Posts
i like that name mmx. sounds scandalous. the MMX scandal.
moving on...
so this year started out awesome. i made resolutions, decisions, plans, plans of actions, all of that. and almost came close to acting on those, but one of the things i resolved, was that i would write each week. so i wrote the first week, and now the last day. this is a recap.
this year in retrospect.
1. witnessed more weddings this year than all years put together.
2. know more new parents now.
3. travelled much less than what i would normally do. or like to.
4. ipad release (didn't get one, but just being there the time that it happened)
5. replaced a good macbook with a better macbook pro. (fried logic board can do that to you)
6. lost a phone.
7. started a company
8. stuck to it for longer than 8 months and counting. (making it my second largest employment ever)
9. attempted to separate my personal performance review of a job from its actuals. still not there but close.
10. got introduced to the musical genius of amit trivedi
11. was around when tron made a come back.
12. made a resolution to write each week, did only for about 10 weeks or so. but
surprised at my own conviction.
13. attended 3 indian ocean concerts. downloaded the free album.
14. saw james camaroon make avatar.
15. saw knight shyamalan make avatar.
16. saw right ya wrong.
17. witnessed an erosion of movie taste being replaced by an unhealthy addiction.
18. did things i swore i never ever ever would.
19. missed the german winters. but not enough.
20. saw what 6.5 degrees feels like without heating.
21. made unlikely friends, made unwilling enemies.
22. lost friends to monogamy, work and distance.
23. started working on a script/magazine/business idea. stopped working on a script/magazine/business idea.
24. found out how those i thought uncool were cool in waiting.
25. worked. not as much as i should have, but as much as i could.
26. started doing things the way i hoped i would someday
27. still trying to cling on to a shred of my suicidal tendencies that fuel my work ethics.
28. learnt of the harms of coffee allergies.
29. saw jitesh bafna reel in horror each time i mentioned the word wife. (evil laughter follows)
30. saw hrishikesh kalkote get to where he wanted to go finally. :)
(i like 30. its a nice number. i will stop here now. )
there is a bigger list, but i would have to kill you, or hit you with the forget me bat after you have been told.
i cant help it but share this with you all.
UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION UNIT,
IN AFFILIATION WITH WORLD BANK
From: Special Envoy to
Secretary-General BAN KI-MOON
Telephone Number:
SIR/MADAM,
This is to bring to your notice that we are delegated from the UNITED NATIONS in
Central Bank to pay 50 victims from your country who has being Victims of
Internet scam, The United Nations has decided to pay you $500,000 USD (five
Hundred Thousand Dollars) each.. You are listed and approved for this payment
as one of the scammed victims to be paid this amount,get back to this office as
soon as possible for the immediate payment of your $500,000 USD compensation
funds.
My dear friend I will like you to contact UPS Courier Company regarding delivery
of your ATM CARD, You are advised to forward this information to the above
office for release of your ATM CARD compensation.
This card centre will send you an atm card which you will use to withdraw your
money in any atm machine in any part of the world,but the maximum is ten
thousand,five hundred United States dollars per day. So if you like to receive
your funds in this way please let us know by contacting the UPS Courier Company
and also send the following information as listed below.
1. Full name
2. Full address
3. phone
4. Your age
5. Gender
6. Occupation
7. Country
However, We have Concluded an arrangement with the UPS Courier Company for them
to deliver your Atm Card to you,and to let you know that you have to Contact the
Dhl Courier Company with your information Via email so that they can send down
your Atm Card to your postal address and to also let you know that the amount
which you are to send to them for the delivery of you Atm Card to be deliver to
your postal address is US$200 Equ 9000/inr being the UPS Courier Company
Delivery Charges so far.Note That's the only fee you will pay to enable UPS
deliver your ATM to you.
*****************************************
Mr.Barry Slim.
UPS Courier Company Dispatch Officer
E-MAIL : upsfast@post.com
Telephone:00447010036124
*****************************************
The atm card payment centre has been mandated to issue out $500,000 USD part
payment for this fiscal of year 2010. Also your information,you have to stop any
further communication with any other person(s) or office(s)to avoid any hitch in
reciving your payment. Note that because of impostors, we hereby issue you our
code of conduct, which is (ATM-199/2010) so you have to indicate this code when
contacting the card centre by using it as your subject.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs.Sarah Thomas
Secretary United Nations
General Ban Ki-Moon.
( Financial officer )United Nations...
http://www.unorg/sg...
(this is what constitutes of most of my internet doings these days)
UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION UNIT,
IN AFFILIATION WITH WORLD BANK
From: Special Envoy to
Secretary-General BAN KI-MOON
Telephone Number:
SIR/MADAM,
This is to bring to your notice that we are delegated from the UNITED NATIONS in
Central Bank to pay 50 victims from your country who has being Victims of
Internet scam, The United Nations has decided to pay you $500,000 USD (five
Hundred Thousand Dollars) each.. You are listed and approved for this payment
as one of the scammed victims to be paid this amount,get back to this office as
soon as possible for the immediate payment of your $500,000 USD compensation
funds.
My dear friend I will like you to contact UPS Courier Company regarding delivery
of your ATM CARD, You are advised to forward this information to the above
office for release of your ATM CARD compensation.
This card centre will send you an atm card which you will use to withdraw your
money in any atm machine in any part of the world,but the maximum is ten
thousand,five hundred United States dollars per day. So if you like to receive
your funds in this way please let us know by contacting the UPS Courier Company
and also send the following information as listed below.
1. Full name
2. Full address
3. phone
4. Your age
5. Gender
6. Occupation
7. Country
However, We have Concluded an arrangement with the UPS Courier Company for them
to deliver your Atm Card to you,and to let you know that you have to Contact the
Dhl Courier Company with your information Via email so that they can send down
your Atm Card to your postal address and to also let you know that the amount
which you are to send to them for the delivery of you Atm Card to be deliver to
your postal address is US$200 Equ 9000/inr being the UPS Courier Company
Delivery Charges so far.Note That's the only fee you will pay to enable UPS
deliver your ATM to you.
*****************************************
Mr.Barry Slim.
UPS Courier Company Dispatch Officer
E-MAIL : upsfast@post.com
Telephone:00447010036124
*****************************************
The atm card payment centre has been mandated to issue out $500,000 USD part
payment for this fiscal of year 2010. Also your information,you have to stop any
further communication with any other person(s) or office(s)to avoid any hitch in
reciving your payment. Note that because of impostors, we hereby issue you our
code of conduct, which is (ATM-199/2010) so you have to indicate this code when
contacting the card centre by using it as your subject.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs.Sarah Thomas
Secretary United Nations
General Ban Ki-Moon.
( Financial officer )United Nations...
http://www.unorg/sg...
(this is what constitutes of most of my internet doings these days)
a few weeks ago ironman II released. this post is from that experience.
1.you wake up wishing you had tickets to the 9am show so that you can tweet about it before anyone else does.
2. you wear your faded marvel comics tshirt all day.
3. you brush up on your prequel skills so that you dont miss out references from the movie.
4. you google the plot, character, actors, director, references etc...
5. you see it twice in the same day.
6. you brag about it.
7. you facebook about how the plot was inaccurate and/or how you loved it anyways.
8. you want the director made president of a rich and powerful country so that he can do what ever the hell he wants.
9. you search the internet hi and lo for the perfect fanboy tshirt, in hope of finding something you can buy. only to be disappointed they dont have what you want.
10. you write this. blog it. buzz it. tweet it. and then post it to your facebook wall. and wish you had more places to show it off.
{i wrote this post the same night. i just got around to putting it up. but by then prince of persia was out, so still relevant i guess. if not. my blog, my rules. i rule relevant.}
1.you wake up wishing you had tickets to the 9am show so that you can tweet about it before anyone else does.
2. you wear your faded marvel comics tshirt all day.
3. you brush up on your prequel skills so that you dont miss out references from the movie.
4. you google the plot, character, actors, director, references etc...
5. you see it twice in the same day.
6. you brag about it.
7. you facebook about how the plot was inaccurate and/or how you loved it anyways.
8. you want the director made president of a rich and powerful country so that he can do what ever the hell he wants.
9. you search the internet hi and lo for the perfect fanboy tshirt, in hope of finding something you can buy. only to be disappointed they dont have what you want.
10. you write this. blog it. buzz it. tweet it. and then post it to your facebook wall. and wish you had more places to show it off.
{i wrote this post the same night. i just got around to putting it up. but by then prince of persia was out, so still relevant i guess. if not. my blog, my rules. i rule relevant.}
http://www.openmoko.com/freerunner.html
i saw this link today, it got me most excited.
phones like the neo runner, why do we not have commercial versions of them? the hardware seems perfectly friendly for a non developer to use it. why not sell it to the masses and make more profitable for developers to make apps, and hacks to it. sort of fill the gap between say the smartphones (blackberry), and the iphone.
with the amount of emphasis on portable devices now, wouldnt it make sense to have a model on the market where its easier, customize it to our needs, in the true sense of the word, but on a larger level. something like a closed chat group. more secure phones, that can handle more data flow. applications that connect various daily activities. phones that can be used as tourist maps. things like that.
i am no developer, so i dont really understand the limits of something like this. but potentially, the free runner with the right kind of push, could beat the iphone out of use.
but this is what makes the iphone successful.
1. blig value. the big shots have it. the shows we see, have the cool ones on the iphone. people show it off as if its a needed device and an object of desire at the same time. becomes easy to justify to your conscience.
2. the appstore. nothing seels like the free stuff. once you get your world hooked to the free, slipping them to the paid ones is just a little leap away. like they said, free is the new currency. the app store has millions of free things, app versions of big applications.
3. ease of use. even the non techies flock to it. the oomph is just too much to ignore.
4. the gamers and the users. everyones device.
5. the os. oh god dont get me started on that. the first os that is made for us fat fingered slobs. touch screen devices can bow become touch screen devices. with an os so simple that designers from yesteryears should kill themselves for not having thought of it earlier, and sticking us with things like mouse, pointers and other things that dont do touch screen things.
i am an apple fan, so most of this must sound like fanboy stuff.
so what i was coming to was that its no longer necessary for devices to be just good technologically, but also need the added free stuff.
which the freerunner already has by the ton load. so why does no one else pick it up! WHY?!!!
{the first part is the letter i wrote to someone. the second part i left out. for reasons of decency}
i saw this link today, it got me most excited.
phones like the neo runner, why do we not have commercial versions of them? the hardware seems perfectly friendly for a non developer to use it. why not sell it to the masses and make more profitable for developers to make apps, and hacks to it. sort of fill the gap between say the smartphones (blackberry), and the iphone.
with the amount of emphasis on portable devices now, wouldnt it make sense to have a model on the market where its easier, customize it to our needs, in the true sense of the word, but on a larger level. something like a closed chat group. more secure phones, that can handle more data flow. applications that connect various daily activities. phones that can be used as tourist maps. things like that.
i am no developer, so i dont really understand the limits of something like this. but potentially, the free runner with the right kind of push, could beat the iphone out of use.
but this is what makes the iphone successful.
1. blig value. the big shots have it. the shows we see, have the cool ones on the iphone. people show it off as if its a needed device and an object of desire at the same time. becomes easy to justify to your conscience.
2. the appstore. nothing seels like the free stuff. once you get your world hooked to the free, slipping them to the paid ones is just a little leap away. like they said, free is the new currency. the app store has millions of free things, app versions of big applications.
3. ease of use. even the non techies flock to it. the oomph is just too much to ignore.
4. the gamers and the users. everyones device.
5. the os. oh god dont get me started on that. the first os that is made for us fat fingered slobs. touch screen devices can bow become touch screen devices. with an os so simple that designers from yesteryears should kill themselves for not having thought of it earlier, and sticking us with things like mouse, pointers and other things that dont do touch screen things.
i am an apple fan, so most of this must sound like fanboy stuff.
so what i was coming to was that its no longer necessary for devices to be just good technologically, but also need the added free stuff.
which the freerunner already has by the ton load. so why does no one else pick it up! WHY?!!!
{the first part is the letter i wrote to someone. the second part i left out. for reasons of decency}
i keep thinking of time travel.
i think it would be awesome when we can finally travel in time. then we would start living life in 3D. instead of the uni-directional time travel we now engage in. past and future would become relative concepts. todays future can be yesterday just because i went back in time and did something there. or tomorrow comes before today, because i went ahead yesterday and changed something there. our watches would have to become multi channel, with specific timelines for specific tasks, and all time shall be referred to as 0+2 or 0-24 hrs, time shall now need to be referred to in coordinates, x and y or x,y and z. none of the o'clock concepts shall exists. (i already had this concept of time becoming relative dialogue with kshitij while touring the greenwich median. it was a stimulating conversation, that kshitij and i had, which involved scaring tourists away, and stern looks from the museum guards. good times!) yeah, so in my wandering over 3dimensional time travel, i just realized something... its all crap. i cant go to the future, it hasnt happened yet. a series once described time as a book, just because you are on chapter two, chapter 3 and 4 dont not exist. but i think time is more like a work in progress, each day, space gets written. you can only travel in time to points in space, hence since the future has not been written yet, hence you cant be in space that doesn't exist.
unless, you believe that god/nature/universe has a purpose for you. in which case, the space in the future, or the events within those space, has already been provided for, thus making future travel possible. it also makes future travel futile, becase the same force that put the future there, would try to ensure that it stays unchanged and since those forces that put them there, are powerful enough to put them there, and hence will also be strong enough and determined enough to keep it that way.
thats all i got on time. besides wasting it. profusely.
[so that is post one of the week. two to follow soon. real soon]
i think it would be awesome when we can finally travel in time. then we would start living life in 3D. instead of the uni-directional time travel we now engage in. past and future would become relative concepts. todays future can be yesterday just because i went back in time and did something there. or tomorrow comes before today, because i went ahead yesterday and changed something there. our watches would have to become multi channel, with specific timelines for specific tasks, and all time shall be referred to as 0+2 or 0-24 hrs, time shall now need to be referred to in coordinates, x and y or x,y and z. none of the o'clock concepts shall exists. (i already had this concept of time becoming relative dialogue with kshitij while touring the greenwich median. it was a stimulating conversation, that kshitij and i had, which involved scaring tourists away, and stern looks from the museum guards. good times!) yeah, so in my wandering over 3dimensional time travel, i just realized something... its all crap. i cant go to the future, it hasnt happened yet. a series once described time as a book, just because you are on chapter two, chapter 3 and 4 dont not exist. but i think time is more like a work in progress, each day, space gets written. you can only travel in time to points in space, hence since the future has not been written yet, hence you cant be in space that doesn't exist.
unless, you believe that god/nature/universe has a purpose for you. in which case, the space in the future, or the events within those space, has already been provided for, thus making future travel possible. it also makes future travel futile, becase the same force that put the future there, would try to ensure that it stays unchanged and since those forces that put them there, are powerful enough to put them there, and hence will also be strong enough and determined enough to keep it that way.
thats all i got on time. besides wasting it. profusely.
[so that is post one of the week. two to follow soon. real soon]
i quit!
i think i did it for quiet a while. 2 months almost. the new years resolution of writing 2 posts a week has been quiet a formidable task, and sadly must come to an end. not because i dont have things to say, and not because i have suddenly started having better things to do, just because the task keeps getting more and more difficult by the week, and i see myself as more of a micro-blogger than a macro one. i am good with the one liners. less is more is more of my way. the things i have to say can be said in 140 characters of less. i dont need to ramble on for more than than generally. and even in those 140 char, i can more often than not not make any sense. so keeping all that in mind, and the fact that my scruples, and conscience, allow for me to quit an endeavor guiltlessly, i have now decided to stop blogging twice a week and shall blog as and when i see fit. after all it is my rule to break the rules i make. and i shall abide by it for as long as it is convenient.
BAZINGA!!!
this is todays post. i dont plan on quitting yet. may be next week. for this week i got my 2 posts. both written on a sunday. both written from the phone. and both amazingly meaningless and dry. as much as the universe is crying for me to stop, i shall go on. i shall be seen week after week for as long as i can, rambling, crying, bickering and ranting about mundane things that i do, and the oddities that i have. so until next week, which is already here, adios amigo(a)s! we shall meet again.
(evil laughter fades into black with end credits.)
i think i did it for quiet a while. 2 months almost. the new years resolution of writing 2 posts a week has been quiet a formidable task, and sadly must come to an end. not because i dont have things to say, and not because i have suddenly started having better things to do, just because the task keeps getting more and more difficult by the week, and i see myself as more of a micro-blogger than a macro one. i am good with the one liners. less is more is more of my way. the things i have to say can be said in 140 characters of less. i dont need to ramble on for more than than generally. and even in those 140 char, i can more often than not not make any sense. so keeping all that in mind, and the fact that my scruples, and conscience, allow for me to quit an endeavor guiltlessly, i have now decided to stop blogging twice a week and shall blog as and when i see fit. after all it is my rule to break the rules i make. and i shall abide by it for as long as it is convenient.
BAZINGA!!!
this is todays post. i dont plan on quitting yet. may be next week. for this week i got my 2 posts. both written on a sunday. both written from the phone. and both amazingly meaningless and dry. as much as the universe is crying for me to stop, i shall go on. i shall be seen week after week for as long as i can, rambling, crying, bickering and ranting about mundane things that i do, and the oddities that i have. so until next week, which is already here, adios amigo(a)s! we shall meet again.
(evil laughter fades into black with end credits.)
who is to blame for mtv?
I was at the hairdressers today. For me he is more of a hedge trimmer. Cut the excess, leave the head. No fancy stuff. Cut and dry. 8 weeks later repeat. But this postg is not about the hairdresser. Neither is it about the disinterest he has in my hair. Its the easiest thing to cut. One sweep of an electric sheep shearer would do the trick. This post is about what I read, in the papers while waiting for my turn on the chair.
Well, its todays sunday express. Big bold letters tht state 'who killed the music?' the article goes on and on about how reality shows and 'evil' corporations and their hunger for trps killed music channels and transformed them into their songless state. They blamed the internet too. Youtube killed it too they said.
But is tht so? If music television is dead and if the internet and trps killed it, we watched it die. We asked for them to change. We wanted them to show more skin. I remember a ban on reality shows back in the 90s when channel v on a dare got a girl to stip down to bare necessities. How did it creep back on us. Talent shows, the races, the rodies and all that. They all seem to appeal to our dark desires. We slave at our work all day, and go back home where these seem to present a vent. the things we want done to others. we want to watch people cry, break down, plot and do the deeds we frown and fantasize over.
I would like tv to go back to being entertainment none of the mindgames all of the fun. music channels that play music. news that show the news, and not sensationalize avalanches. i think its about time we went back to reality and not reality as we doctor it. TRPs shall take care of themselves, show things that make sense and people will watch them. we saw the BBC mastermind quiz. no one complained. the audience hasn't changed. television just needed an easy way out. youtube will keep doing what it does. videos of cats doing funny things. but music television needs to do what it needs to do...
in the words of billy joel:
sing us a song, you’re the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well, we’re all in the mood for a melody
and you’ve got us feelin’ alright
{i wrote this post, on my SE X1. from the hairdressers chair. (or rather from outside the hairdressers place) where i waited for over an hour to get my hair butchered in less than a minute. all typos in this post shall be attributed to my fat fingers and the small keyboard on the X1 god love 'em. but the really serious mistakes in content, and the mindless banter is all me.}
I was at the hairdressers today. For me he is more of a hedge trimmer. Cut the excess, leave the head. No fancy stuff. Cut and dry. 8 weeks later repeat. But this postg is not about the hairdresser. Neither is it about the disinterest he has in my hair. Its the easiest thing to cut. One sweep of an electric sheep shearer would do the trick. This post is about what I read, in the papers while waiting for my turn on the chair.
Well, its todays sunday express. Big bold letters tht state 'who killed the music?' the article goes on and on about how reality shows and 'evil' corporations and their hunger for trps killed music channels and transformed them into their songless state. They blamed the internet too. Youtube killed it too they said.
But is tht so? If music television is dead and if the internet and trps killed it, we watched it die. We asked for them to change. We wanted them to show more skin. I remember a ban on reality shows back in the 90s when channel v on a dare got a girl to stip down to bare necessities. How did it creep back on us. Talent shows, the races, the rodies and all that. They all seem to appeal to our dark desires. We slave at our work all day, and go back home where these seem to present a vent. the things we want done to others. we want to watch people cry, break down, plot and do the deeds we frown and fantasize over.
I would like tv to go back to being entertainment none of the mindgames all of the fun. music channels that play music. news that show the news, and not sensationalize avalanches. i think its about time we went back to reality and not reality as we doctor it. TRPs shall take care of themselves, show things that make sense and people will watch them. we saw the BBC mastermind quiz. no one complained. the audience hasn't changed. television just needed an easy way out. youtube will keep doing what it does. videos of cats doing funny things. but music television needs to do what it needs to do...
in the words of billy joel:
sing us a song, you’re the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well, we’re all in the mood for a melody
and you’ve got us feelin’ alright
{i wrote this post, on my SE X1. from the hairdressers chair. (or rather from outside the hairdressers place) where i waited for over an hour to get my hair butchered in less than a minute. all typos in this post shall be attributed to my fat fingers and the small keyboard on the X1 god love 'em. but the really serious mistakes in content, and the mindless banter is all me.}
i know i am late.
but its sunday night and i need to post a post or i miss this weeks two. this is my dog ate my homework. (i know its lame to write about your own inability to write, but this is the best i can come up with at such a short notice. )
so why am i late this week?
actually i dont have much of a reason. i wasnt swamped with work. i wasnt moving mountains, or planets or even rocks. i was just at work doing my daily work type things which for the last month or so involved a lot of sitcom viewing. i dont watch them for work, i just watch them at work. it does affect my productivity, it makes me feel guilty after the first 4 hrs and motivates me into working for about half an hr or so on a good day. on the bad ones for about 10 minutes and i am back to my shows.
so what happened this week. this week i had to decide. decide weather i should stay here and soldier on towards what ever form of life i am going to lead if i continue down this rabbit hole, or do i leave home, move to another city in pursuit of greener pastures. now as far as my decision making skills are concerned, you can ask anyone i know, they will all tell you that karthik is a legend when it comes to not choosing. i have almost perfected procrastination of my life choices to a point where i am starting to believe that there i life possible without choosing at all. so this week i had to make a choice. and i HAD to do it. it couldnt be pushed any further. i had to make a call. in terms of my newly devised scale for decision making, menu units. it takes 10 Mu to oder your own lunch at lunch time. but if you are bored it takes you anything upto a 100 units to order "something nice".
this weeks decision needed something like 200000 Mu. now you can image the magnitude of the weight on my head. its amazing i didnt try to kill myself.
so if i delayed work this week, it is only because of the things i had on my mind.
the folks back home would be happy to know that i shall continue in my inconsequential ways in the city. i am not moving. i shall stay and brave my own demons this year. it is going to be a phenomenal year and i want to be here to witness it!
but its sunday night and i need to post a post or i miss this weeks two. this is my dog ate my homework. (i know its lame to write about your own inability to write, but this is the best i can come up with at such a short notice. )
so why am i late this week?
actually i dont have much of a reason. i wasnt swamped with work. i wasnt moving mountains, or planets or even rocks. i was just at work doing my daily work type things which for the last month or so involved a lot of sitcom viewing. i dont watch them for work, i just watch them at work. it does affect my productivity, it makes me feel guilty after the first 4 hrs and motivates me into working for about half an hr or so on a good day. on the bad ones for about 10 minutes and i am back to my shows.
so what happened this week. this week i had to decide. decide weather i should stay here and soldier on towards what ever form of life i am going to lead if i continue down this rabbit hole, or do i leave home, move to another city in pursuit of greener pastures. now as far as my decision making skills are concerned, you can ask anyone i know, they will all tell you that karthik is a legend when it comes to not choosing. i have almost perfected procrastination of my life choices to a point where i am starting to believe that there i life possible without choosing at all. so this week i had to make a choice. and i HAD to do it. it couldnt be pushed any further. i had to make a call. in terms of my newly devised scale for decision making, menu units. it takes 10 Mu to oder your own lunch at lunch time. but if you are bored it takes you anything upto a 100 units to order "something nice".
this weeks decision needed something like 200000 Mu. now you can image the magnitude of the weight on my head. its amazing i didnt try to kill myself.
so if i delayed work this week, it is only because of the things i had on my mind.
the folks back home would be happy to know that i shall continue in my inconsequential ways in the city. i am not moving. i shall stay and brave my own demons this year. it is going to be a phenomenal year and i want to be here to witness it!
it happened right there.
after the super heavy post of last week, i thought i should go lighter this time. may be something not involving explosions genocidal idiots and such. but then only time will tell if i can let that happen. (this is like the recap section that so many day time televison series have)
(title track)
(silly adverts of soaps, perfumes, insurance companies and their likes)
(and finally the plot fades in from black)
we were at a funeral this week. a friends father had just passed on. (or as they say 'expired' here) but this incident has nothing to do with the death, or the funeral, or even the friend. its just to tell you that this was the kind of place that almost screams out meaning less discussions to keep the place from going explosively silent.
so there we were, talking about our worldly stories, exchanging stories of holidays, work, and others, the newly weds talking of the recently gone valantines day, and how they had the coziest little dinner, or how work ruined their weekend but they still managed to do something valantiny, and the always evident married ones preaching to us singles as to how awesome married life is and how we should get married the minute we can. (at this point i always imagine that they suddenly turn into these preacher like clothes, the white cassocked, balding bearded men and very nun like clothed women without the bald or the beard, preaching/sermoning us to get god/religion or what ever it is that they are selling). thus wading from meaningless conversations to meaningless conversations we waited for the decent time to leave.
one such topic we walked by was the existence of a digital life, social networking, mafia wars, farmville and such. and people ridiculed the obsession that others had and how when we were kids we had such games we played offline and on LAN. and how even seniors today have gotten on to these trivial pursuits. then like any other conversation between friends fingers were pointed on how that person did things the same way as those described earlier. when it comes to anything remotely on the internet, i am generally the one to be pointed to. not because i am good at anything there, but because of my dependence on all things digital. my phone, ipod, macbook all of these things that i shall shamelessly acknowledge that i cannot do without. what if started to emerge, what if i woke up one day, my laptop wouldnt boot, my phone died, m ipod wont play, my email addresses erased, and everything that i did on the internet just basically vanished. (this blog included, but no one mentioned that because i am sure no one reads it) and so on and like every other time, it would end in if that happened i would kill myself. and they all somehow enjoy that ending. something about, now i know this man is mortal. his life can be in our hands, its not diabolical, its just natural that people dont like to know that there are people whose weakness these people dont know.
(commercial break. bad adverts and such. go grab your popcorn, or change the channels now, cos the tone of this series is about to get preachy)
but then i started wondering, dont we all have such things? for some its their little blinking screens, for some it is their online persona, for some it is their money, they pride, for some it is their loved ones. everyone has a set of things, that enable them to get by without which you would find it difficult to function. if that thing, is your digital persona so be it.
the argument they have against it, is that its not real because i cannot touch it. and because i can go to all those places without leaving my chair, those places dont exist either. i think that is a sad assumption to make. the internet, and therefore all things that happen on it are real. the places, the people the things that these people do in those places . second life is not an extension of you on the internet, it is you online. the mind does things that the body just cannot catch up with. so when you lose something online, when your associations with it are purely that of the mind, you would tend to lose it.
imagine if your house got bombed. would you understand if someone killed themselves over it then? (i know i promised not to talk of bombs and death, but this is just to show you why someone would kill themselves over lost facebook pages)
we are ok with people jumping off buildings over lost jobs. but we are not willing to accept that there are some who would do everything they do, online... and if they lose it they almost lose it all. in this day and age? wake up neandrathal and smell the instant coffee!
(fade to black....)
to be continued...
(meaning less white noise between two badly made series.)
after the super heavy post of last week, i thought i should go lighter this time. may be something not involving explosions genocidal idiots and such. but then only time will tell if i can let that happen. (this is like the recap section that so many day time televison series have)
(title track)
(silly adverts of soaps, perfumes, insurance companies and their likes)
(and finally the plot fades in from black)
we were at a funeral this week. a friends father had just passed on. (or as they say 'expired' here) but this incident has nothing to do with the death, or the funeral, or even the friend. its just to tell you that this was the kind of place that almost screams out meaning less discussions to keep the place from going explosively silent.
so there we were, talking about our worldly stories, exchanging stories of holidays, work, and others, the newly weds talking of the recently gone valantines day, and how they had the coziest little dinner, or how work ruined their weekend but they still managed to do something valantiny, and the always evident married ones preaching to us singles as to how awesome married life is and how we should get married the minute we can. (at this point i always imagine that they suddenly turn into these preacher like clothes, the white cassocked, balding bearded men and very nun like clothed women without the bald or the beard, preaching/sermoning us to get god/religion or what ever it is that they are selling). thus wading from meaningless conversations to meaningless conversations we waited for the decent time to leave.
one such topic we walked by was the existence of a digital life, social networking, mafia wars, farmville and such. and people ridiculed the obsession that others had and how when we were kids we had such games we played offline and on LAN. and how even seniors today have gotten on to these trivial pursuits. then like any other conversation between friends fingers were pointed on how that person did things the same way as those described earlier. when it comes to anything remotely on the internet, i am generally the one to be pointed to. not because i am good at anything there, but because of my dependence on all things digital. my phone, ipod, macbook all of these things that i shall shamelessly acknowledge that i cannot do without. what if started to emerge, what if i woke up one day, my laptop wouldnt boot, my phone died, m ipod wont play, my email addresses erased, and everything that i did on the internet just basically vanished. (this blog included, but no one mentioned that because i am sure no one reads it) and so on and like every other time, it would end in if that happened i would kill myself. and they all somehow enjoy that ending. something about, now i know this man is mortal. his life can be in our hands, its not diabolical, its just natural that people dont like to know that there are people whose weakness these people dont know.
(commercial break. bad adverts and such. go grab your popcorn, or change the channels now, cos the tone of this series is about to get preachy)
but then i started wondering, dont we all have such things? for some its their little blinking screens, for some it is their online persona, for some it is their money, they pride, for some it is their loved ones. everyone has a set of things, that enable them to get by without which you would find it difficult to function. if that thing, is your digital persona so be it.
the argument they have against it, is that its not real because i cannot touch it. and because i can go to all those places without leaving my chair, those places dont exist either. i think that is a sad assumption to make. the internet, and therefore all things that happen on it are real. the places, the people the things that these people do in those places . second life is not an extension of you on the internet, it is you online. the mind does things that the body just cannot catch up with. so when you lose something online, when your associations with it are purely that of the mind, you would tend to lose it.
imagine if your house got bombed. would you understand if someone killed themselves over it then? (i know i promised not to talk of bombs and death, but this is just to show you why someone would kill themselves over lost facebook pages)
we are ok with people jumping off buildings over lost jobs. but we are not willing to accept that there are some who would do everything they do, online... and if they lose it they almost lose it all. in this day and age? wake up neandrathal and smell the instant coffee!
(fade to black....)
to be continued...
(meaning less white noise between two badly made series.)
(this post is in the wake of a recent attack on my city. )
there was this cafe in my city.
see how i said was? it got bombed last week. or so they say, they blame it on terrorist attacks, some say its a faulty gas line. 9 dead, 50 injured, 13 critical. the opposition blames the government. the government blames the terrorist we blame the police, the police blames the people and the cycle continues.
here are the things presented to us as facts.
and the solution to these issues seem to be, invade the country harboring these terrorists, show no mercy, cut all diplomatic ties with them, no business, no exchange of entertainment, suspend all peace talks until these attacks are stopped and these attackers are brought to justice. do what the world did to south africa at the peak of the apartheid movement and get them to stop this and talk, or we just go all afghanistan on them, poison their rivers, kill their cattle. fight back with raping and killing everything that moves thru the land. run them over with tanks bombs grenades and mines. we bleed them dry to take back what is rightfully ours.
but would it solve anything. what about escalation? we hit them with guns they bring tanks, we bring tanks, they bring planes, we bring planes they bring missiles and the circle continues, until one of us brings a nuke to the table. what about them doing the same things to us as we would want to do to them. plus we got a faceless, shapeless demon to blame this on, their government blames it on independent extremist groups. these groups dont show formal links to the government. the army does its share of things. we cant really negotiate, talk to any one of them, since they all point their fingers in someone else's direction.
the politics of conflict. we dont realize that we dont want peace. we benifit from the conflict too much. our politicos use it as an agenda for elections. the opposition blames the govt for negligence, the govt blames the opposition for lack of support. the local govt blames the center for lack of support, the police blames the city, we blame the police, the police blame the people. we use this as an excuse to not focus on our problems. we use it as a way of getting away from the problems we really need to solve. it allows us a leverage in international dialogue, and it affords them access to funds from other extremist groups to fund their cause. defense contracts, funds that can be embezzled, the coffin scams, all these cannot happen in peace times. so then what? well, let us assume:
i think its crucial we see the facts presented to us in new light. we are dealing with an extremist group here. there will never be an end to this. we can bomb our neighbors to oblivion if we like, but that will solve nothing. it would be like killing the mother of criminally insane children. (i know there is nothing called criminally insane tendencies, but i think it would be nice to have such tendencies bunched up and treated on a therapists couch with handcuffs, a very clockwork orange type thing). we could go exterminating these terrorists, but then we only get seen in worse light than what they show us in, giving rise to more extremists.
so how do we solve this? there are two choices we have:
one, is reduce the impact they have on our lives. we just continue on the path we choose, strengthen our borders, make arrangements to strengthen our states. airport security, security on entry into state and city limits needs to be tightened. damage control. eliminate what you can, and minimize where you cant.
two. we take the war to them, we go as low as they did, show them what it is to have an extremist attack your world repeatedly. drop a bunch of the criminally insane into their land, and let them lose. no cause mentioned, no group sited. murder death kill until there is no more. show them the pain until they would just stop it all to go back and put out the fires back home.
we may not have the peace we wanted. but we will have the peace we fought for.
there was this cafe in my city.
see how i said was? it got bombed last week. or so they say, they blame it on terrorist attacks, some say its a faulty gas line. 9 dead, 50 injured, 13 critical. the opposition blames the government. the government blames the terrorist we blame the police, the police blames the people and the cycle continues.
here are the things presented to us as facts.
1. its a local chapter of a national extremist group.
2. its a part of a series of attacks.
3. its related to an issue that has little or nothing to do with the city.
and the solution to these issues seem to be, invade the country harboring these terrorists, show no mercy, cut all diplomatic ties with them, no business, no exchange of entertainment, suspend all peace talks until these attacks are stopped and these attackers are brought to justice. do what the world did to south africa at the peak of the apartheid movement and get them to stop this and talk, or we just go all afghanistan on them, poison their rivers, kill their cattle. fight back with raping and killing everything that moves thru the land. run them over with tanks bombs grenades and mines. we bleed them dry to take back what is rightfully ours.
but would it solve anything. what about escalation? we hit them with guns they bring tanks, we bring tanks, they bring planes, we bring planes they bring missiles and the circle continues, until one of us brings a nuke to the table. what about them doing the same things to us as we would want to do to them. plus we got a faceless, shapeless demon to blame this on, their government blames it on independent extremist groups. these groups dont show formal links to the government. the army does its share of things. we cant really negotiate, talk to any one of them, since they all point their fingers in someone else's direction.
the politics of conflict. we dont realize that we dont want peace. we benifit from the conflict too much. our politicos use it as an agenda for elections. the opposition blames the govt for negligence, the govt blames the opposition for lack of support. the local govt blames the center for lack of support, the police blames the city, we blame the police, the police blame the people. we use this as an excuse to not focus on our problems. we use it as a way of getting away from the problems we really need to solve. it allows us a leverage in international dialogue, and it affords them access to funds from other extremist groups to fund their cause. defense contracts, funds that can be embezzled, the coffin scams, all these cannot happen in peace times. so then what? well, let us assume:
A. there will be no peace. ever
B. we wont give them what they want, and they wont stop trying to get it.
i think its crucial we see the facts presented to us in new light. we are dealing with an extremist group here. there will never be an end to this. we can bomb our neighbors to oblivion if we like, but that will solve nothing. it would be like killing the mother of criminally insane children. (i know there is nothing called criminally insane tendencies, but i think it would be nice to have such tendencies bunched up and treated on a therapists couch with handcuffs, a very clockwork orange type thing). we could go exterminating these terrorists, but then we only get seen in worse light than what they show us in, giving rise to more extremists.
so how do we solve this? there are two choices we have:
one, is reduce the impact they have on our lives. we just continue on the path we choose, strengthen our borders, make arrangements to strengthen our states. airport security, security on entry into state and city limits needs to be tightened. damage control. eliminate what you can, and minimize where you cant.
two. we take the war to them, we go as low as they did, show them what it is to have an extremist attack your world repeatedly. drop a bunch of the criminally insane into their land, and let them lose. no cause mentioned, no group sited. murder death kill until there is no more. show them the pain until they would just stop it all to go back and put out the fires back home.
we may not have the peace we wanted. but we will have the peace we fought for.
sincerest apologies to the believers.
a few weeks ago, someone posted a question on pre-adamic age. and what must have happened then. i thought it was a good question and got thinking on that. i know i would hurt someone's sentiments with it and all that but then again, i was never known to be the sensitive types. plus, i got nothing to write this week, no mixing insects in a post, no stories to tell. no tech implements to rant/rave about. nothing. so here is my excuse of a post.
actually there has to have been a pre-adamic age. it lasted for 5 days i think. god made man on the 6th day... sort of like building the zoo and then moving the monkeys in. there fore, i think the devil was gods first creation, he was essentially made as his friend, confidant and chess opponent. (u see god has to have gotten bored of talking to himself alone.) but then the devil was sick of losing and started cheating and so god sent him on earth as a snake. dude was pissed. went and lashed it out on gods favorite creation (not because people were beautiful, but because they were so freaking stupid that it was amazing. sort of like his own personal lol cats!) and said, dude, the guy up there, he hates you... he thinks you are fat and ugly... and stupid. but if you want to get even with him, he is keeping his most delicious apple on those trees and he goes for a nap between 1-3 in the afternoon... go steal it. and balm! you have the story of adam eve and the apple they stole.
i think in gods own country (not kerala, the original gods own country, heaven as we are told) the apples are like super old whiskey or really good weed. so he kept a tree full of it on earth, away from his wife and kids, and his evil twin benny. so he kept it here, and would say... i am off to earth dear, got a lot to do this week, will see you later. he would come over, get high, get naked and make dinosaurs, crocodiles and that ugly lady who lives down the road from my house. but to us human, its just an apple that broke our inhibitors. thats all.
so there you go. questions answered. posts written. cheap shot i know, but what can i say, cheap guy.
a few weeks ago, someone posted a question on pre-adamic age. and what must have happened then. i thought it was a good question and got thinking on that. i know i would hurt someone's sentiments with it and all that but then again, i was never known to be the sensitive types. plus, i got nothing to write this week, no mixing insects in a post, no stories to tell. no tech implements to rant/rave about. nothing. so here is my excuse of a post.
Where does Satan and the fall fit into the Bible ? He must have been cast down before Adam and Eve were created because he was there to tempt Eve in the Garden? Was there, could there have been, a pre-Adamic age - and surly this would have been a catastrophic event ?
actually there has to have been a pre-adamic age. it lasted for 5 days i think. god made man on the 6th day... sort of like building the zoo and then moving the monkeys in. there fore, i think the devil was gods first creation, he was essentially made as his friend, confidant and chess opponent. (u see god has to have gotten bored of talking to himself alone.) but then the devil was sick of losing and started cheating and so god sent him on earth as a snake. dude was pissed. went and lashed it out on gods favorite creation (not because people were beautiful, but because they were so freaking stupid that it was amazing. sort of like his own personal lol cats!) and said, dude, the guy up there, he hates you... he thinks you are fat and ugly... and stupid. but if you want to get even with him, he is keeping his most delicious apple on those trees and he goes for a nap between 1-3 in the afternoon... go steal it. and balm! you have the story of adam eve and the apple they stole.
but then why did god leave the apple tree behind?
i think in gods own country (not kerala, the original gods own country, heaven as we are told) the apples are like super old whiskey or really good weed. so he kept a tree full of it on earth, away from his wife and kids, and his evil twin benny. so he kept it here, and would say... i am off to earth dear, got a lot to do this week, will see you later. he would come over, get high, get naked and make dinosaurs, crocodiles and that ugly lady who lives down the road from my house. but to us human, its just an apple that broke our inhibitors. thats all.
so there you go. questions answered. posts written. cheap shot i know, but what can i say, cheap guy.
there was once a grasshopper named bob.
now bob had is ways with the world. he would do what he wanted, when he wanted and how he wanted. all things that he wanted he did and all things he did, everyone wanted. now bob keeps doing things, good things bad things, new things, but all different kinds of thing. hopping away to glory. eating what he finds when he finds, no saving for rainy days no burrowing thru the grounds, no making homes or nests. just living it up each day, grasshopper style.
same time there are these ants. millions of them. running around toe to tail, one after the other , in sync, in style all with the same dreams of one day being the queen bee, sitting and eating, hatching eggs at the heart of the hive. the good life they said. with the big rooms, the sweet honey, the friends, the admirers, the jealous onlookers the evil empires. everything under the sun and behind it to make us happy.
but every once in a while the ant would glance a shady glance at the grasshopper. dancing till his shoes hurt, doing his thing, the grasshopper thing. being himself smiling dancing making merry, doing the joke and poke thing. everyone watches him and so does the ant. part in awe part in envy and part wondering why hes not that guy? why is he doing this in the line on the floor thing? why cant he just leave this all and take up the violin and play the strings to oblivion. he knows he will be happy that way. it may not be all honey and empires, but he would do it for the happiness and stories. the guns and glories. the small town man with the big time dreams, making it in the big city without losing his chee.
but then he marches on. he get back in line, dons the helmet that his predecessors did and soldiers on. hoping, nay knowing one day, he makes it to the top, get the girl, the house, the sweet nectar of gods and all that. and resolving under his breath that one day he shall meet the grasshopper, watch him play the songs do the dance from high up above in his silvery throne. and tell the next generation as to how the grasshopper stayed where he was, while he moved up and moved on! the grasshopper froze each winter, the ant stayed warm, moral of the story work for your happiness nothing is for free. the end.
but no one asked the grasshopper, sir, what is your version of life? are you happy making merry or is there something to look forward to? dont you want to do the queen grasshopper thing? the life of luxury, shiny objects and fresh cut leaves? dont you want to be at that place? be that guy who everyone wants to be, who everyone either envies, or talks about? i think if someone did ask him these question he would reply in the most lost voice of all...
hell yeah. i want to be that guy that you all want to be. but i want to be happy first. and i cant make up my mind what i want to do about either of them? i cant commit to a life on the path, i think its just too slow, and too tedious. i want to do what i want to do and i want to have what everyone wants to have and i want it all now. i cant wait till the end of my life to do what i want, wait for my parents to pass on the mantle to me, wait for my kids to take on the mantle, wait for the birds to leave home the bees to go out hunting before i go out and play the fiddle the violin and become the traveling one piece band i want to become. but what can i do? can i stop being me for an indefinite period of time and then keep who i want to be for later? i dont think i can refrigerate desires?
we are all born at the crossroads. the fiddle in one hand, and a shovel in the other. you can find your time to do both, or bury one with the other. most make their choices early on, some have them made for them. i am still staring at both my hands, trying one, and then trying the next... still at that cross roads staring into what lies ahead. i am still the hopper i was the day i hopped in. and guess what.. i think i shall be happy hopping for a while.... and not cos i am happy doing it, no, and definitely not because i want to do it all my life, hell no. i will be hopping because that is all i know how to do, and if i stand in one place long enough, may be i would miss out on all the other places i want to be in. so there's this and thats that. now can i go please? i see something new i havent done before and i want to get done with it.
now bob had is ways with the world. he would do what he wanted, when he wanted and how he wanted. all things that he wanted he did and all things he did, everyone wanted. now bob keeps doing things, good things bad things, new things, but all different kinds of thing. hopping away to glory. eating what he finds when he finds, no saving for rainy days no burrowing thru the grounds, no making homes or nests. just living it up each day, grasshopper style.
same time there are these ants. millions of them. running around toe to tail, one after the other , in sync, in style all with the same dreams of one day being the queen bee, sitting and eating, hatching eggs at the heart of the hive. the good life they said. with the big rooms, the sweet honey, the friends, the admirers, the jealous onlookers the evil empires. everything under the sun and behind it to make us happy.
but every once in a while the ant would glance a shady glance at the grasshopper. dancing till his shoes hurt, doing his thing, the grasshopper thing. being himself smiling dancing making merry, doing the joke and poke thing. everyone watches him and so does the ant. part in awe part in envy and part wondering why hes not that guy? why is he doing this in the line on the floor thing? why cant he just leave this all and take up the violin and play the strings to oblivion. he knows he will be happy that way. it may not be all honey and empires, but he would do it for the happiness and stories. the guns and glories. the small town man with the big time dreams, making it in the big city without losing his chee.
but then he marches on. he get back in line, dons the helmet that his predecessors did and soldiers on. hoping, nay knowing one day, he makes it to the top, get the girl, the house, the sweet nectar of gods and all that. and resolving under his breath that one day he shall meet the grasshopper, watch him play the songs do the dance from high up above in his silvery throne. and tell the next generation as to how the grasshopper stayed where he was, while he moved up and moved on! the grasshopper froze each winter, the ant stayed warm, moral of the story work for your happiness nothing is for free. the end.
but no one asked the grasshopper, sir, what is your version of life? are you happy making merry or is there something to look forward to? dont you want to do the queen grasshopper thing? the life of luxury, shiny objects and fresh cut leaves? dont you want to be at that place? be that guy who everyone wants to be, who everyone either envies, or talks about? i think if someone did ask him these question he would reply in the most lost voice of all...
hell yeah. i want to be that guy that you all want to be. but i want to be happy first. and i cant make up my mind what i want to do about either of them? i cant commit to a life on the path, i think its just too slow, and too tedious. i want to do what i want to do and i want to have what everyone wants to have and i want it all now. i cant wait till the end of my life to do what i want, wait for my parents to pass on the mantle to me, wait for my kids to take on the mantle, wait for the birds to leave home the bees to go out hunting before i go out and play the fiddle the violin and become the traveling one piece band i want to become. but what can i do? can i stop being me for an indefinite period of time and then keep who i want to be for later? i dont think i can refrigerate desires?
we are all born at the crossroads. the fiddle in one hand, and a shovel in the other. you can find your time to do both, or bury one with the other. most make their choices early on, some have them made for them. i am still staring at both my hands, trying one, and then trying the next... still at that cross roads staring into what lies ahead. i am still the hopper i was the day i hopped in. and guess what.. i think i shall be happy hopping for a while.... and not cos i am happy doing it, no, and definitely not because i want to do it all my life, hell no. i will be hopping because that is all i know how to do, and if i stand in one place long enough, may be i would miss out on all the other places i want to be in. so there's this and thats that. now can i go please? i see something new i havent done before and i want to get done with it.
today i lost something.
something valued. something irreplaceable. it was my years of hard work, collecting, saving, swapping, and creating little bits and pieces to put it all together there. it was my hard drive. 320 gigs of portable entertainment. all gone in one single drop of my bag. one careless/carefree gesture and all is gone.
to the untrained eye, it is like a watch being broken, or a favorite tshirt with moth holes in it, but to me, and i am sure to a lot of others to whom half the fun is in the amount of space it occupied. but to me, is the 1900s equivalent of having a big fire in your workplace. or a california wild fire of the 2000s, or losing your own hut in the haiti earthquake. no matter what you get after this.. your life can never go back to being the same. you may rebuild your fortunes, you may work hard enough to make all of this seem like a bad dream, but that day you change. you become someone you were not before and someone you will be for the rest of your life.
the hard disk was fairly new and it isnt that i lost the drive or that i lost money today that i am sad, its a lot more. it is that today i am reminded of my helplessness against all things that i thought i was using for convenience. i cant go without my phone, my ipod, my laptop, the hard drives i own, none of that. its almost as if i am slave to it. and thus the unbearable loss.
almost reminds me of the matrix reloaded dialogue between the council man and neo about dependencies. and he ends with... 'are we truly free?'
and so shall i.
(alright may be just a little foot note.
i know i know. i am a day late. but in my defence, i was a day early last time so there that and thats that! plus i am a grieving man this week. i am allowed a day off aren't i? i mean 320 gigs of movies, music, may be a few bits of work too all gone. never to be gotten again. i am allowed a day off!
i also have to do this..
something valued. something irreplaceable. it was my years of hard work, collecting, saving, swapping, and creating little bits and pieces to put it all together there. it was my hard drive. 320 gigs of portable entertainment. all gone in one single drop of my bag. one careless/carefree gesture and all is gone.
to the untrained eye, it is like a watch being broken, or a favorite tshirt with moth holes in it, but to me, and i am sure to a lot of others to whom half the fun is in the amount of space it occupied. but to me, is the 1900s equivalent of having a big fire in your workplace. or a california wild fire of the 2000s, or losing your own hut in the haiti earthquake. no matter what you get after this.. your life can never go back to being the same. you may rebuild your fortunes, you may work hard enough to make all of this seem like a bad dream, but that day you change. you become someone you were not before and someone you will be for the rest of your life.
the hard disk was fairly new and it isnt that i lost the drive or that i lost money today that i am sad, its a lot more. it is that today i am reminded of my helplessness against all things that i thought i was using for convenience. i cant go without my phone, my ipod, my laptop, the hard drives i own, none of that. its almost as if i am slave to it. and thus the unbearable loss.
almost reminds me of the matrix reloaded dialogue between the council man and neo about dependencies. and he ends with... 'are we truly free?'
and so shall i.
(alright may be just a little foot note.
i know i know. i am a day late. but in my defence, i was a day early last time so there that and thats that! plus i am a grieving man this week. i am allowed a day off aren't i? i mean 320 gigs of movies, music, may be a few bits of work too all gone. never to be gotten again. i am allowed a day off!
i also have to do this..
happy birthday sister.she thought this would make up for a good excuse for a post. may be she was right, this does seem more intelligent and mature than crying over a dead drive. but then... i dont want to seem what i am not. )
why the Ipad is not for me. or is it not not for me...
everyone jumped on the ipad bandwagon. its good its bad its alright its all that.
so i thought for the post of the week i could do that. you know, i am much like a b grade celebrity like that... i wait for trends and i follow them soon enough to think,i am original...
so heres the things i see the ipad do for me and not do for me. (and the worlds worst cash in effort since indian cinema tried to use 9/11 as a measure of terroristic levels.)
the dont buys
1. i dont like the name. it sounds like a medical company made blue tooth napkins, or a 16 year old white male with too much of the wrong R&B in him naming his house (cos no self respecting male would refer to his own house as a pad, much less add an i to it). i think they could have called it much better things, just a tablet. or a slate (i think hp took that one tho') i mean why do you need the i? you dont have an i on the macbooks anymore. why this?
2. it replaces an iphone, an ipod and half a macbook. ok... whats the point? i dont want a bigger ipod. i want a smaller notebook. if you didnt get that.. go back home call your mother cos you didnt do your homework well! a 10 inch ipod is not easy to carry, a 10 inch macbook is peachy, a 10" touch screen thing is amazing... i know you position yourself as a company that does fun things... but a computer is serious business.. dont make fun of those who buy your things... (love the design by the way)
3. it plays games... so? so does my phone, and my ipod. dont need a new thing that does the same old thing only makes it more difficult? get better apps. get bigger things. make it a macbook. design users would loooove all their things on a tablet. and just FYI the last on the mind of a game making company is a mac user. no one makes games first for macs, they make them for the xboxes, the PSs the Wiis the PCs and then the macs. get your head out of your safaris and start looking around. me no PC fan but numbers rarely lie.
4. ipod, 3G, internet, and....? thats it? nothing more? my shitty phone did that... 4 years ago.. gimme something new people!
the buys.
1. you, finally finally have an os built for and just for a touch interface, no hand me down software, no adhoc interface needs .no small radio buttons and checkboxes. no need for a stylus, let your mind do the thinking and your fingers do the walking. (how ever far apple allows you to go that is...)
2.it makes the kindle look like a clunky 1980 nintendo. it will revolutionize ebooks. you dont need one more thing for your reader, you need just this one.
3. what's good for the iphone is good for the yagami (popularly known as the ipad!) so you get a big set of apps already built, tried tested and perfected.
4. it is a whole new OS. only jobs could do it. introduce a new os so subtly, without talking about it.. we just handed over the world to him on a plate. anyone who uses the iphone has already used a small version of the pad. so you dont really need to work on anything new.
5. its going to do to computers what notebooks did. shrink them. the laptop i typed this post on, the computer you are reading it on, even the phone that would show this post in an unimaginably small text is obsolete. its a revolution baby, and we are here when it happened!
so what do i need it to do for me?
1. make it do more.. make it replace my keyboard and my mouse on the mac, and then become a portable extension to my computer. make it all minority report like.
2. make people make things for it... photoshop, illustrator... bring the hand back in action... i am sick of dragging my palm along to draw
3. i dont need it to replace my phone.. keep em seperate... replace my mac instead!
4. surprise me... cos as of now... i see old wine in a striking new bottle!
(WOW. i am here early. may be i am going to be good at this. or may be i am just too stupid to cound days. i swear i thought it was the third day and i would miss my deadline if i didnt come up with some crappy mindless sap to say. sorry but this was the best i could do on such short notice)
everyone jumped on the ipad bandwagon. its good its bad its alright its all that.
so i thought for the post of the week i could do that. you know, i am much like a b grade celebrity like that... i wait for trends and i follow them soon enough to think,i am original...
so heres the things i see the ipad do for me and not do for me. (and the worlds worst cash in effort since indian cinema tried to use 9/11 as a measure of terroristic levels.)
the dont buys
1. i dont like the name. it sounds like a medical company made blue tooth napkins, or a 16 year old white male with too much of the wrong R&B in him naming his house (cos no self respecting male would refer to his own house as a pad, much less add an i to it). i think they could have called it much better things, just a tablet. or a slate (i think hp took that one tho') i mean why do you need the i? you dont have an i on the macbooks anymore. why this?
[i am going to call it something else from now on. because the image is just burnt at the back of my head and i get this weird smile on my face each time i hear the word. lets call it yagami after "the Death Note anime series has a still frame based on The Creation of Adam, with the protagonist Yagami as Adam and the death god Ryuk as God, holding an apple" it is only appropriate. since steve jobs is the devil. you only need to see the keynotes that he gives. i would have sold my soul for the shuffle if he had given that speech to me. i know hes only selling things, but boy is he the devil! ]
2. it replaces an iphone, an ipod and half a macbook. ok... whats the point? i dont want a bigger ipod. i want a smaller notebook. if you didnt get that.. go back home call your mother cos you didnt do your homework well! a 10 inch ipod is not easy to carry, a 10 inch macbook is peachy, a 10" touch screen thing is amazing... i know you position yourself as a company that does fun things... but a computer is serious business.. dont make fun of those who buy your things... (love the design by the way)
3. it plays games... so? so does my phone, and my ipod. dont need a new thing that does the same old thing only makes it more difficult? get better apps. get bigger things. make it a macbook. design users would loooove all their things on a tablet. and just FYI the last on the mind of a game making company is a mac user. no one makes games first for macs, they make them for the xboxes, the PSs the Wiis the PCs and then the macs. get your head out of your safaris and start looking around. me no PC fan but numbers rarely lie.
4. ipod, 3G, internet, and....? thats it? nothing more? my shitty phone did that... 4 years ago.. gimme something new people!
the buys.
1. you, finally finally have an os built for and just for a touch interface, no hand me down software, no adhoc interface needs .no small radio buttons and checkboxes. no need for a stylus, let your mind do the thinking and your fingers do the walking. (how ever far apple allows you to go that is...)
2.it makes the kindle look like a clunky 1980 nintendo. it will revolutionize ebooks. you dont need one more thing for your reader, you need just this one.
3. what's good for the iphone is good for the yagami (popularly known as the ipad!) so you get a big set of apps already built, tried tested and perfected.
4. it is a whole new OS. only jobs could do it. introduce a new os so subtly, without talking about it.. we just handed over the world to him on a plate. anyone who uses the iphone has already used a small version of the pad. so you dont really need to work on anything new.
5. its going to do to computers what notebooks did. shrink them. the laptop i typed this post on, the computer you are reading it on, even the phone that would show this post in an unimaginably small text is obsolete. its a revolution baby, and we are here when it happened!
so what do i need it to do for me?
1. make it do more.. make it replace my keyboard and my mouse on the mac, and then become a portable extension to my computer. make it all minority report like.
2. make people make things for it... photoshop, illustrator... bring the hand back in action... i am sick of dragging my palm along to draw
3. i dont need it to replace my phone.. keep em seperate... replace my mac instead!
4. surprise me... cos as of now... i see old wine in a striking new bottle!
(WOW. i am here early. may be i am going to be good at this. or may be i am just too stupid to cound days. i swear i thought it was the third day and i would miss my deadline if i didnt come up with some crappy mindless sap to say. sorry but this was the best i could do on such short notice)
the life and times in gotham city
Batman is my favorite superhero of all times. Right from the time I saw the adam west series with him faking a climb up a wall too evidently horisontal with the lady sticking her head out of the window too far to be real waving at him and the bang! pow! kapow! with the show tune, the colorful robin and the slightly bulging belly in a slightly too purple costume. Loved batman thru the animated series, thru the dark Tim Burton movies with the unconvincing Michael Keaton (who I only remember for multiplicity), the suggestive Joel Schumacher movies of the supposedly PG Batman with a very unsuitable Batman and an even weirder set of neon lit villians. I admired the dark knight thru the days of hush, Batman begins right up to now... with the miller/lee/williams masterpiece of Batman&Robin all stars... You want to know why? Because he is one of us. A man. An average joe super rich kid. But he deals with his life. happy or not, he soldiers on. Doesn't try to alter the balance of the universe thru time travel or setting up a dark dimension like superman or crib about how tough the life of a super hero is like Spiderman. He is not an alcoholic like Ironman. He doesn't have anger issues like wolverine. He helps when he's Batman he helps when he's Bruce Wayne. In my books, hes the only super hero there is. Him the robins and Barbara Gordons angels. The only non powered supers there ever were . Fighting with all they have to give, holding nothing back. If you are powered you are privileged. Its an unfair fight if you got heat vision and your nemesis is armed with no hair.
So what bothers me so much about him? This. Gotham city was Gotham city before Batman. Gotham city is Gotham city after Batman. nothing changed. They had the mafia, they have the mafia, they had the joker they will continue to have the joker (heath ledger, god bless his soul) two face was a good guy gone bad. bane in one series (battle for the cowl) plays a bad guy gone good and so on. gotham city with bats waxes and wanes from shit soup to shit storm all the time.... so my problem is why does he do it then? if he barely manages to make a difference to a city hell bent on not doing anything for itself, why is he really my hero?
like the gita says; "Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani" (which roughly translates into "your duty is towards action,but you are not entitled to the results they bare. Never consider yourself the cause of the results,and never be tempted to not doing your duty.") this is Batman's credo. he works towards a goal not for it. He's not an idealist like Superman. he calculates. the closest result to the path of minimum destruction is the one he takes. not dealing in absolutes but in reality can be quiet tasking to the gods. But he is relentless. when the city is unwilling, the world hates him, his best friend (superman for the most part) has difficulty understanding his ways. His childhood friend is hell bent on killing him, he still decides to go on unmoved and unshaken from his goal. he is a righteous energizer bunny. a man hell bent on making hell a better place. he fails, he falls but he rises up again. he is a man but he can move gods. he survived a battle with the Darkseid and won. only because the master of chaos knew that the worlds greatest detective has the steel in him to do what it takes to get the job done. he knows nothings perfect, not him not his ways, but he does what he can. trust no one, but give everyone a chance. there are no absolutes with him. all rules have exceptions. improvise. adapt. but never back down. he works on better tech for the world, he works on poisons, antidotes and medicines with equal sincerity. he wont lose sleep if there ever is no need for batman anymore. always preventing, always progressing. my god. my guardian. my hero.
(i wrote this as a piece for an online magazine run by a friend. its mediocre and childish i know but then so am i :) anyways, i figure this counts as post of the day. more to come. karthik out!)
Batman is my favorite superhero of all times. Right from the time I saw the adam west series with him faking a climb up a wall too evidently horisontal with the lady sticking her head out of the window too far to be real waving at him and the bang! pow! kapow! with the show tune, the colorful robin and the slightly bulging belly in a slightly too purple costume. Loved batman thru the animated series, thru the dark Tim Burton movies with the unconvincing Michael Keaton (who I only remember for multiplicity), the suggestive Joel Schumacher movies of the supposedly PG Batman with a very unsuitable Batman and an even weirder set of neon lit villians. I admired the dark knight thru the days of hush, Batman begins right up to now... with the miller/lee/williams masterpiece of Batman&Robin all stars... You want to know why? Because he is one of us. A man. An average joe super rich kid. But he deals with his life. happy or not, he soldiers on. Doesn't try to alter the balance of the universe thru time travel or setting up a dark dimension like superman or crib about how tough the life of a super hero is like Spiderman. He is not an alcoholic like Ironman. He doesn't have anger issues like wolverine. He helps when he's Batman he helps when he's Bruce Wayne. In my books, hes the only super hero there is. Him the robins and Barbara Gordons angels. The only non powered supers there ever were . Fighting with all they have to give, holding nothing back. If you are powered you are privileged. Its an unfair fight if you got heat vision and your nemesis is armed with no hair.
So what bothers me so much about him? This. Gotham city was Gotham city before Batman. Gotham city is Gotham city after Batman. nothing changed. They had the mafia, they have the mafia, they had the joker they will continue to have the joker (heath ledger, god bless his soul) two face was a good guy gone bad. bane in one series (battle for the cowl) plays a bad guy gone good and so on. gotham city with bats waxes and wanes from shit soup to shit storm all the time.... so my problem is why does he do it then? if he barely manages to make a difference to a city hell bent on not doing anything for itself, why is he really my hero?
like the gita says; "Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani" (which roughly translates into "your duty is towards action,but you are not entitled to the results they bare. Never consider yourself the cause of the results,and never be tempted to not doing your duty.") this is Batman's credo. he works towards a goal not for it. He's not an idealist like Superman. he calculates. the closest result to the path of minimum destruction is the one he takes. not dealing in absolutes but in reality can be quiet tasking to the gods. But he is relentless. when the city is unwilling, the world hates him, his best friend (superman for the most part) has difficulty understanding his ways. His childhood friend is hell bent on killing him, he still decides to go on unmoved and unshaken from his goal. he is a righteous energizer bunny. a man hell bent on making hell a better place. he fails, he falls but he rises up again. he is a man but he can move gods. he survived a battle with the Darkseid and won. only because the master of chaos knew that the worlds greatest detective has the steel in him to do what it takes to get the job done. he knows nothings perfect, not him not his ways, but he does what he can. trust no one, but give everyone a chance. there are no absolutes with him. all rules have exceptions. improvise. adapt. but never back down. he works on better tech for the world, he works on poisons, antidotes and medicines with equal sincerity. he wont lose sleep if there ever is no need for batman anymore. always preventing, always progressing. my god. my guardian. my hero.
(i wrote this as a piece for an online magazine run by a friend. its mediocre and childish i know but then so am i :) anyways, i figure this counts as post of the day. more to come. karthik out!)
why do none of us believe in a long and happy ever after anymore.
why is 2012 so deeply imprinted in our minds that we almost believe it will happen. why is everything we do today doesnt seem to be with a sense of where it will be 50 years from now. why cant we look at the future, straight in the eye and feel happy/hopeful about it? why are we focused on doom so much?
hindu mythology calls this period as the 'kalyug' or the time of instant redemption. it is a period where all actions are punished/rewarded almost instantaneously. it is also known as the dark ages, or the time when the truth and the righteous have to struggle for recognition and existence. the sins rule the game and all that exists around us is bad influence. it only gets better, the next phase according to the legend, is 'pralaya' or destruction., the end of the world. a mercyless reboot.
then there is nostradamus. he was pretty scary too. he predicted that the world would end this millinea. we have all been sitting at the edge of our seats waiting for the other shoe to fall. almost certain that the other shoe will fall soon. believing in our hearts that the world is going to end. and we are going to be around to see it.
the bible also predicts the end of the world soon. and not just the end of the world as a destruction of the planet, the end of the world as in the end of all that we know as creation. i wish we are wrong. i hope and pray that the world has a longer life than i do. i sincerely pray (if i have to) that the world will be a better place once day. that utopia will not be a bad thing and that the zeitgeist will cease to exist as a thing to be addressed, but will become as a statement of pride. that today we make tomorrow better.
i tend to quote the matrix on this one 'we see reality in misery' we ourselves dont believe that the future will be bright,
but can we change this obsession with the dark side? i dont think so. for two primary reasons.
one, we are short sighted, we dont dream of the future, we dream of a better today. better standards of living. better cars, better homes, better education, better vacations, better everything. not new, but better. i haven't, in a while heard of any significant breakthrough that we weren't genuinely surprised by. pluto is NOT a planet, or better yet, almost a planet. but have we found something beyond that? have we even begun with the idea of a possible USS enterprise? have we actively made progress in finding a new one, or a new solar system. i don't know. the last time we put a man on the moon was in 1972. what happened then? have we found out everything there is to find out about the moon? does the moon hold nothing of learnable value for us?
we are so busy waging wars and protecting territories, that we forget to look beyond. we are going smaller and deeper while ignoring the wider and farther.
what i do know is that we have become unimaginative. we cant imagine beyond 10 years. our goals are shorter, more attainable. i don't remember the last time a kid said that he wants to be an astronaut. i cant remember a time when a kid didn't want to do what his dad was doing.
secondly, research shows, that we are at present going through the most unhappy phase of our evolution. this after the holucast. our society and culture is ridden with holes. we tend to look for the cloud in the silver lining. once we start looking for holes, we look for the fixes, once we find the fixes then tend to capitalize on the fixes, if we dont find the fixes, we tend to shop... if everyone will be happy, who will buy the fixes, or the replacement to the fixes? the capitalist system will collapse and money will be of next to no value. and this cannot happen. we cannot let people get happy under any circumstances. happy people are just bad for business. what if we change the assumption? what if we say, happy people make better consumers, only if the consumables are made better, then the question of quality comes into play, as long as you make quality items, happy folks will buy it. a good car will get brought, advertisements or not.
and therin lies the tragic flaw, we then have to innovate, we cannot reproduce, we have to invent. get off our lazy behinds and make something. until now, the shortsighted version had been paying off pretty well.
low quality + investment + demands (or short supply) = high returns.
but since everyones happy, the consumption patterns will change, they will no longer be linked to the happiness index but to the quality index. which means that people will no longer look at flash value, or street credits, but for quality of goods, environmental impact, because we have enough, we only need replacements not additions. everyones happy with what they have, they want new when they want better. zen all over!
the flipside: by making quality = returns we are adding the risk of failure to the whole equation. making manufacturers nervous... rejected again.
so is there a solution. i would like to believe so. i would like to think that at some point we all truely acknowledge that chaos will exist, we are all ok with being miserable from time to time and that good time are always around the corner as opposed to the other way around. we dont live on a linear chain of consumption but on a cyclic one. hand me down is the new cool and such... like the schoridingers cat experiment, where we are assuming that the solution will be one or another. and hence both simultainously exist for a finite time, and then it shall go back to an absolute (the cat is either dead or alive...). that the final solution will always be absolute. but i think that is where the problem lies. there can never be an absolute. it will be 2 things at the same time, waxing and waning in importance but present and accounted for at all times. we need to focus on a better today, and a future that we never thought of. we need to bring back the use of imagination as a need and not a sign of insanity, we need kids to paint more than sunsets houses and ducks. we need imagination and we cant need it sooner!
(a positive outcome of me being lazy, and being too egoistic to give up so soon, added with the difficulty of coming up with something new each 3 days is that now i can start finishing all the bad ideas i dropped with good reason. this is the first of many back up plans i have for me to get thru my 106 post this year. people of the world... one at a time please....! )
why is 2012 so deeply imprinted in our minds that we almost believe it will happen. why is everything we do today doesnt seem to be with a sense of where it will be 50 years from now. why cant we look at the future, straight in the eye and feel happy/hopeful about it? why are we focused on doom so much?
hindu mythology calls this period as the 'kalyug' or the time of instant redemption. it is a period where all actions are punished/rewarded almost instantaneously. it is also known as the dark ages, or the time when the truth and the righteous have to struggle for recognition and existence. the sins rule the game and all that exists around us is bad influence. it only gets better, the next phase according to the legend, is 'pralaya' or destruction., the end of the world. a mercyless reboot.
then there is nostradamus. he was pretty scary too. he predicted that the world would end this millinea. we have all been sitting at the edge of our seats waiting for the other shoe to fall. almost certain that the other shoe will fall soon. believing in our hearts that the world is going to end. and we are going to be around to see it.
the bible also predicts the end of the world soon. and not just the end of the world as a destruction of the planet, the end of the world as in the end of all that we know as creation. i wish we are wrong. i hope and pray that the world has a longer life than i do. i sincerely pray (if i have to) that the world will be a better place once day. that utopia will not be a bad thing and that the zeitgeist will cease to exist as a thing to be addressed, but will become as a statement of pride. that today we make tomorrow better.
i tend to quote the matrix on this one 'we see reality in misery' we ourselves dont believe that the future will be bright,
but can we change this obsession with the dark side? i dont think so. for two primary reasons.
one, we are short sighted, we dont dream of the future, we dream of a better today. better standards of living. better cars, better homes, better education, better vacations, better everything. not new, but better. i haven't, in a while heard of any significant breakthrough that we weren't genuinely surprised by. pluto is NOT a planet, or better yet, almost a planet. but have we found something beyond that? have we even begun with the idea of a possible USS enterprise? have we actively made progress in finding a new one, or a new solar system. i don't know. the last time we put a man on the moon was in 1972. what happened then? have we found out everything there is to find out about the moon? does the moon hold nothing of learnable value for us?
we are so busy waging wars and protecting territories, that we forget to look beyond. we are going smaller and deeper while ignoring the wider and farther.
what i do know is that we have become unimaginative. we cant imagine beyond 10 years. our goals are shorter, more attainable. i don't remember the last time a kid said that he wants to be an astronaut. i cant remember a time when a kid didn't want to do what his dad was doing.
secondly, research shows, that we are at present going through the most unhappy phase of our evolution. this after the holucast. our society and culture is ridden with holes. we tend to look for the cloud in the silver lining. once we start looking for holes, we look for the fixes, once we find the fixes then tend to capitalize on the fixes, if we dont find the fixes, we tend to shop... if everyone will be happy, who will buy the fixes, or the replacement to the fixes? the capitalist system will collapse and money will be of next to no value. and this cannot happen. we cannot let people get happy under any circumstances. happy people are just bad for business. what if we change the assumption? what if we say, happy people make better consumers, only if the consumables are made better, then the question of quality comes into play, as long as you make quality items, happy folks will buy it. a good car will get brought, advertisements or not.
and therin lies the tragic flaw, we then have to innovate, we cannot reproduce, we have to invent. get off our lazy behinds and make something. until now, the shortsighted version had been paying off pretty well.
low quality + investment + demands (or short supply) = high returns.
but since everyones happy, the consumption patterns will change, they will no longer be linked to the happiness index but to the quality index. which means that people will no longer look at flash value, or street credits, but for quality of goods, environmental impact, because we have enough, we only need replacements not additions. everyones happy with what they have, they want new when they want better. zen all over!
the flipside: by making quality = returns we are adding the risk of failure to the whole equation. making manufacturers nervous... rejected again.
so is there a solution. i would like to believe so. i would like to think that at some point we all truely acknowledge that chaos will exist, we are all ok with being miserable from time to time and that good time are always around the corner as opposed to the other way around. we dont live on a linear chain of consumption but on a cyclic one. hand me down is the new cool and such... like the schoridingers cat experiment, where we are assuming that the solution will be one or another. and hence both simultainously exist for a finite time, and then it shall go back to an absolute (the cat is either dead or alive...). that the final solution will always be absolute. but i think that is where the problem lies. there can never be an absolute. it will be 2 things at the same time, waxing and waning in importance but present and accounted for at all times. we need to focus on a better today, and a future that we never thought of. we need to bring back the use of imagination as a need and not a sign of insanity, we need kids to paint more than sunsets houses and ducks. we need imagination and we cant need it sooner!
(a positive outcome of me being lazy, and being too egoistic to give up so soon, added with the difficulty of coming up with something new each 3 days is that now i can start finishing all the bad ideas i dropped with good reason. this is the first of many back up plans i have for me to get thru my 106 post this year. people of the world... one at a time please....! )
look at the things you use today. your phones, computers, the softwares on the computers, the things those softwares do, the internet, blogs, social media everything digital. now think of a time before these, the time before you had any of your digital realities. think of how people used analog things to do what you do with your digital. the watches, the word processors, the drawing tools. even the things you use the internet for. like communication, publishing, photo sharing, ideation, collaboration, everything that you do today, was being done then. slowly, none the less, but surely. now you have blogs, then you had news letters, now you have websites for designers, then you had bulky portfolios, now you have a mobile phone, then you had telephones, the text messaging of today, is the direct lineage of the telegram. and i can go on. but what am i rambling about here?
what i really mean to say is... we havent changed anything. we made the digital do analog things are satisfied with them. architects use autocad for 2d drawings, and are happy with it, only a few push things to their full potential. how many architectural firms think of computers and digital techniques as more than tools that replaced the drawing board? we call them design drawing. not designing. Word replaced the word processor or the typewriter. books written on the type are like books written on a computer, no change there. just the convenience of a select few. i am not one of those shun your computer, nature is the right way to go preaching hippie. i love my macbook. more than the people around me, but its just a sad realization that since the time someone invented the printing press, we havent moved much, and since the time of the telephone we have moved even lesser.
the mouse simulates a pen, the screen supposed to be paper, digital watches with needles, mp3 players that look like cassette tape players, bluetooth headsets made to look like Bakelite phones. we even had mobile phones with jog dialers,
all new technology at some point simulates and if we are lucky just about replaces old technology.
now forget what you know. think of something that has never been done before. like the multi touch track pad in the macbooks, and the new apple mouse since the beginning of the mouse/trackpad usage, no one thought of more than two fingers and 3 buttons. or google wave, first time ever, we got a system that is built on the internet, not on the postal service! social networking broke the mould to some extent, orkut, facebook, linkedin all these did move out of the general already existing since adam and eve.
now lets look at what work we do. day in and day out. time and time again, do we do the same things that people have been doing since for ever? or are we doing something new? is your digital too analog?
food for thought. and action. :)
(i know i got preachy on this one... but i was sick of the autocad interface when this one came about :) too bad you got the wrong end of this stick)
what i really mean to say is... we havent changed anything. we made the digital do analog things are satisfied with them. architects use autocad for 2d drawings, and are happy with it, only a few push things to their full potential. how many architectural firms think of computers and digital techniques as more than tools that replaced the drawing board? we call them design drawing. not designing. Word replaced the word processor or the typewriter. books written on the type are like books written on a computer, no change there. just the convenience of a select few. i am not one of those shun your computer, nature is the right way to go preaching hippie. i love my macbook. more than the people around me, but its just a sad realization that since the time someone invented the printing press, we havent moved much, and since the time of the telephone we have moved even lesser.
the mouse simulates a pen, the screen supposed to be paper, digital watches with needles, mp3 players that look like cassette tape players, bluetooth headsets made to look like Bakelite phones. we even had mobile phones with jog dialers,
all new technology at some point simulates and if we are lucky just about replaces old technology.
now forget what you know. think of something that has never been done before. like the multi touch track pad in the macbooks, and the new apple mouse since the beginning of the mouse/trackpad usage, no one thought of more than two fingers and 3 buttons. or google wave, first time ever, we got a system that is built on the internet, not on the postal service! social networking broke the mould to some extent, orkut, facebook, linkedin all these did move out of the general already existing since adam and eve.
now lets look at what work we do. day in and day out. time and time again, do we do the same things that people have been doing since for ever? or are we doing something new? is your digital too analog?
food for thought. and action. :)
(i know i got preachy on this one... but i was sick of the autocad interface when this one came about :) too bad you got the wrong end of this stick)
happy new year everyone.
i know i am late. i know it was 2 weeks and more ago. but i just woke up. from work. not a holiday, nor a drinking binge. anyways, the point is that its new years, and i got a good feeling about this year. i am doing seemingly well, making apparent intelligent moves, while showing hints of settling down in a job for longer than 30 days. the point is, i like this year. i think it is going to bring a lot of new things.
so when i saw a lot of designers come and write about their new years resolution of doing 365 pieces of personal art, i thought i should do something like that! now the catch was, i cant think of 5 different things to draw, wait... i cant think OR draw!365 of those would give me a stroke! i needed a more doable goal. 365 blog posts a year. again, stroke worthy. i can barely think of one tweet a day, plus a facebook status message added to that.. the pressure of being visible, is too much. not that i mind it, its a mental exercise and i love the challenge of coming up with these, plus its fun. so now back to the challenge of doing something that will need constant thinking throughout the year. 52 blog posts a year. (for 52 weeks, of the year.. if you didnt know that... i think u should quit reading here). that means a couple of 100 words a week. too doable. its not so much of a challenge, when u have to get up one morning say, good morning people in text/type, rant about the things that happen to you once a week and then go back to bed. i mean once a week is for starters. not re-starters. us second time text offenders need stricter punishment. so here goes. 2 posts a week for the first 3 months. then move up to 4 and so on. the final climax would be 2 posts a day, for the last one week of the year. so those watching, (i know i got 2 official followers (thank you both!)and hopefully a larger number of people who would read it once and then would sanitize their computers, delete their logs, format their OS's and never acknowledge that they visited my blog. i know, its insulting to read this crap right? anyways...) brace yourselves, include me and my resolution to write more often in your nightly prayers and your daily desires or at least lie thru your teeth and say 'good job karthik keep it up!' cos i am NOT a self mover. i am a self starter but i am also a self - lose-interest-er.
so here goes nothing. absolutely nothing.
see you in 3 days with more nothing.
i know i am late. i know it was 2 weeks and more ago. but i just woke up. from work. not a holiday, nor a drinking binge. anyways, the point is that its new years, and i got a good feeling about this year. i am doing seemingly well, making apparent intelligent moves, while showing hints of settling down in a job for longer than 30 days. the point is, i like this year. i think it is going to bring a lot of new things.
so when i saw a lot of designers come and write about their new years resolution of doing 365 pieces of personal art, i thought i should do something like that! now the catch was, i cant think of 5 different things to draw, wait... i cant think OR draw!365 of those would give me a stroke! i needed a more doable goal. 365 blog posts a year. again, stroke worthy. i can barely think of one tweet a day, plus a facebook status message added to that.. the pressure of being visible, is too much. not that i mind it, its a mental exercise and i love the challenge of coming up with these, plus its fun. so now back to the challenge of doing something that will need constant thinking throughout the year. 52 blog posts a year. (for 52 weeks, of the year.. if you didnt know that... i think u should quit reading here). that means a couple of 100 words a week. too doable. its not so much of a challenge, when u have to get up one morning say, good morning people in text/type, rant about the things that happen to you once a week and then go back to bed. i mean once a week is for starters. not re-starters. us second time text offenders need stricter punishment. so here goes. 2 posts a week for the first 3 months. then move up to 4 and so on. the final climax would be 2 posts a day, for the last one week of the year. so those watching, (i know i got 2 official followers (thank you both!)and hopefully a larger number of people who would read it once and then would sanitize their computers, delete their logs, format their OS's and never acknowledge that they visited my blog. i know, its insulting to read this crap right? anyways...) brace yourselves, include me and my resolution to write more often in your nightly prayers and your daily desires or at least lie thru your teeth and say 'good job karthik keep it up!' cos i am NOT a self mover. i am a self starter but i am also a self - lose-interest-er.
so here goes nothing. absolutely nothing.
see you in 3 days with more nothing.
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