sort of vision correction, using glass, contact lens, Lasik, impossible. After surgery, with the new cornea, vision correction becomes possibility..

More details on Keratoconus
http://www.opt.indiana.edu/lowther/keratoconus.htm

Thanks to
-JackZito took care of me during pre & post surgical stages..
-dead person, who's cornea I carry...

now, contaminated, I can see better..

emotions

"....Emotion Bare your soul you'll never learn.."
-from song "You Think You Know Her" by Cause & Effect

I like this line, and also the whole song...
Its ture the emotions expose your soul to natural events of life.
We do learn and keep on baring as if it's always summer...

warm-cool color painting (painting class)

In today's class I completed the Warm-Cool color painting. I had to stay extra 2hrs to complete the work. Even professor stayed along with us, this shows the her dedication to work and art.


When I started, Warm-Cool color painting, I was trying to paint the colors that I see in a cursory glance. It sometime to realize that I need to represent bright parts using Warm colors(Yellow, Orange, Red) and dark using Cool colors( Blue, Violet,green). When I started implementing this for the first time I felt discomfort and confusion. During this painting, I used violet to represent the dark part and this experience made me more relaxed about Warm-Cool color selection. As I applied this theory in to practice, I started enjoying the whole process. During this I started realizing what it means to be an "colorist". Before this experience, to represent shadow, using blue instead of gray was a strange act. Now I started appreciating those things.

Medium for Warm-Cool color painting...
This style of painting does not demand reproduction of original colors. Thus it is good for Wet-On-Wet painting.

This style, may have too many different colors. This means blending is very important and Oil paints are very good at it.

Based on above two, I will use oil paints for Warm-Cool color painting.

Using Brush...
In today's painting I had to depict the threads of bundle of yarn. For this ideally I had to use a fan-brush with bristles spread at the tip. I had to simulate this with the regular flat brush. I spread the bristels using fingers while dipping in painting and also while stroking the canvass. Holding brush like this may sound impracticle idea but holding this way creates certain tension in wrist and this provides nice rhythm for stroke movements.

dust in life

Yesterday me, my colleagues, J & A had lunch together.

J asked me and A "do you have dust in your life?"
I did not understand what he meant by dust

Later J explained "..dust settles on unused things.
Similarly, stagnated life could be referred to as dusty life.."


Also dust refers to cocaine especially when combined with mirror

I do not think I have dust in my life...

shoes & tyres

In US shoes lasts longer than tyres..
It's the other way in rest of the world

rain diluted sleep...

Rain is around from past few days/nights. Two days back, I had this experience, I thought writing an essay on it....


....Rain diluted sleep...

My refrigerator had stopped snoring. Light was seeping through the sheets, as if its searching for my eyes. my eyes woke to stare above, bed sheet looked like a dark but starry sky. Wind was rubbing the wall of trees, it was so obvious, I could hear the texture of leaf & bark. I tried to keep chilly wind out by wrapping the sheet around my foot & legs.

My mind went on to track the rain drops jumping off the grass and also off my head. I wrapped my arms around myself to fight this spilling water. I felt soaked and rain had already diluted my sleep enough so that I could experience the safest moments of my life. I wished that these soft moments extend beyond me but refrigerator's mechanical snore interrupted this symphony of rain & wind, and put me back to silence, the world where I was before..

sold for first time

i never thought that I can sell something to anybody in my life..
but yestarday i was able sell my Canon 28-135mm EF USM IS lens on eBay..
I am really surpraised that I can sell something..

my ebay auction(Item number: 7551584048)..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7551584048&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESO%3AIT&rd=1

even harmony and uneven harmony

even Harmony
Take a look at the bottle, and you will see even curved shapes.
Look at rolling-hill in nature, you will recogize the even harmony


uneven Harmony
Look at a rock, bark, distant mountain...you will see a uneven harmony.

Now try to reproduce these two using pencil...
At least for me it's difficult to reproduce the uneven Harmony compared to
even harmony

saved a painting

I was doing a landscape painting using Acrylic. Acrylic's fast drying nature itself drives me crazy. To make the things worse, this lanscape had a rugged, exposed rock in the foreground. I tried painting it and failed miserably. I was just putting colors and there was no texture. Texture was so intricate that I felt like taking a pencil and do the shading but I was using brush. Rock had various colors too.
Me, neither do I know how to mix those colors nor I know how to get the texture...

Frustration came out and I took different colors and splashed over the rock recklessly. Thus I killed a dying painting...I did not want to look at that painting...I removed the painting from the easel and placed over the bed....I felt really defeated and beaten..
I do not want to be beaten in painting...I took the paining back again and reworked on the rock. This time I used brush as if it's a pencil and got the some decent texture...
At the end of this emotional drama, I had my first ever texture painting and it was quite decent. I had heard about painters undergoing frustration and I just tasted for the first time...
Any way I am very happy that I saved my painting and also discovered a method to make texture painting...

MK Gandhi b'day

Today is Gandhi b'dy, only Indian national leader I respect...

Nothing more to say....:-(


Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate
This is very interesting article.

tonal painting

I did this Tonal painting..


http://www.inspiring-image.com/paintings/Tone/slides/IMGP5697.html


This painting is based on the one of my photo..
http://www.inspiring-image.com/rivervalley/Ista/slides/IMGP5495.html


FYI: What is Tonal painting?
There are many colors like read, green, blue etc...
Each of the color will many have tones between DARK to LIGHT.
Ex: There are many tones in between Dark red to Light red.
Similarly every color has many tones. This may help in understanding.
http://www.childoflight.org/mcc/colorcodeF.html


My painting is done using different shades of BROWN color.

"Happy families are all ..." -Tolstoy's

Today in my friend's car was playing Tolstoy's Anna Karenina audio book.
The book began with following sentence
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

In a society, people stick to same formula to be successfull and happy. So no wonder happy families look alike.
On the contrary, any off-formula life, may lead to very unique troubles.

"sold out" - poem

=============================
went with money to buy
when it was not yet there for sale

later tried with more money
but it was holiday

took more than money
but shop had shut

then used myself in exchange
but it was already sold out

who is the looser?
me, dealer or the needy?
======================================

-------------------------
|Copyright © Ramesh 2005|
-------------------------

innocence v/s reasoning

My syllabus in India barely exposed me to Shakspeare's work.
Till I read the following I did not know how good Shakspeare's is...:-)


---------------------------------------------------
The charm dissolves apace,
And, as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason
---------------------------------------------------


Very poetic way of saying how day light's reality blows away nightly fantasies.

decieve ..

Sometime we need to intentionally decieve our dreams.

drawing and painting

"drawing does not draw me"..but "painting forces me to paint...like watchng the television..."

"favourite drink" - poem

It's a long time I wrote a poem.
Thoughts were fuming since some time..today while waiting for my laundry I wrote it on a paper..

Favourite drink
---------------

drink that ended my quest
and fed my thirst
now is of little interest

drink that generated life
has dissolved my curious soul

drink, once of purpose
is now a compulsion

drink that stretched the life
seem to have diluted my own self


-------------------------
|Copyright © Ramesh 2005|
-------------------------

"wine, women, warmth.." - Darwin

"Knotted Tongues" book says Charles Darwin was a stammerer. I did not know this.
Book had a very interesting quote from Darwin;
"Wine, women, warmth, against our lives combine,But what is life without warmth, women, wine"
..so true...

India's Indipendence day....

Yestarday, Aug 15 was India's Indipendence day....

Me and my Chinese friend, J, were speaking about it.
J shocked me by saying "China celebrates their Independence day.."
I said "Yes, everybody have their own definition for liberty .
Even no more having to be compulsively nice to somebody could be defined as liberty"

".....can see through women...."- Groucho Marx

"Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot" - Groucho Marx
This is fascinating quote I read more than 10 years in 20 year old Reader Digest's magazine...

This great quote can be intrepreted in many ways, and this is all about that quote...

Me and my Chinese friend were trying to decipher this quote.

Chinese friend said "my interpretation is men can never understand women and probably vice versa."

Me responded, "If one can see through something, it means its TRANSPARENT. When something is transparent you are NOT seeing it; instead you are seeing what is on the other side of it. So, to see through woman, her body should be TRANSPARENT, and viewer misses the beautifull woman body itself. Do not a man miss something if he can not see the body? "

Chinese friend said "..the according to your theory even women can say same about the men.. " yes they can..


So, men do not want to see throught women because they miss her body.
Similarly, women does not want to see through men...

chaos in life

If hair were to quantify the amount of chaos in life., bald men will have most stable mind & life.
No wonder, love always follows bald men, because it makes practicle sense...:-)

can we pass on the life too?

Founder of a business, when he gets bored, could hand over the business to somebody and make sure the ground work is not wasted.
Similarly, can we pass on the life too..:-)?

songs that I do not understand

Today I listened to Italian songs by "Laura Pausini" and french/english songs by
"Keren Ann" on www.rhapsody.com . Karen wispers throughout the her albums and was buetifull. Karen say somethings like this in one of her songs "...I am, like river, do not listen to others, I just talk..."

Well..when I was listening to Laura's Italian songs, each songs increased my curiosity.
This has happened to me earlier also ...once I understand the song, I loose interest.

So let me not try to underestand..:-)

just news, no change

I used to fallow current events verymuch. Used play BBC online radio all the time,where they repeat news once 30mns. I had already stopped watching TV, few years back..
Example for how un-informed I am are, heard about tsunami after 5 days, and Popes died after later.

What would have happened if I had heard it. I feel how useless those news, at least for me. If I look at news today, by accident, I still see same religious fundamentalists fighting in different forms...so people wont change...no need to fallow them too..

corporate restructuring

When corporate restructuring repeats once in 6 month, mean changes are not working.
No one wants to restructre a working structure...