bloggeranon

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/magazine/07teasing-t.html?pagewanted=1&em

..By becoming your worst fear.

.. after 'Life of Pi'

Current Mood: awake

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/disappointing

I found the link (http://www.users.muohio.edu/erlichrd/vms_site/afric.htm) after chatting with mssnlayam. Something that I wanted to jot down when I could. I apologize to the people for whom this is the umpteenth repetition/rehashed discussion.

This was the best part of "African Genesis" by Robert Adrey, a book I highly rate for the author's liberal and liberated thought process, even though the book has started to show its age, but its remarkable for a book written at that time.

If anyone had seen the thought process of the early Christian settlers and the atrocities that they committed on the American Indian natives(something well recorded in "People's history of the United States" by Howard Zinn), you'll see what I am trying to capture. The same thing applies to all those who think all muslims in India should be sent to Pakistan, immigrants in the US to X, Biharis in Bombay to Bihar, "outsiders" in Bangalore to X(ahem!), "return to the golden era of our ancestors", .....and other bullshit.

So here goes:

" My third assertion, far less speculative, is that conscience as a guiding force in the human drama is one of such small reliability that it assumes very nearly the role of villain. Conscience has evolved directly from the amity-enmity complex of our primate past. But unlike civilization it has acted as no force to inhibit the predatory instinct. It has instead been the conqueror's chief ally. And if mankind survives the contemporary predicament, it will be in spite of, not because of, the parochial powers of our animal conscience.

The limitation of conscience lies in its territorial nature.... Conscience organizes hatred as it organizes love.

My conscience is totally amoral. I shall delude myself that it directs me to act in the interests of human good, and well it may. But with equal force it will direct me to act in the interests of human evil, if such evil is in the interests of my society.

Society in its ancient wisdom does not appeal to my conscience through reason, for my conscience being of animal inheritance will respond with a minimum of force. And so conscience in human society becomes an essentially anti-rational power. "

- Robert Adrey

This generalization, I think trumps Richard Dawkins highly-immature attempts in his "God-Delusion" series to attribute all evil in the world to religion.

The only "noble savage" out there is the anarchist.

Hear, hear! Joker :D

Current Mood: calm

..physique for Karate is this, apparently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG1X8Ouu-GU

Great video, albeit a bit older. I wish I could find some on Matsubayashi-Ryu. Goju is for monsters, powerful but a bit too contrived for my liking.

I found this:
http://kata-reference.com/index.php?style=5 reference, but no sequential documentary.

So I thought, at some point I should consolidate these links and then I thought, why not blog? Its been a while anyway. As usual, this entry will have too many divergent links for public consumption, but then again..who cares?

I have been trying to find the BBC series that profiled each martial art, that was aired 3-4 years back. It was covered by a lady. There was also this bald Danish guy, a 5th degree black belt who covered a similar series on National Geographic, but I keep getting confused on which one was in which series. The ones on Kungfu, Kalarippayatu, Okinawan Karate, Capoeira, Muay Thai were stupendous in that order. They also covered Tae-Kwon-do and Iranian wrestling. The Okinawan Karate section had this one Japanese policeman practice shoving on a coconut tree. I would just kill to get my hands on that one. So if someone knows the right links, please point me to it.

The one on Kalarippayatu that I could find http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZZYl2IUKbo is close, but not as good as the one I saw in the TV series. The BBC version had a spectacular chuttuval (metal-foil-sword) fight.

Tae-kwon-do stands out in my memory, since I saw it in action. Back when I was 12, a friend of mine, a green belt demolished this 6-foot rowdy(who always had his way) in YMCA with side kicks when he tried to bully his way in, for a TT game.
I vaguely recollect Tae-kwon-do, in the series, but anyway I was pointed to some excellent videos by Richie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j1w--TjqVY,
which I use as the standard reference for all kicks.

I don't remember if ju-jutsu was covered. The video on Gracie-Ju-jutsu which I passed around to a few friends is the best I have seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVCKEbiEJNc&feature=related
A must see, just to see the 91 year old GM move. As Django says, I wish I was that fit 'now'.

I saw some good ones on Silat, a Malaysian art recently, but haven't tried looking it up on youtube.

One thing I can tell after seeing all this..
..Don't ever ever pick a fight with anyone. You never know who knows what.

Current Mood: calm

but this is "The Man":

http://www.taichiindia.com/in/what-is-taichi2.html

No, I am not learning Tai-Chi.

Current Mood: calm

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 20)

You want life to give you a fair share of joys and you will make sure you get it. There is a good chance that you meet a very special person this week. However, the flipside of the coin is also likely to manifest� some personal/ material loss could also be in the offing so exercise due caution with your belongings.
Lucky gem : Blue Sapphire
Lucky colour : Dark blue
Lucky number : 8

I am guessing it must be Sensei Wong :D

Current Mood: calm

-William Forrester

Current Mood: calm

sequence of NY times readings with other random stuff:

This article about the surprisingly high(I won't use "statistically significat" :D) occurrence of dyslexia among entrepreneurs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/business/06dyslexia.html?em&ex=1197349200&en=f55a560d5b78d58f&ei=5087%0A
If you have ever noticed stuff like dyslexia increasing with age or "leaders" who are all "big picture" guys you can concoct some interesting pet theories here(with a does of Shamanism of course :D)

The previous article needs to be compared with this piece which appeared a couple of days back:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/health/04mind.html
Perfectionism: Good or Evil??

And this one about "Pushing yourself":
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/health/nutrition/06Best.html?em&ex=1197349200&en=dd6d9a52f9a9b698&ei=5087%0A

And this one, demonstrating why I read this section of NY times. Not because the writing is good or that the analysis is insightful. It is the scientific observation of completely mundane stuff that makes me read it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/health/research/04beha.html?ref=science
and then again by scientific, I don't mean correct/unbiased/neutral. At the very least, an attempt to statistify things are done (much like politics, as some one reading this critically would notice :D)

A play about Darwin(contains spoilers). Not too interesting, unless you see the play.
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/theater/reviews/06trum.html?ref=science

If you got this far, you are lucky to witness me lauding a Tamil movie :D (How about Cauvery, as a hint, for those who don't know why I normally wouldn't do this in public). I saw "Evano Orvan" and liked it. No fluff in the movie, crisp, grim and some good subtle stuff to watch out for.

Finally I saw a post that surprised me. So I have a more general (abstract and nerdy too) question would be "How would you like your life to be: 'An Operating System' (A bunch of trap handlers :D) or an 'automaton'?"
Think about it.

I might be a bit behind the wave, as usual but If you are a music aficionado and haven't played "Rock Band" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Band ; http://www.rockband.com/ ) yet, you are missing something. Of course, if you are already one of the talented ones, and can strum Stairway to Heaven at the drop of a Roy Harper hat, you might not appreciate it. Then there will be these cynical Luddites who go on about how Note A goes in B way and gives you C pleasure which a stupid game wont give. In true rock star fashion say "F*** Off" and play it.

I personally rate the drums above the guitar, since it is almost real. Its got 4 drums and a foot pedal. Turn on paranoid and enjoy the manic beats. So I am off with my band with Insen(Lead Guitar and Band leader) and Stewie(Drums). Being the lead singer, I protect my voice with extra doses of coffee and beer nowadays. Stewie kicks ass on the drums and in true modesty, I am next in line. So smashed fingers and burns are only natural in our line of work(The same old Rock rivalries :D).

Check out some of the songs we found during our tour:

Rolling Stones: "Gimme Shelter" : http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mqg1WVVmgx0&feature=related
Mountain : "Mississipi Queen" : http://youtube.com/watch?v=QQpBwHiULmE

and the song I naturally fit into:
Radio Head: Creep : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxpblnsJEWM

and my top score(97%) till now:
Black Sabbath: Paranoid: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SRwwYWlbP2U

I am itching to play Zeppelin, LMR(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7vs21ZKrKM) and PF but there are only so many songs now.

Current Mood: chipper

a reminder to read some contemporary sensible stuff too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/books/review/10-best-2007.html?em&ex=1196485200&en=4e758f9010c87bf6&ei=5087%0A

about this article in NY Times about "Denial":

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/health/research/20deni.html?ref=science

"The Elephant in the Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life" enters my "wanna read" list on facebook.

But then I went on to read 2 more absorbing articles, one of which is faithfully quoted

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/weekinreview/18zernike.html?em&ex=1195707600&en=df5a2bb5d32eae0e&ei=5087%0A

Due to laziness, I avoid sharing my thoughts. It is not just about typing. Anyway as I can feel my brain degenerate, I think I need to
A) start playing bridge again
B) Fantasize over Theory or
C) Start doing this. This is a very veru good idea. Seems to be made for people like me : http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/fashion/18science.html

The only thinking I do nowadays seems to be about foosball. Am I addicted or what?

Current Mood: contemplative

read a friends status message, but that's a story that every one knows. Whats new? Hmmm...I'll give you a boring story with interesting thought questions.

I bought a metallic blue car which I happen to appreciate every time I drive to the point of it being a fixation. A friend said the car is too purple for his taste. I however couldn't see myself choose any other color, because the simple reason was that this color defined the car best. However I didn't say that. I said there were 4 choices. The grey was too boring. Who buys white? The red was too in-the-face and not available anyway. So, blue it was and then these profound (:D) words spewed "You live with your choices". He offered some consolatory words to this philosophical resignation.

The truth was a simple "I liked the color". The prevarication was the rationalization. I chose color for the story but that's a head-fake in Randy Pausch terms, just like this link is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/science/06tier.html?ref=science

Current Mood: awake

After reading the book, I hid it in one corner of my room. I did not want to see it again. No, the book isn't bad. It is so disturbing and real that I couldn't take it...It was not like I was in a bad mood either. I had gotten through with this one big chunk of work. I had won some silly drag race and was pretty pleased with myself. I came home and got to experience a not-too-mild earthquake, something that ought to shake you up and put things in perspective, but No! The quake only generated excitement and pleasant after-effects(as all people that I talked with/chatted/received mails from me will testify)...So that night I finished the book that I had been reading for nearly a month now and it kind of jarred me awake. I am back to my usual pleasant stupor now, but it took me a while. So I don't really need to be writing this, but it is unfair to ignore what moves you. Anyway I have here a different section from the book, a section which, when I read, had made a mental note to retain in some flavor...and Yes, the book will go back into hiding the moment I am done with this blog.

"
Lying on the floor of the flat-car with the guns beside me under the canvas I was wet, cold and very hungry. Finally I rolled over and lay flat on my stomach with my head on my arms. My knww was stiff, but it had been very satisfactory. Valentini had done a fine job. I had done half the retreat on foot and swum part of the Tagliamento with his knee. It was his knee all right. The other knee was mine. Doctors did things to you and then it was not your body any more. The head was mine, and the inside of the belly. It was very hungry in there. I could feel it turn over on itself. The head was mine, but not to use, not to think with, only to remember and not too much remember.
I could remember Catherine but I knew I would get crazy if I thought about her when I was not sure yet I would see her, so I would not think about her, only about her a little, only about her with the car going slowly and clickingly, and some light through the canvas and my lying with Cathrine on the floor of the car. Hard as the floor to lie not thinking only feeling, having been away too long, the clothes wet and the floor moving only a little each time and lonesome inside and alone with wet clothing and hard floor for a wife.
You did not love the floor of a flat-cat nor guns with canvas jackets and the smell of vaselined metal or a canvas that rain leaked through, although it is very fine under a canvas and pleasant with guns; but you loved some one else whom now you knew was not even to be pretended there; you seeing now very clearly and coldly-not so much coldly as clearly and emptily. You saw emptily, lying on your stomach, having been present when one army moved back and another came forward. You had lost your cars and your men as a floorwalker loses the stock of his department in a fire. There was, however, no insurance. You were out of it now. You had no more obligation. If they shot floorwalkers after a fire in the department store because they spoke with an accent they had always had, then certainly the floorwalkers would not be expected to return when the store opened again for business. They might seek other employment; if there was any other employment and the police did not get them.
Anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation. Although that ceased when the carabiniere put his hands on my collar. I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was no point of honor. I was not against them. I was through. I wished them all the luck. There were the good ones, and the brave ones, and the calm ones, and the sensible ones, and they deserved it. But it was not my show any more and I wished this bloody train would get to Mestre and I would eat and stop thinking. I would have to stop.
Piani would tell them they had shot me. They went through the pockets and took the papers of the people they shot. They would not have my papers. They might call me drowned. I wondered what they would hear in the States. Dead from wounds and other causes. Good Christ I was hungry. I wondered what had become of the priest at the mess. And Rinaldi. He was probably at Pordenone. If they had not gone further back. Well, I would never see him now. I would never see any of them now. That life was over. I did not think he had syphilis. It was not a serious disease anyway if you took it in time, they said. But he would worry. I would worry too if I had it. Any one would worry.
I was not made to think. I was made to eat. My God, yes. Eat and drink and sleep with Catherine. To-night maybe. No that was impossible. But tomorrow night, and a good meal and sheets and never going away again except together. Probably have to go damned quickly. She would go. I knew she would go. When would we go? That was something to think about. It was getting dark. I lay and thought where we would go. There were many places.
"

So, why the train, really?

Current Mood: awake

from someone's blog: http://idiots.blogspot.com/2007/05/great-vw-r32-ad.html

Seems like more self-glorification but the again this is too "me" to resist...

Its almost like I am back in Bangalore. I miss outmaneuvering the dogs but then again cops take their place :)

Current Mood: calm

mkrishna80 asked me the other day. I should thank emeritusl for introducing me to it.

The primary reason is it gives me something to do in between builds :) but then again I get to see articles like this:

1) After seeing Sicko, I pretend to be interested in stuff like health care. It helps to carry off images of maturity in old people discussions.."Should I move to SF to get free health care or wait for Hillary Clinton to get elected and NOT do her health care fiasco again?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/us/14health.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/us/politics/18clinton.html?ref=us

Of course I don't care. My company pays for my health care but then I should still be considering my new found layers of flab.

2) Remember Ayn Rand, anyone?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html?em&ex=1190260800&en=a452c5a143f0a472&ei=5087%0A

3) The follow-up for 2): Some "intellectual disgust" descriptions on http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/science/18mora.html?ref=science

The article itself drags in the middle though there's some interesting stuff towards the end.

4) Will I get better rates when I refinance for my auto-loan?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/business/18cnd-fed.html?ref=business

Current Mood: awake

I read this article http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/fashion/16lucid.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

and was stunned to see that it is a phenomenon. If I have talked to anyone long enuff, I would have told you stories of how I used to dream up strategies in Warcraft. Of course, in the interest of sobriety, I'll leave the "e(ro)soteric" stuff out.

I apologize to all mortals who can't do this. This article reminded me to get back to reading Pathanjali, so I can add "at will" to the previous sentence :D

Current Mood: chipper

that convinced me that I am not an intellectual. People who have read the sequel to Pirsig's all too famous book might recognize this. Don't bother reading it if you don't plan to read the book. Nothing can be more innocuous than a surface reading of this passage...

" In a society that thoroughly distrusts authority of any sort, he had native personal magnetism that singled him out in any group. In a society that exalts moderation and the easiest way, he was turbulent and could act violently upon occasion. In a society that praises a pliant personality that "talks lots"- that is, that chatters in a friendly fashion- he was scornful and aloof. Zuni's only reaction to such personalities is to brand them as witches. He was said to be peering through a window from outside, and this is a sure mark of a witch, At any rate he got drunk one day and boasted that they could not kill him. He was taken before the war priests who hung him by his thumbs from the rafters till he should confess to his witchcraft. This is the usual procedure in a charge of witchcraft. However he dispatched a messenger to the government troops. When they came his shoulders were already crippled for life, and the officer of law was left with no recourse but to imprison the war priests who had been responsible for the enormity. One of the war priests was probably the most respected and important in recent Zuni history and when he returned after imprisonment in the state penitentiary he never resumed his priestly offices. He regarded his power as broken. It was a revenge that is probably unique in Zuni history. It involved, of course, a challenge to the priesthoods, against whom the witch by his act openly aligned himself.

The course of his life in the forty years that followed this defiance was not, however, what we might easily predict. A witch is not barred from his membership in cult groups because he has been condemned, and the way to recognition lay through such activity. He possessed a remarkable verbal memory and a sweet singing voice. He learned unbelievable stores of mythology, of esoteric ritual, of cult songs. Many hundreds of pages of stories and ritual poetry were taken down from his dictation before he died, and he regarded his songs as much more extensive. He became indispensable in ceremonial life and before he died was the governor of Zuni. The congenital bent of his personality threw him into irreconcilable conflict with his society, and he solved his dilemma by turning an incidental talent to account. As we might well expect, he was not a happy man. As governor of Zuni and high in his cult groups, a marked man in his own community, he was obsessed by death. He was a cheated man in the midst of a mildly happy populace.

It is easy to imagine the life he might have lived among the Plains Indians where every institution favoured the traits that were native to him. The personal authority, the turbulence, the scorn, would all have been honoured in the career he could have made his own. The unhappiness that was inseparable from his temperament as a successful priest and governor of Zuni would have no place as a war chief of the Cheyenne; it was not a function of the traits of his native endowment but of the standards of the culture in which he found no outlet for his native responses."

Current Mood: contemplative

I post this. I jumped over my various trips, new foosball mates, waveboard adventures, virtual titbits, great lunches, hot gossip and emotional roller-coasters to post this. The best thing since sliced bread. I never really liked sliced bread but u get the point ...:D

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/879

Yeah, one might wonder why all the fanfare about a plugin. I have wandered through the mazes of lynx, elinks and firefox itself for getting over the squeeky bastard. Now it rests on my left, while I rule the world with my split "natural" clickety-clackety-finger-punch-bag and wonder what the next wave will be.

My guess is this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stumpwm but I m not investing more time on this till there is a windows version. Till then I gloat over my newfound control of these pesky creatures.

Current Mood: chipper

is an illusion :). See the peace and calm that prevails over the Valley of the Sun, as seen by "Kalia the Crow turned into Happy Mistress of the House" (SS for short), also featuring in this caricature:



Some background:
This is the outcome of Not forgoing the rather comfy couch and Fifa 2006 (if people still remember the ps2 console). I was repeatedly warned that I will end up in a cartoon that SS (remember the abbreviations? pay attention!!) will eventually draw and it did happen. Incidentally there are others in the series, but they would belong to "Big infinity"'s blog (if it ever happens :) )

And seeing how it goes, I expect my next appearance in a Longhorn "football" costume, if I don't get off the couch soon.

Current Mood: dorky