asnowfall

Golden Hard and Light molding paste.

2012-01-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

I have used both hard and light molding paste.
Hard molding paste creates harsh texture. The edges are too pronounced and create shiny rounds when photographed.

Light molding paste creates much smooth texture. You could dilute Light molding paste to make the texture smoother.

Unable to turn off caching on USB drive (Win2008 R2)

2011-10-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

Another nasty bug from Win2008 R2. At last MS gave mind of its own to OS. Great job

Hitachi Travelstar-5K500.B rated for low power

2011-09-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Seagate

Hitachi

General opinion is 5200rpm disks consume less power compared to 7200rpm; someone even suggested that Data centers run 5400rpm just because it takes less power.

Hitachi Travelstar-5K500.B

Seagate spec

I chose Hitachi Travelstar-5K500.B hard drive for laptop, just to keep the load on battery low.

TV keeps dogmas alive

2011-08-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

TV has successfully kept people backward thinking. TV dramas have to prolong all sorts of ancient dogmas just to stay in business.

I wonder how the world would have been without TV? atleast less obese...

Some vote for dinner and some for future

2011-04-16T22:51:00.001-07:00

In a democracy, some vote based on the policy that take effect immediately(ex: policy that subsidizes food grains) and others may vote based on the policy that takes effects gradually over decades(ex: high-speed train, etc... ).

Democracy where these two classes are in equal number may not prosper because they completely drag each other down, and their ambitions fail to co-exist. Such a stratified society is a sign of bad policy, root cause of many problems.

Etching in Prestige pressure cooker

2011-04-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

I purchased 12-Ltr Prestige Pressure cooker from VCT Electronics Amazon Marketplace on Nov of 2010. Cooker has not been used more than 10 times and has developed "etches". This is aluminum cooker.

Outer surface of vessel and lid(both inside and outside) are shiny and look perfect.

Etched inner surface (bad subject for MACRO photography)

Too late to claim damage in 2010 TAX.
.

Nietzsche on materialism

2011-04-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

"Possessions are usually diminished by possession"

I have heard some say Nietzsche writings are sharp, an example of it

Pre-cambrian sex-judgementality of US media

2011-04-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

I think people seem to go out of their way to attribute sexual motivation to every damn action. Media does upright job of transforming these normal acts in to standard models like 'pedolphallia', 'nymphomania', 'fetishist', 'bisexual', 'non-sexual', 'lessbbian', 'hgaay', 'sssoodoomy'.

According to these pundits(with simple pre-Cambrian brain), majority of the world is gay because men put their arm around other men. These pundits do not even consider that every action(especially social behavioral) must be read in the context of that society.

While we in US dissect benign sexual behaviors and trademark, Chinese try to feed(with many flaws) the massive amount of people .

Lately I have started doubting endless Church scandals.

Ok- Gandhi sexuality

2011-04-04T17:14:00.001-07:00

I read long back, in late 90' that Gandhi slept with naked women and also claimed celibacy. His point of view was if you are truly celibate you would live with women and resist, not run away like coward.

This line of argument may sound abnormal for modern generation that is driven by instant gratification; not yielding(crawling) to a desire is considered mental disease

a fetish object for the right...

2011-03-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

In BBC interview, Regan's son said "Regan is a fetish object for the right..."
BBC
Well deserved description, I thought.

Diversity in rather "refined" society

2011-03-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

By refining I mean fine tuning. We begin the process of refinement by identify the things that are most

suitable

comfortable

profitable

acceptable(socially, etc...)

Based on these factors we narrow down ourselves, bolster our comfort-zone; sometime at the cost of diversity. Refinement is good in several areas like Engineering(technical and medical) but not best for lifestyle areas.

Profit driven refinement
Initially retail shops stock popular items; and few years later stock only the popular items. Here are few examples for bad(according to me) refinements(in US)...

There is specific color for everything. One of my friend called this practice as color-coding. In one of the US metro, color of my friend's shirt was taken as indication of his sexual orientation. This confusion may appear as result of stereo-typing but the originally idea that people of x orientation should wear y color was designed to make (refine) identification easier.

Far easier example for color coding is girls like pink. This is more of a product refinement. In the past, in India I have worn light pink color shirt for office. Such lack of color-code would not go unnoticed these days. This transformation is an example for narrowing.

Here is example for utensils refinement. I have fond it hard to get a cup or mug with sharp brim; such a cup has to be made up of steel or aluminum. Such cup is essential for my kitchen activities. Off course retail stores do not stock because majority does not use tools any more.

Looks like profit driven refinement has been gradually engulfing the whole every area of life. It is more like the police lifestyle of communist society but all in the name of efficiency and profitability.

Making religion and politics palatable

2011-03-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Religion and Politics are twins; addition of Sssexxx in to this pool would make the religion and politics more palatable. This is not my fantasy, there are one-stop-religion offering all the three under one Poolygaaamous brand...

Heaven everywhere

Nuclear plant scare

2011-03-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

I hope current crisis at Fukushima Nuclear plant does not slow down the adaption of N-Energy.

News hungry media and twitter crazy public has made big deal out of Fukushima crisis. N Experts and Scientists say the same. The amount of radiation found in vegetables and milk produced around Fukushima has affected but the radiation is no way hazardous.

Fukushima uses a rather old technology. According industry experts, who spoke on BBC, modern N-plants's cooling system works even under shortage of power.

To my surprise, I came to know about total incompetent workmanship in N-plants of Japan. According to BBC, in the past, a N plant had let two untrained, inexperienced workers to operate on Radiation materials(they were using hand written instructions ).

According to Govt. report, operators of Fukushima Nuclear plant skipped the testing of 31 parts, and it included source for cooling plant.

These incidents shows that N-accidents are not just due to lack of technical knowledge but corporate corruption.

Last thing is N-Energy source and waste both stay local the consumer. Consumer should take responsibility for consumption, and it is also ethical. We may be rich but have no right to pollute common resource like air. No one owns air, ocean. I also hope volatility of N-Fuel may help keep the consumption low.

Why Ocean floor always goes under continent?

2011-03-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

At subduction zones, the line where continent and sea-floor meet, former always goes under the latter. Reason for this is rock contained in continental-crust is lighter than the rocks made by oceanic-crush.

In general, as we go down density of rock increases
Density of continental crust - 2300 kg/m3
Density of oceanic crust - 2700 kg/m3
Density of Mantle - 3300 kg/m3

Alternative for "more"?

2011-03-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

In discussions related to conserving environment, some participants say "Give me alternative for Energy, sea-food, etc..."

Let us dig deeper in to this 'alternative' in an abstract way. Assume scientists come up with an alternative to fuel for 1 million cars and a sustainable method to feed 6 billion people. As soon as the alternative is in horizon, human's would rise their requirement to 2 million cars and 8 billion people. Our requirement has been a moving target so before anything, first we need an alternative for the attitude called "more".

Trophy hunting of Lions

2011-03-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

In lay-man terms Trophy hunting is like "raaping inside prison cell, protected by police". Here is some in depth news...

BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8993000/8993557.stm
Tanzania currently allows about 500 lions and 400 leopards per year to be killed for sport across a total area of 300,000km². ....The idea is to fund conservation.

Evidence comes from a survey of lion harvests in the country between 1996 and 2008 which found that the number of lions hunted fell by 50%.

Lion imports
http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/endangered-african-lions-protection-110302-1180/
From 1998 through 2008, at least 7,445 wild lions were traded internationally, and at least 4,021 of them were brought to the United States, including more than 3,600 for recreational trophy hunting purposes.

US must be paying for conservation of wild-life in Africa. Why not just impose ban on US citizens importing Trophy lions in to country?. Ban would be more effective. On the same lines, we should also stop selling arms to dictators and stop paying for spreading democracy.

Xenoliths

2011-03-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

Pictures in wiki helped me to understand Xenoliths; makes sense why Xenoliths are called "Foreign rock".

Xenoliths look foreign when compared to surrounding rock or parent-rock. In other wards, Xenoliths are odd spec in a large rock. Off course this cock tail could happen only in case of igneous rocks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenolith

52 nations to help Japan but none to Libya

2011-03-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

Japan's home grown earth-quake team is considered as superior to everyone; why are 52 countries are falling on each other to help, when the Libyans fighting Qaddaffi are asking for external help since fifteen days?

In a way I am not surprised, this is the way the world has been working. Below is some background...

Recent massive Tsunami in Japan has drowned the urgency in Libya. Since fortnight Qaddaffi is mercilessly bombing towns occupied by rebels. These rebels are no match for air power of Qaddaffi, and every one knows about imbalance. It is a matter of days, Qaddaffi will take back these territories from rebels. Qaddaffi is ready to do anything. And what is needed is a :non-fly: zone, and international community is still thinking about it.

Points..
-UN is not acting on no-fly zone because China and Russia are opposed
-Arab-league did not agree on any action but requested UN to impose no-fly zone.
-NATO is still thinking about no-fly zone
-US wants no-fly zone to be an international effort
-UN declared Qaddiffi's actions as War-crime.
-Rebel towns of Libya were accepted as independent nation by France.
-Chinese evacuated 30K chinese workers from Libya (after crisis broke)
- Swiss froze Libyan money

Western diplomats think that imposing :no-fly: zone is an intervention. But these diplomats do defend selling arms to Qaddaffi(I heard Brit-diplomat do on BBC). EU uses oil sold by Qaddaffi, and indirectly strengthens Qaddaffi. These two facts indicate that western countries are already intervened.

Thinking about Software since "1833"

2011-03-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

Just started writing...

If you thought pharma companies are accountable?

2011-02-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

In India, last year one of my relative died due to the side effect of injection.
I though in US patient would have had some leverage to hold doctor as responsible(not that sue but on a minor scale) but that is not true.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/02/22/133964322/supreme-court-upholds-liability-shield-for-vaccine-makers?ps=sh_sthdl

In this case, difference between US and India is, rules in India are gray but in US, law is clearly in favor corporation...

SPY Cruise

2011-02-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

This is indeed a CRUISE where each deck holds seminar about the need for Home land security, regime change in Iran, destroying Hezbollah, etc.... In the BBC interview, the seminar holders (EX CIA agents) stated that they do not care about side-effects on the neighboring countries while implementing these war agenda.

I get a sense that these nut-heads think policing world & water-boarding is their birth right. I think many dictators and war-criminals hold the same view; only difference is these have US diplomatic shield.

BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12127290

http://spytrek.com/spycruise.html

Do parents think about future?

2011-02-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

I am not sure parents think about the kind of life their offspring are going to have? Thinking about future world, is something any one could do without Govt. mandate. Economics, living standard and natural resources are directly related to each other; and people have understood this from centuries; and we need to add one more parameter population to the equation.

Going by past, only manufacturing plants can employ mass of people. As the time goes, automation will take over the manufacturing.(Imagine automating BEL, HAL, HMT etc...). In manufacturing-output, US comes top, but employs very less people compared to 70s; this is because of Automation. China will end up in same situation; once the salaries rise, and companies replace people with machine.

I think the key thing is median-age. Lower the median age more jobs are needed, also higher chances for rise in population. Last night BBC said Arab world needs 100mil jobs because median demography is 30+. India and Indonesia also have very low median age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_median_age

Without being specific, above details should alarm anyone (mean parent). By 2030 every infant of today would be competing with whole world. Given all this, people in India should be reducing population at an industrial scale.

Win2008R2 - 'modified Time' sorting bug

2011-01-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

1) Sorting of files in Explorer in Windows 2008R2 is not correct. This post describes it well

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprogeneral/thread/022aab6b-20de-46dd-8fcb-1110064fc399

This problem is extremely annoying. I have folder containing lot of files and most have hard time knowing which one got edited last.

2) File-Properties does not show actual modified time. Example : Says this "file was modified 10minutes ago" not "10:10 1/1/2010"

No wonder MS is not able to capture non-tech market. Non-tech users get completely confused when new OS changes the tools and views that are fundamental. Saying "file was modified 10minutes ago" is clever but does not add much value. Compare this with real life, we do not re-learn the physical act of eating once every time year. Imagine how hard it is to shift from spoon & fork to chap-stick. Learning to eat chap-stick may at least increase your motor skill.

Windows 2008R2 File system problem

2011-01-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

Hyper-V is hosting a guest-os, WinXP. One of the physical hard drive(say K) is directly connected to Guest-os, using Hyper-V setting. This physical hard drive(K) is completely dedicated to Guest-os. This physical hard drive(K) is disabled from the point of view of Host-os.

This setup worked fine for a while.... One day the guest-os corrupted the physical hard drive's filesystem. I disconnected the physical hard drive(K) from Guest-os, and unhid it from Host-os. I was trying to run chkdisk using Host-os. Host-OS, Windows 2008 R2 could not complete chkdisk. In the end OS froze and even shutdown also hung saying "waiting for windows Event service", then I had to powered off.

I rebooted the machine and began by stopping Hyper-V service. Then successfully ran HD Tune, verified the hard drive. Then I tried to run chkdsk and it failed again. Like before OS froze and had to power-off.

Then, I opened the machine, manually took out the drive(K) and connected to laptop as external hard drive. Laptop running WinXP, ran ChkDsk without any problem. I also formatted the drive (K), and changed the SIGNATURE .

I connected the drive(K) to Windows 2008R2 again. I had changed the signature of hard drive, to eliminate any chances of Hyper-V service accessing physical device but this did not help; Storage manager hung as before.

Finally I manually took out Segate drive from machine...

Windows 2008R2 - Audacity problem

2011-01-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

I am a longtime Audacity user on Windows XP. With Windows 2008R2 I am having strange problems.

Problem
I start Audacity, and record for 50sec, and save it as MP3 file. I verify the recording quality and sounds fine. Then I record for longer duration; this time audio file is completely useless, hell a lot of noise.

No I am not under digital hallucination.

Windows 2008R2 audio crackling

2011-01-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

OS
Windows 2008R2

Sound card
Audio card: Auzentech X-plosion 7.1
Audio controller: C-Media (6.12.8.1738)
DirectX: 11
Output port: SPD-IF

Problems:
MP3 audio skids, makes crackling sounds. All windows sounds like IM, have been disabled. Cracking sound increases when I open 'Device Manager' or 'Browse directory'. MP3 files are on a separate physical hard drive. This problem persists even when the OS is practically idle(no internet browser, video player, Adobe, msword, etc..). This is playing MP3, not streaming or playing DVD.

1) AudioDg.exe is not taking lot of memory. Event Viewer says: "Windows Audio Device Graph glitch threshold count exceeded". Most probably this is the culprit. Every audio goes through this stupid exe.

2) I did not have any such problem with previous OS that is WinXP. Current OS is a fresh/clean install.

I may have to go back to Win32XP because I see many other symptoms that tell something is really wrong.

Remains of secret war of 1964 - 1973

2011-01-15T22:51:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from BBC - Claudia Hammond on Loas

Full report:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9360746.stm

Excerpts:
During the so-called secret war between 1964 and 1973, the US spent $2m (£1.3m) a day dropping bombs on this part of Laos in a failed attempt to prevent communism from taking hold.The equivalent of a plane-full of bombs dropped every eight minutes for nine years.
.....
.....
Local people make use of the old ordnance for window boxes, cluster bombs as ash-tray.
.....
.....
Yet thousands of items of unexploded ordnance remain and from time to time children still lose limbs from explosions after picking up the old cluster bombs, which look like shiny yellow tennis balls. The first safety songs they learn at school are not about crossing the road, but about the dangers of touching any metal they might find.

Unexploded has prevented formers from cultivating all of the land...

Laos: Most heavily bombed place on Earth
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1100842.stm

Obama and his inspirational speeches

2011-01-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

I feel Obama's speeches highly inspirational but we desperately need someone else to enact them...

When ever Obama speaks, the historians with a fresh load of ants in their brain start comparing Obama's speech to some other dead president's speech...and I heard them go really high on radio...

BTW.I have been listening to Obama's speeches since 2006....Yes they are no doubt inspirational...

Rigging Govt.

2011-01-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

James Grimaldi described how the Rifle companies have officially rigged the US Govt. Here is mind blowing points that are anathema to fair democracy....

-It is illegal for authorities to maintain a computerized record of gun buyers, as consequence everything is being tracked using paper.

-Govt. dept. dealing with hand-guns and weapons is exempt from 'Freedom of Information' act.

Source:
Terri Gross interviewing James

Diplomats 1

2011-01-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

Debate of Wikileaks hardly goes without words about Diplomats These are my views on diplomacy

Diplomats are not church going pious people that need protection. Many times diplomats negotiate for war, and if you want evidence just look what happened before Iraq war.

Diplomats have also created many international crisis, and on the top of that list is Al-qaeda. US diplomacy was to train Mujaheddin fighters(Al-qaeda) and Pakistan intelligence(ISI), to take on Russians based in Afghanistan. Over the decades Mujaheddin's have dispersed in to so many terrorist groups and are kept alive by ISI. Terrorism, a nameless enemy, may end up as our generation's biggest problem, and I blame US diplomats.

Diplomats have used 'American Interest' as justification to keep up the autocrats in middle-east countries; to name a few Saudi-Arabia, Jordan, Egypt. After 9/11 attack on New york, Bin laden told US presence in Saudi angers him, and US diplomats does not seem to care about it. By heading to Bin Laden we are not deserting a good democracy but a autocratic royal family. For decades, the oppressed citizens of above countries have seen US and their repressive in Govt in the same bed, and Al-qaeda has been has churning this anger to revolt against US. Smart diplomacy would be for US to cut ties with these dictators(including Israel). Many honest politicians like Ron Paul have suggested the same. Unfortunately US diplomats still follow the failed 'American Interest' agenda. Knowing all these I have no sympathy for this bunch. Diplomats do a hack job( in the name of 'American Interest') and come with another hack solution. Now we are sitting on pile of diplomatic hacks. All this has done is keeping Military firms in business, and providing fodder(in the form of issue) for US presidential election.

Diplomats have to be open because they represent nations not individuals, so diplomats can not claim the privilege of doctor & patient confidentiality. In US and Indian diplomacy, people of respective nation have the right to know what is going on. Especially the citizens of weaker partner nation should know that other dominant nation is not coercing.

I recommend people America see the diplomacy as an outsider, using a bit of ethical sense, instead of just militaristic 'American interest'.

How media inflated Saddam statue take down

2011-01-08T19:32:00.001-08:00

Propublica article

Time of the year - 2010

2010-12-15T20:16:00.001-08:00

Times poll Assange wins popular vote but Times names Mark Zucker... as Man of the year... We do not need any more evidence to prove that media is another arm of US Govt. US media of almost every kind progressive, mainstream and conservative is disassociating from Assange as if he is a Peaaadofile...

Well time to wave flag either out of guilt or fear or love...

Amazon.com How low can you live??

2010-12-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

Amazon stopped hosting WikiLeak documents after US Joe RIbbbbbbberman pressured it to remove.

Then Amazon turns around and sells it http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004EEOLIU That too for money.....

Hypocratical is Amazon; it did not have the spine to stand up to Free speech but all willing to make money.

You can not say Corporartions are ENTITY but not have consciousness....

creation of sense of nation in India

2010-12-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today in the BBC interview, British politician Meghnad Desai explained how India become a Nation. Following is the summary...

At the time of European invasion, India was being ruled by many kings, and there was no single emperor so no concept of Nation. There are also cultural differences between the regions. Indians started to unite(overcame differences) during the freedom struggle against British. Indian Freedom fighting went on for decades, during this period Gandhi created a sense of nation among the people. Gandhi did not succeed completely and it shows up in the creation of Pakistan.

Coming back to present, using above knowledge, it is easy to understand the lack of unity among Iraqis. People of Iraq did not fight for any thing to-gather...

Swiss, why your banks guard criminals' money?

2010-11-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11857438

Swiss passed referendum to deport even the 2nd generation immigrant, if they are caught violating law. Violations does not have to be criminal act...And whether to deport or not is NOT judged in court...

My point is SWISS are not the holy cow because they promote criminals all around the world by hiding their identity and money. Some of this money is looted by politicians of 3rd world countries from their citizens. And unfortunately those deprived people from 3rd world countries end-up migrating to Swiss..

Example:

"Indian politician loots Govt. money" ---> "Swiss guard looted money" ---> "Indians migrate to Swiss for better life"

Azoic...

2010-09-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

Till now Azioc meant just a music group but it is not just that. Azoic is also the name of first era of our planet Earth.

Era, Period, Epoch
Earth is 4.5 billion years old and this time has been divided in to one or more Era. And each one of these Era is further divided in to Periods. And each period is in turn divided in to Epoch.

Azoic is the first Era, from 4.5 to 4.0 billions years

Archean is the second Era, from 4.0 to 2.5 billions years

Proterozoic is the third Era, from 2.5 to 0.5 billions years

Paleozoic is the fourth Era, from 0.5bill to 250million years

Mesozoic is the fifth Era, from 250 to 65 million years

Cenozoic is the sixth Era, from 65 million years to till today.

Two consecutive Eras differ fundamentally. And there are totally six Era.

Deciphering lyrics

2010-09-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have read same lyric being deciphered in many ways. More than one version made sense too.

Treat the song as a jumbled heap of thread, and start tracing from different points(not just ends), and write down the path on a paper. In the end, each path would have some interesting shape and also be different from each other.

Shapes obtained above depended on where you started tracing, similarly song's meaning depends on where one starts( or presumptions one makes like death, love, god, depression, drugs, addiction etc.....)

Wolfsheim - Blind

2010-09-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

I have been listening to this since few years and today understood few verses. Best part is highlighed.

I think of you like... I often do
When I hear the rain on my windowpane
Gently tapping at the glass
Like your gently touching fingers
Just looking for the smile I give to you

Chorus...
You can feel what no one feels
You can hear what no one hears
Just looking for the smile I give to you
You can feel what no one feels
You can hear what no one wants to hear
Just looking for the smile I give to you

Your darkness speaks and has eyes to see
and you know me by my voice
But you know so much more than
"Don't fight the walls they're here for all"
Is what you said to me once
I looked into your eyes and I knew you were right

Chorus....

And your darkness speaks and has eyes to see
I know you can win this life long game we're in
Hey darkness is a state of mind
I can go where you would stumble
Is what you said to me and I knew you were right

Diamond was first mined in India

2010-09-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

The earliest diamonds were mined from stream gravels in the southern and central portions of India. An estimated 12 million carats (the carat is a unit of weight for gemstones equal to 0.2 gram) was produced from Indian mines. India was virtually the only source of diamonds until they were discovered in Brazil in 1725. East central Brazil has produced about 160,000 carats annually, chiefly from stream gravels near the city of Diamantina, Minas Gerais.

Today, about 95 percent of the world’s output of diamonds is from Africa.The Congo is by far the largest producer, supplying more than 50 percent of the global demand.

Source: "An introduction to Fossils and Minerals" by Jon

Gaia hypothesis and Humans

2010-09-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

Gaia

It is said that physical environment on Earth drives organisms. But Gaia hypothesis says influence can flow in the other way, that is life can also influence environment.

Climate change, to some extent works like Gaia, but in s negative way. We are hell bent on shooting on our foot. Unfortunately humans and animals are too sophisticated to survive Geological catastrophe....

Land before and after Kasatochi volcano

2010-08-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

Pictures are from USGA website http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2574

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/image.php?id=16101

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/image.php?id=15982

Misplaced trust as a child

2010-07-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

When I was young, I believed that people in authority knew everything, mean everything; and their actions have factored everything. As I grew older, I doubted this, courtesy of Indian politicians. After living in US, and seeing political system here(systematically & legitimatley hacked), I am dead sure I was very wrong about the ability of people in authority; they do not anything, not even honest. Now, I smell these people from far distance.

Mr Krugman says the same in his NYT blog.
"When I was young and naive, I believed that important people took positions based on careful consideration of the options."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/opinion/02krugman.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

wallpaper with power consumption

2010-06-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Computer wallpaper like the one shown below lists CPU & RAM but not power usage. Wallpaper should disclose both the ability and liability.

This wallpaper(BgInfo.bmp) is generated using 'BgInfo', a SysInternals tool.

Wall-paper with power consumption.

I measured the power consumption and then inserted those details in 'BgInfo.bmp' using Adobe PS.

Computer manufacturer's like HP, Dell, IBM have the ability to provide bitmaps containing power usage. There is a debate about accuracy of power measurements. I think the accuracy is secondary; goal is to make people set PC to stand-by mode, turn off monitor etc....

When someone logs in to a machine, wall-paper should inform them about power consumption.

Unfair price for vegetable

2010-01-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

Today for the first time I took note of the cost of tomato that I just purchased in Stop-and-Shop grocery store. Bill reads as follows(for one tomato)

Vine Ripe Tomato $2.99/pound $1.44

What motivated to take notice is FOOD Inc movie. In that movie, Micheal Pollen talks about alarming price difference between fast-food and vegetable He says collieflower costs more than $1 while burger at McDonald costs just 99cents.

Seriously this pendulum needs correction. I do not mind paying more for burger. Let us pay fair price and tackle obesity.

TBTF or Too complex to handle?

2010-01-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Simon Johnson is campaigning to eliminate TBTF but Paul Krugman is not that against TBTF(based on his blog posts).

My own though is TBTF leads to complex web and makes it hard to tell where the investor's money is landing. We start to see same thing with different wrapper without adding value to customer. We are not in market utopia, so as companies grow fairness comes down.

I think not having TBTF is a pragmatic solution.

Someone got to pay for that...

2010-01-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

Heard a passer by say "Someone got to pay for that...". He was obviously talking about Health Care bill.

Line "Someone got to pay for that..." is a bill board statement, projects the speaker as a responsible citizen. Are these genuinely responsible?. May not be because many such speakers do not ask
"Who pays for defense bill?"
"Why am I paying so much for health insurance company?"
"Who contributes to monsterous TARP?"

Run away away!!

2010-01-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

Referring to beaten Obama's interview to ABC network, in which 0bama expressed plans to move towards right, Paul Krugman says to liberals Run away away

Personally it is a great disappointment. I had not never taken any politician so seriously. Looks like I was as naive as Mr Obama.

It is time to say Good night to him...

Stockholm syndrome or Hyper Nationalism

2010-01-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

Once in a while, Americans and Chinese readers use street fighting language while responding to article in Newspaper or Blog. Supporters of America draw attention iron fist of Chinese Govt. while Chinese argue that they are happy to grabbed.

Now the Google has refused to censor news in China. In response to this news, majority of Chinese readers have fiercely expressed solidarity with Chinese Govt. I do not understand the logic behind Chinese reader's response, whatever Google is doing, at least at the face, is good for Chinese public. To me it seems Chinese readers are suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

What surprises me is that over the years, it has been close to impossible to find one Chinese reader who's response is moderate. They seem to take even the hint of criticism from western media as grave insult.

After spending all my life is democracies I do not trust Govt. completely; Govt. and God are not same. This mindset makes hard for me to understand Chinese defense.

Thing impossible for Obama to fake...

2010-01-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

Obama may end up passing flimsy health care reform still make it to history book. There is no specific way to measure the effect of this reform so even a toothless one is also a reform.

Unemployment number are not so kind to Obama. Nothing short of genuine economic reform is going to improve job market. This time, bad job numbers are definitely going to expose the facade of GDP, Growth.

Wall-street is the biggest sucker, and is driving the greed and by-products. Without fixing this sucker, nothing is going to change, definitely not this time.

These numbers are going to nail him.

"What is for dinner" style of politics

2010-01-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

Obama has left many of those who rooted in support of him disappointed. I followed his election from the beginning, much before Iowa primary. He sounded sincere. I have seen probably the most corrupt democracy on the planet, in India. With that mindset, Obama appeared to me like once in a life time leader, way above politics. I was not alone, millions did the same; people who had withdrawn from democratic process, due to hopelessness, came out to support him; students worked for his campaign like volunteer work. I heard on radio about a girl who went to night clubs in Pennsylvania, at wee hours, to do voters registration.

Is he fighting?
No. Obama has not demonstrated the grit that was required for implementing his promises. He is more like water, fit work in school, no way he can lead nation. I can not bank on him and hope he would fight for me.

Is he sincere at least?
I doubt his sincerity too. He hired same individuals who sowed the seeds of financial crisis. Given that Obama is smart so aware of history of his appointees, why did he hire same crooks?. Or Why not fire them at least now? Why did Obama extend Ben Shalom Bernanke term for FED Reserve?

Mentally, Obama has lost the game already. Parasites of political system know that President can be cultivated or transformed, and will not allow Obama to make significant change. Now only thing that can save Obama's grace is a honest apology.

I hate to say this because I really believed in him but Obama is going to end up like Jimmy Carter.

Is rationality the best selling point for atheism?

2010-01-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

Having rational ideas is harmless but it may not be sufficient to convert believer in to atheist. To take my own example, I did not
become atheist after seeing lab-report :-).

There was a temple on the way to school which I used to visit often. Saying that I grew among a sea of believers is indeed an understatement. I used to go to temple at least two or three times a week.

From there, I gradually stopped believing in god, and years later came to know that this phenomenon is called as 'atheism'. So this conversion was not based on any anti-religion literature or one life changing event :-). I think years of reading current events in magazines, Newspaper developed this conviction, so it was an unconscious change.

Based on my experience, I think no amount of science can make believer an atheist. We can use scientific argument to make a kill if the target is already leaning towards atheism. I am not completely in favor of this method of sale. This method may not be sustainable on the long run; such converts could run back to God if there is any personal tragedy. And if this person happens to be loud mouthed celebrity, atheism gets bad press. Like democracy, for atheism to survive it should be borne out of inner pondering.

I heard of Mr Dawkins for the first time in 2006. I think, it is possible to realize absence of God on our own.

Influence of Technology

2009-11-15T22:13:00.000-08:00

Not surprisingly, Technology is not in harmony with Nature: the way twig and PCB decay are very different. Similarly humans are not born with skills to deal with Technology. A good example for this is 5-year old throwing his Dad's PDA in to toilet. Modern life expects everyone to be 'adult' and that is impossible because one has to get through childhood.

Our generation viewed PC with respect, as center for learning(A good example is programming in C or Java). This is going to change; for next generation PC is a tool for avoiding learning how to write using pen, avoid adding two numerals. Latter has already begun, compared to me, my mom is way good in adding two numbers.

By extrapolating above examples one can get a vague idea of the scale at which technology is going to change the human behavior in future.

Economics is going keep the wheel of Technology turning. I do not see this equation changing any soon, may not in my life time.

Slowly I Married her - Leonard Cohen

2009-11-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

Slowly I married her
slowly and bitterly married her love
Married her body,
boredom and joy

Slowly I came to her
slow and resentfully came to her bed
Came to her table in hunger and habit
came to be fed

Slowly I married her
sanctioned by none
with nobody’s blessings, in nobody’s name
amid general warnings, amid general scorn
Came to her fragrance, my nostrils wide
Came to her greed with seed for a child
Years in the coming and years in retreat

Slowly I married her
slowly I kneeled
And now we are wounded so deep and so well
that no one can hurt us except Death itself
And all through Death’s dream I move with her lips
The dream is a night but eternal the kiss
And slowly I come to her
slowly we shed the clothes of our doubting
and slowly we wed

I copied this from a recital so punctuations could be off. Leonard Cohen recites this in the context of his song "Where is my Gypsy wife", as you can see in this following clip. Recital starts at 2:56 min marker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2byWWMmf20

Gambling in Painting

2009-10-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

I think painter like any other artist indulges in gambling. Sometimes gambling is a choice and sometimes it is inevitable; following is an example for latter.

Situation
Acrylic Gels are opaque when dry and turn transparent on going dry. This means at the time of application of Gel, I had to guess the outcome. Given that Gel takes more than 24hours to dry, I had to wait for quite a while, to see the result. For all practical sense, Gel can not be repealed, once applied, it is sealed.

Acrylic Gel can be mixed with color and that makes outcome more elusive, adding new dimension.

In this example, I wanted to give greasy texture so I applied Acrylic Gel. Some time I think I had not applied the gel at all.

Without Gel

With gel

Devil's decoration

2009-10-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

This is my latest painting, called Devils Decoration, let me describe in gruesome spirit :-).

What is Devil's art-work?
Bleeding body is an art-work in the eyes of Devil. And to frame this flesh, Devil uses victim's own bones. And then hangs it on wall, in his living-room, as decorative item.

I started to paint with the above idea and did not know how to fill rest of the canvas or create the ambiance. In order to create ambiance that is not cliche, I applied random color on canvas and simply enhanced the forms that I saw.

The bones and cracks have been generated using Hard Molding Paste so it looks multi-dimensional. Fluid texture comes from Gel. I used varieties of Paste and Gels, along with color-tubes. Given you have hard-body-color, fluid-color, number of types Gels, number of types of pastes, the potential combination could leave one owed, at least that is how I feel.

Gels also add to creativity in a way; Gels are opaque when wet and get transparent as they dry, and this makes them unpredictable, and makes us/painter accept reality :-)

"free-will" amidst the dynamics of time

2009-10-03T21:20:00.001-07:00

I started to reside in Newyork from 2001. From that time I have been going to a Gasoline station near my home. The person who fills petrol there, is an Indian, specifically speaking, a Punjabi. I try best to fill gas there so that I can give him a tip. Whenever I go there, we exchange few words in English.

Right after few visits, I suspected his legality in US. Recently, two months back, it become more evident when he told me that his wife comes from India, once in couple of years to see him. Same distance exists between him and his children too. Basically, he can not move around in US borders.

Today, I met him again and remembered our past conversation. Driving back home, started dwelling more in to his situation, using my insight as an immigrant. Major difference between us is that I am sacred. Thinking about his life: I wonder how long can this go on? Is that it, will he never share the roof with his wife and offspring? Why we force ourselves in to such position? These must have made sense at one time, may make sense, to some extent even now. Did we think of exit strategy? Worst, does one exist at all?

Talking about my own life, a over-cast day is a brilliant one to me. On such a day view from my window is very peaceful, and I struglle to convey this to my mom over phone. What makes our communication worse is my mother does not have victorian-like background, so I can not tell her to relate to the verses of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost.

Recently, I had kept few paintings under sun and it was a beautiful set up. I could not convey this to my sister over phone, so I e-mailed this picture to her. I doubt this picture helped because photographs do not go beyond their frame.

Are we being forced?
No one sanctioned us to migrate, either legally or illegally. No one is also forcing us to maintain current status. Moreover, this is not an alienating country at all, in fact, for many of us, chances of getting discriminated is higher in our own native country.

Fundamental question is, do we have a choice?
In general, at almost every phase of our lives, neither we are forced nor we are given reasonable choice. French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, proposed existentialism and "free will" theory. According to that people have choice whether to do it or not. It seems, in his advanced years, he expressed doubts about this theory.

Dynamics of time
I also believe that state we are in, is partly due to our action and partly because of the dynamics of our time. We do not control the dynamics consequently can not posses free-will. For example, the Ice sheet in Arctic has to melt, it can not win over the dynamics of weather, and Iceberg can neither control the consequences of its own disintegration.

Ways to absolute free-will
We can not live and also have absolute "free-will". We may move closer to "free-will" if we became one with Gautama Buddha( by having absolute control over our desires). But we can definitely achieve rock solid "free-will", if we withdrew ourselves from this dynamics, in to death.

Day light

2009-09-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

All anti-abortion fanatics, please come out of that tunnel, see some day light

Reforming 'this' and 'that'

2009-09-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Obama talks about reforming this and that, and at the same time, seem not to realize(at least I think so) that same style-of-business runs through all these problems.

Without changing the culture at Wall-street, he can not bring any change, in any area. Even he manages, that may not sustain.

Role

2009-09-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

We play role; sometime we get choose and sometime someone else

Will China prove Democracy overrated?

2009-09-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

I feel so more and more...this comes from my past experience in India and what is going on now in US. In India, politicians use democracy as weapon to destroy growth and in US politicians use it as a sequence as speed dumps(to give an impression of constructivism) to divert growth.

In both countries, people have are happy to have a choice that has been not usefull till now. Elites and pseudo intellectuals have built TV shows around this democracy.

Politicians who are part of democracy will always brag it as best option, repeat Churchhill's quote. We people believe those preaching because it makes sense to brains crippled by excess automation.

Yes, democracy gives equal TV time to both satan and saint, but it is prudent if only the people are able to see the lessening difference..

For a second, come out of Churchill's quote in to day light, and look at voparizatin of Healthcare reform and Financial Reform

We continue saying, life goes on, so does our counter part in China, so what is the difference in the end.

Well, I am not going to do anything special either. I will also wait for next placebo, called Election. And it will definately make me feel that I have acted

Epidemic

2009-08-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

Today two items stopped working

1) My not even two years old cellphone's head phone stopped working. The problems is more complicated, it resets the connection within two minutes. I can not convince myself that the age of cell phone is just two years. I am talking about Motorola Razor phone made for Verizon

2) Nine months old backpack, purchased in India gave up. Today strap got disengaged. This shows that the virus has reached India too. It would have been perfectly normal if I had purchased the crap in a US chain store.

Here is the list of the things that died in less than 2 years
-Pressure cooker.
-Cooking vessel.
-Salt shaker
-Hair drier
-Rubbermaid box(stared to leak)
-Cellphone charger(previous phone)
-Cellphone head phone(current phone)
-Backpack

Things that I purchased in 2000 sees to be durable. Samsung cellphone, purchased in 200 had been functioning well when I lost it in 2005. Backpack that I purchased in 2001 is torn but still usable. So moral of the story is, do not throw anything that is old.

Lazy and crocked style capitalism of wall-street has become global epidemic, will surely drive the world to ditch while morons like me vent anger by blogging...and continue popping pills, just to survive these un-engineered materials.

Dumb or smart

2009-08-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Either you have to be dumb enought to not see problem or smart enough to fix the problem. Anything in between is going to be just a torture.

Friedrich Nietzsche - 001

2009-08-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

On friendship
"Be at least mine enemy!"- thus speaketh the true reverence, which
doth not venture to solicit friendship.
If one would have a friend, then must one also be willing to wage
war for him: and in order to wage war, one must be capable of being an
enemy.

On women
In woman's love there is injustice and blindness to all she doth not
love. And even in woman's conscious love, there is still always
surprise and lightning and night, along with the light.
As yet woman is not capable of friendship: women are still cats
and birds. Or at the best, cows.
As yet woman is not capable of friendship. But tell me, ye men,
who of you is capable of friendship?
..............................................................
..........................................
...................................
....... Thus spake Zarathustra.

Why kill to rob a Bank?

2009-07-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Bank robber kills 8 to rob a bank

This news amuses me because he could have robbed the bank peacefully if had come Manhattan :-)

Copy & Paste : modern day activism

2009-07-02T19:19:00.001-07:00

I heard a radio program on recent protests in Iran. Speakers also spoke about great movements like Indian Independence, US Civil rights and it made sense. I add SA Apartheid and Iranian revolution of 70's to that list. How these previous generations succeed in organizing using pathetic communication devices compared to current standards?

I think movements need sustainable will, not just spontaneous armchair, feels-good actions like tweeting, blogging, YouTube clips etc... Everywhere people(including me) express great outrage but hardly move. Pattern is easy to spot: so many Americans have expressed deep outrage about the clout of financial companies but not even a day of protest.

There is so much chatter about Iranian protests, it even beats dead Micheal Jackson. BBC World Service is on its tows, it even interviewed a lady in Philippines who wrote poem about that protester who got squashed by Iranian militia. It was a fortnight of celebration for wired community.

Till this year, I believed in cheer leading and hoped it would give birth to some leader. Last nail to that coffin of hope came from all talk American society, which consumes probably 80% of internet of traffic but took no action to stop Financial companies taking over their Nation. So what can I expect from Africans, Burmese but I give some credit Palestinians.

As you can see I do F**ing blog and do not take any physical action. What is the difference between my mom, who is not even aware of wall-street crooks and me, bloggers?

Mouse clicks do not slap dictators; we lack leaders and soldiers but have abundance of bloggers to archive....I mean to copy/paste :-)

Confession: This post is strictly for recreation and to induce sleep, in what is already a leisurely night.

Doctors in US

2009-06-28T23:05:00.001-07:00

Coming from outside into US, I find doctors as another businessmen. It was a shocking realization. I saw word ‘discount’(on insurance report) and till then I was under the impression word ‘discount’ applied to other businesses. I visit ophthalmologist, the main doctor answers to my questions like an attorney, as if I am going sue if he wavers. Doctors work like clock, their behavior makes very clear(to patient) that they are spending time!!!.

I think others also share responsibility for this state. How can doctors be immune when the society’s pulses are ‘profit’ & ‘earnings’?
People file frivolous law cases. Everyone makes mistake, penalty should be to punish without destroying and also should not be for profiting. Govt should put threshold on penalty, at least to prevent law suites from making whole medical system expensive.

Govt.of China, Google and capitalist dogs

2009-06-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Just for the sake of recording I am posting this. I may needs this sometime when Google comes out blaring that it is the emblem of free choice.

This also to prove, current capitalist are dogs
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gKrY51vO2V86xiICf35Q05J0FIEAD98TPD380

Indian spice to fight lens Fungus...

2009-06-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden several of my lenses have got fungus(Pentax f2.8 100mm Macro and Sigma f2.8 180mm Macro). I had not had to fight this for few years; Last time I faced fungus was in 2001, and I spent 175$ for cleaning. At that time, Pentax said that fungus has etched in to glass and replaced the glass.

Today, I found these two articles on Fungus, and one suggested the use of Carom key ingredient of Indian spice. Carom is anti fungal.

http://www.mypentax.com/Fungus.html#kill

http://www.chem.helsinki.fi/~toomas/photo/fungus/
This article suggest to have a pack of Silica gel inside lens case and also to observe for change in color of Silica. This is an important piece of information, change in color of Silica means it is saturated with water, time to change.

Immigration

2009-06-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Ten more people die while trying to get in to US. Death like this is not so much troubling compared to the motivation behind such desperate act.

http//www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/us/08arizona.html?ref=global-home

Non-US media broadcasts news like this way too often. It is always people trying to get in to West or its kins. Africans take risk of crossing ocean to reach Italy on flimsy boats regularly; there are many African Jews, waiting to get in to so called promised land called Israel and get treated like second-hand people for obvious reasons and still those Jews try; Australia catches illegal immigrants(coming from Afghanistan) regularly and locks them in camps(Yes, they feel better for not getting deported); there are people from Philippines trying to enter its affluent neighbors; funniest incident was one African sportsman, when on tour to AUS over stayed his visa.

May be it is impossible for people to resist pampered life-style that they get to see on TV; may be it is not temptation but miserable state of their respective society. Who knows but it is very apparent that we are living in highly tilted world, as if a part is sinking in to sea.....

Having spent all my life in India, reading such news while sitting in NewYork makes me guilt of having exceptional advantage over others; as if every other person is a lame in this race....

"Energy conservation lifestyle" Google could do more

2009-05-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

After living in US for 8 years, I think in US, conservation is like a occasional event like festival or party, where as in Asian countries(like my home country India) it is a lifestyle(yes, motives are different). Here are examples for conservation that encomposses whole life: in India, I have washed bowl using trickling tap water; also was conscious of number lights that are on at any time in home; always traded paper & plastic for goods. What I am trying convey is conservation should extend to water, electricity, petrol etc... not just be a symbol like hybrid car.

I believe conservation will show substantial yeilds once people start thinking about it all the time. Here are two ideas that I think might help in this regard.

1) www.google.com could have a tab called "Conservation" like 'News', and in this section, people could share realistic ideas & experiences about conservation. Person after reading these for 10 times, may start to change his/her's lifestyle to conserve energy.

2) www.google page could randomly show messages, like reminder, about actions that an individual could take to save energy.

Shoppig bags

2009-05-25T16:09:00.001-07:00

True US society has few employment opportunities because people are lazy. I mean, don't like to do ACTUAL work, rather be middle man.

Here is an example, shopping bags made by cloth, sold in grocery stores. It is so easy to stitch them, no complex cutting like blouse, shirt or trouser but still people do not mind paying. In my family circle, in Bangalore, almost every person knows stitching, so feel not worth buying them. I rather stitch myself, I used help my mom and aunt stitch clothes, woolen sweaters.

This is just an example for available opportunities; yes these would not yield million.

Repetative books authors

2009-05-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

When I am home I usually keep radio on all the time. So, I get to hear same book author interviewed in 2-3 different radio stations; some times radio stations are separated by continent.

What I find interesting is authors quote same example in every one of those interviews. That somewhat disappoints me because it sounds premeditated. I usually imagine writers as individuals with 100 eyes, and this repetitions paints them as less spontaneous.

Here is latest example: David Kessler, author of 'The End of Overeating', was trying explain the grip that food has on peoples' mind; he even used word addiction. And in the course of this description, he quoted exactly same example on both BBC and NPR. The repeated line is, I start to salivate in anticipation of Chinese dumplings as soon as his flight lands in San Francisco.

Selective Marxism and Capitalism inside same corporation

2009-05-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

Based on my luke warm book knowledge, Marxism advocates normalisation of salary, and on the contrary Capitalism says more the one works the more one would earn. Bhagvath Geetha, holy literature in Hindu religion, says something like "work without worrying about outcome", which I think comes close to Marxism theory.

Now, talking about my own experience in US corporations: I have seen both these theories applied inside same company; yes, I mean both; some get Marxism and some Capitalism, depending how close you are to top. Yes, I meant, workers at lower cadre get Marxism treatment where as the top officials get to taste real Capitalism. When I say Marxism, I do not mean that lower folks get absolute zero; but compared to the leaps that top officials take in earnings, lower levels take home relatively nothing. How much one exploited depends on how expandable one is. I have seen colleagues who did not get any rise for few years in sequence.

To give more to one, company has to suck somewhere else. So saying capitalism needs Marxism is not a stretch at all.

Swiss bank rules are discriminatory and dogmatic

2009-04-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

1) Swiss bank, UBS say "Under Swiss bank secrecy laws, disclosing clients’ names is a criminal offense that can carry prison terms and large fines. "

2) Taliban says that according our age old customs, it is criminal for women to claim equality with men.

I think both 1 & 2 are descriminations that should be abolished without any debate. For Tax criminals Swiss is same as Afghanistan is to terrorists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/global/27tax.html

What is loosing-touch?

2009-04-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

We say, "I lost touch with him"; What does that mean, on a scale of 1 to 10?. Following is my observation (not a theory :-) about loosing-touch.

Let us start with two random individuals L & M, who do not know about each other at all. And some how L & M develop a friendship, and then L brings L1, M brings M1 in to group. In the end, group consists of L, M, L1 and M1. Assume that this group does not grow any more, all it contains is four individuals. Few decades pass by and all four stay as friends.

Then one day M dies, and the remaining members of group(L1, M1 and L) may not feel that they lost 100% contact with M because they can still talk to someone about M. To make this more clear, let us focus on L. In spite of M's demise, L may not feel that she/he lost all contact with M because L can still talk to L1 & M1 about M.

Then few years later both M1 and L1 die, leaving L alone. Now L, at last feels that he/she lost all contact with M, L1 and M1 because L can not talk to anyone about three missing friends M, L1 and M1. Note that L may still have 1000 freinds but can not talk about M or L1 or M1 with them.

So, I somewhat or loosely summarize this as follows: an individual(X) looses 100%contact with another individual(Y), only when X can no longer discuss about Y with anyone.

A question remains?
In the context of above example, assume M has left an offspring, and does that make L feel that he/she still has contact with M? May be...

Applying this to our real life....
One may get away by not noticing this at all, as long as the individual resides among the people with who you grew up( like classmates, same town, same community etc....). Immigrants are good candidate to test this hypothesis :-)

Running bare footed on sand

2009-04-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

At around 1998, we were trecking in remote part of India. On that day, we started trecking early in morning, in bare feet(to avoid shoes from getting wet in stream). Sun had whole sky for himself, and we started to head back at around 2.00pm. On the way back, we had to cross appromximately 2kms of land, almost flat, with no grass, no shade and ground was dusty and baking. We were bare footed and there was no respite from hot ground, so we almost ran the whole distance continously, to reach the place where we had deposited our footwear. It seemed, as we ran faster, every step became closer to heat.

Marriage is like this run; bare feet, on shade, hot sandy ground. I am not saying life is desert, but I am focussing on the consistent speed of runner and also the frequency at which his/her's feet has to hit ground. On this marathon, runners should not forget to keep their foot off of hot sand, so as to not get burnt. So it is all about consistency, should be more consistent than breathing.

Moral of this story is, one should drink but not much; should sleep not too late, not too long; should not blog for too long :-)

'self-examination'

2009-04-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103372877
Carol Leifer uses 'self-examination' to indicate her visits to Psychologist

For Kellermann's peers to learn

2009-04-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8012527.stm
I have read several opinions on Kellermann's death. I would not say it is a sad event. Guy was not happy, so took this step, and his death is not going to load burden on society because he was financially sound. This event is devastating to his family but could still live comfortably.

His peers have only one thing to learn that is death is going to be same for everyone; all we are doing is here is spend some time and let us be fair

Reincarnation: an infinite torture

2009-04-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

This is an another a way to view reincarnation that I heard in Deine Lakaien's song Reincarnation. I am far from believing dogmas like reincrnation but if it all exists it is bloody recursive loop. May be this song will wakeup the believers :-)

Reincarnation.......our bloody fate
Reincarnation.......the torture will not end
Reincarnation.......our bloody fate

Deine Lakaien - Reincarnation

There is no peace in heaven
There is no peace on earth
There is no love in heaven
There is no love on earth
There is no faith in heaven
There is no faith on earth
There is no hope in heaven
There is no hope on earth

So you go round and round
another live another wound
from death to birth, from birth to death
No time to waste, no time to rest
So you go round and round
another live another wound
and when you finally touch the light
they send you back into the night

There are no friends in heaven,
there are no friends on earth
There are no saints in heaven,
there are no saints on earth
There are no ghosts in heaven,
there are no ghosts on earth
There are no gods in heaven,
there are no gods on earth

Reincarnation, the torture will not end
Reincarnation, our bloody fate...
Reincarnation, the torture will not end
Reincarnation, our bloody fate...

Did he say Banks have capital?

2009-04-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

“Currently, the vast majority of banks have more capital than they need to be considered well capitalized by their regulators,” Geithner said
http://www.bloomberg.com/

Read this...http://turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com/2009/04/

...Bank of America`s total credit exposure to derivatives was 179 percent of its risk-based capital; Citibank`s was 278 percent; JPMorgan Chase`s, 382 percent; and HSBC America`s, 550 percent. It gets even worse: Goldman Sachs began reporting as a commercial bank, revealing an alarming total credit exposure of 1,056 percent, or more than ten times its capital!...

attributes of happyness

2009-04-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

I think people use wrong attributes to measure happyness: No, I am not going to say money, it is number human relations. Many equate not having money and time sucking, complex web of relations as being deprived of happyness. I do not understand that philosophy;

Some working people who got pets, to make themselves happy, may have ended up making pet's life miserble because animal is forced to spend time alone, in 20' x 20' apartment.

It is like strenous climb to just to fall :-)

Different blues

2009-04-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

You want different BLUE hues. To start, out of tube you can get Pthalo Blue(PB), Cereleum Blue(CRB), Cobolt Blue(CB), Utramarine Blue(UB). Identify these colors on color wheel(it is as below):

---SET-1
[violet]
UB
CB
PB
CRB
[green-blue]

2)
Now above Blues have compliment in ORANGE and YELLOW-Orange, and those compliments colors are Burnt Sienna (BS), Burnt Umber(BU), Raw Sienna(RS), Burnt Sienna(BS) and Yellow Ochre(YO).
Identify these colors on color wheel(it is as below):

---SET-2
[orange]
BS
BU
RS-YO
RU
[yellow]

3)
Now mix both SET-1 and SET-2 to get different compliments. These compliments are going to be dark, say these mixes as SET-C.

4)
Now you can mix both SET-1 and SET-C to get various dull blues. I say dull because colors in SET-C is going to kill the chroma of SET-1

However you try, it is impossible to comeup with definite formula or procedure to achieve this. You have to experiment with the colors that you have; basically it is very very confusing. You better write down the results.

Does your job also suck?

2009-04-03T08:37:00.001-07:00

Being a s/w engineer, I used to think the day of me saying that my job sucks would never come, no it is here. I do not see it changing anytime.

I feel sick looking at try/catch in C#. First of all having try/catch everywhere is a sign of lack of faith in own code or deterioring quality, and try/catch is a final weapon and using it everywhere seems like an act of desperation or overkill.

Sometime I think, developers use try/catch at the drop of the hat, to blot their code so that they can tap their own back, as if they did something big(BTW. Microsoft has given a class for every sh*t, so developers hardly have to do anything).

Financial HIV & AIG condoms

2009-03-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Current financial crisis is vast, crosses continents like HIV. Like any typical HIV victim, during lusty swaps, these bankers forgot to wear condoms, and some had but third-rate ones made by AIG.

Bastard bankers

2009-03-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

Citigroup says AIG tax would hurt firm, sector

CEO of boA, JPC and Citi are trying to block the taxing tax.
I do not understand why Govt. should give these bastards give any more...
F*ckers should be scrawl, weep, beg and die...
Fucking bastards

Obama addresses Iranian people

2009-03-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

Obama addresses Iranian people
What a change compared to past administration....

TARP documents should be made public

2009-03-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

sneaking-in bonus clause in to AIG contract
All the documents, related to any TARP activity should be published on-line so that public can go through it. Public could be a optional verifier and make sure that no one sneaks-in unjustified clauses(like above clause that aggreed to give bonus for AIG executives.). Tax-payers are funding TARP so have right to every related document.

BTW. Obama had promised to make every legislation available for public scrunity and has not done so till now.

Stoa - Taumel

2009-03-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

This song succeeds by far, in creating dark mystery. Music is least stress full on ears, and almost at halfway, vocal starts. I could not decipher the words, partly because the voice is very faint, and she sings as if she does not want to disturb the background music. This is a haunting piece..To fully enjoy this song, read the lyrics aong with singer.

Meaningwise, this song is mobdidly encouraging; one example is
But Im to weak to try.
That lie was my undoing.

I say morbidly because she tries to make us act(without hesitation) by presenting us how we would regret otherwise, and the picture of regret is not violent but beautiful, like this
Tired eyes -
I scan the old horizon.
My path cant end this way.
But dyes rapidly fading.

In last lines, I think she equates hesitation to childish ness.
Thus far I was the child.
The sleepers now awakened.

You can watch this grainy video, I think it is a true Gothic song. And Qntal too has similar songs.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU7rqnrghdw

Stoa - Taumel
Time runs out.
I left behind
My breath came up to here.
Till now I hesitated.

Tired eyes -
I scan the old horizon.
My path cant end this way.
But dyes rapidly fading.

Find to calm,
My heart without.
But Im to weak to try.
That lie was my undoing.

Breakable
Arising hope for silence, -
Thus far I was the child.
The sleepers now awakened.

Human suffering value..

2009-03-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

If there were a way to assign value to each and every human suffering(irrespective of time), probably earth would sink....

Obama's address to Congress

2009-02-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7908476.stm

I have heard every one of Obam's speeches, I think this is the best speech from him. Critics alwayed used ask for more details and today he gave good amount of them, especially how he is going to reduce deficit(I like the one about farm subsidy and military expenses). He spoke about individual responsibility and the one struck me was him urging parents to turn-off TV and make kids focus om home work.(I do not think it is all school that is responsible).

Major departure from previous years, focus was not on how US is going to take revenge and slice enemy throats.

Regarding economy, I am not sure Govt. should prop-up banks, not on ideological grounds but banks are in coma state, let them die, we can rebuild new ones.

I like how Obama highlighted the banker for sharing his money with his employees. Along with this, with his characteristic sincere and confident tone, his speech was very inspirational. No doubt he is such a grand speaker.

Jindal from GOP, sounded like younger version of McCain. He spoke about same things, I am so bored, I do not even want to write them.

Google s/w is no angel compared to that of MS

2009-02-15T14:06:00.000-08:00

If any one thinks that s/w written by Google is any better than that of MS, no it is not. MS writes sh*t load of s/w to take care of. Here is one of Google's bugs that frustrated me enough to blog

1) In the blog editor provided in blogger.com, add a custom HTML code like & nbsp ; to the body of post and click 'Save'
2) View the final post, you would see the effect of & nbsp ;
3) Now, click 'Edit', to modify the same post and you will that version shown in editor will not have retained & nbsp ; So every time you modify the post, you have to add these special HTML characters. What an annoying piece of cr*p.

Today, I was editing following posting, about the poem by Oscar Wilde, and I inserted & nbsp ; in to post, to retain the indentation that is there in book. I saved and everything was fine but on re-edit, I lost all my special HTML chars. http://asnowfall.blogspot.com/2009/02/grave-of-keats.html

Good that Google is not in to writing enterprise s/w....

The grave of Keats - OscarWilde

2009-02-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

Rid of the world's injustice, and his pain,
He rests at last beneath God's veil of blue
Taken from life when life and love were new
The youngest of the martyrs here is lain,
Fair as Sebastian, and as early slain.
No cypress shades his grave, no funeral yew, <--
But gentle violets weeping with the dew <--
Weave on his bones an ever-blossoming chain. <--
O proudest heart that broke for misery!
O sweetest lips since those of Mitylene!
O poet-painter of our English Land!
Thy name was writ in water--it shall stand:
And tears like mine will keep thy memory green,
As Isabella did her Basil tree
ROME

Comments: The part caught my attention is marked with <--
The phrase ever-blossoming chain is simply superb.

Diorama's Times galore

2009-02-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

I recently went back to Diorama's Times galore; this time sounded nice. When I first heard this song few of the lines made me cringe and dislike those lines were:
....
Time - doesn’t every angel fall?
I’m hunting shadows at night
...

But now went back to hear again and found some intriguing lines like these; they give merit to lyrics and background score was always to my liking. I wonder how these writers come with up such lines.

alive
within another brain
within another maze
a wonderful donation

I'll throw it away
stone by stone
sit down and cure
forgotten fever
....
who cares?
for you and I will once
flutter in these winds of scorn
while my little lake is so calm
....
....

"sin skinner" and "soul stripper"

2009-02-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

Just last year, I found Diary Of Dreams, what a complete band. Diorama once worked for them and gives one more reason to love them. In fact, in the beginning, I could not differentiate DOD songs from the ones by Diorama.

DoD has two interesting song titles "sin skinner" and "soul stripper". For me, "sin skinner" brings the image of confession in church and "soul stripper" brings the image of confession of God because in Hinduism Yama is the God or angel of death.

I think lyrics of DoD are not always great but still they sound entertaining. Here is the line that I caught my attension and you should the watch this song being performed for video "Nine in Number"

My friends of slaughter
Noble brothers
Sisters of violence
And fathers of destruction

I enslave you all
You shall not deny me
You must obey
Marching into death with me
Die with me!

This is my gift for you
This is my therapy of hate
This is the poison room
This is your home my friend

Sensing ability of specialized individual and ordinary person

2009-01-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

To recognize that that air is fresh one need not have to be scientist. That said scientist certainly has edge over layman because of his ability to split the air particles. Similarly to feel and understand the poem one need not have to be Professor in language (say English). Professor may be able to appreciate metering and use of syllables.

Greatness of Wikipedia

2009-01-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia site, for layman like me, gives an impression that I am reading biographical history of individual. Generation grown being with Internet is less prone to doubt its merits. So whatever is your opinion, for a second, assume that Wikipedia site is akin to history book. Greatness of Wikipedia is it gives space for World leaders like Gandhi without denying space for porn stars.

What historian may say on Bush on Hamas

2009-01-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

In few more hours GW Bush is going give the control of not only US but virtually the stop dictating things to whole World.

Bush and Hamas share same time in history so take a hypothical situation of a histrorian comparing Hamas's role with that of Bush's; The historian, looking back at Bush's actions, may say that he fought for spreading freedom and democracy across the world, and I do not agree with that judgment and add that, on the same standard Hamas members would become freedom fighters.

Munsel and Classical color wheels

2009-01-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

This is the notes that I made while discussing Munsel Color wheel and Classical Color wheel with my cousin.

Shrinking Kitchen

2009-01-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was at my friend's house, it looked like recent construction. Kitchen did not appear to have its own space, instead looked to be part of living-room; like finger nail and finger. At one time homes used to have four walled kitchen,distinct like bedroom. Gradually kitchen's presence is shrinking.

Shrinking kitchen reflects change in society. People hardly cook at home. Some heat frozen vegetable or prepared food, and many do not even do that.

Few months back, I came across an interesting book, called "In defence of food", this is primarily about industrialization of food and also about talks about disappearing tradition of cooking. One food company marketer predicts demise cooking tradition in coming decades.

"Small town values" muslim passengers removed from DC flight

2009-01-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gfsO6SsGJUrRCXhujgS5ycbUIsfQD95F2IT00

These fellow passengers are disgusting, they do not deserve to live any civilized society, let alone USA. That ****ing airTran should get sued till to death.

AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson says the airline strictly followed federal rules.
Idiots at Govt. advice people to "report any suspicious activity"; these phobic people think that every muslim/forigner about to lynch them. Stupid Govt. should clearly state what it means "report any suspicious activity". My question is how these fucking passengers say that is suspcious when they can not even understand the language.

May be this is what they mean when they say "Small town values"