Science Made Stupid

Hilarious web-site. I loved this one:





iPodcurrent:

Self Discovery

Which character from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are you?
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You are Marvin the Android. Deeply depressed and cynical, you are the result of an experiment by the Sirius Cybernetics corporation. This explains a lot about you. Life... errr sorry...Existence is tough.

Which Forgotten 80s Cartoon Character Are You?
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You are He-Man from Masters of the Universe! You take life very seriously, and you should,

considering you are the keeper of all that is good and right in the universe! However, your

nonstop suspicion of Skeletor and his henchman can start your friends wondering why you don't loosen up once in awhile.

Which random noise are you?
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You are Bahiii, Speciality of the Simpson's Professor J Fink. Not the most conventional of sounds, but uniquely scientific.

Alternate history being taught in Kolkata schools

I am not sure if I should really trust a story coming from Sify - but its kind of funny. Apparently students in ritzy Kolkata schools aren't being taught history properly. It's funny - but kind of sad if true.

The British were not true to their word. Even though they granted formal Independence to India on August 15, 1947, they shilly-shallied over the withdrawal process, which brought Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army into the scene. And, finally forced Lord Curzon to jump into the sea at Gateway of India on January 26 of the following year. Hence India has two 'very auspicious days of national importance': First Independence Day and second, the Republic Day.

Oscars again: the desi connections

Shwaas, the Indian entry for Foreign Language Film failed to get a nomination for Oscars.

However, another desi filmmaker did get nominated - Ashvin Kumar - for his short film 'Little Terrorist' in the Short Film (Live Action) category. Also, 'Born into Brothels', a documentary about children of prostitutes in Kolkata's red light area got nominated in the Documentary Features section. Here is a link to a NPR story on "Kids with Cameras".

The Best and Worst of.....

...the movies for last year ?

Oscar Nominations: Ever since 'Titanic' and 'Shakespear in Love' won the best film category, I have lost faith in the Oscars. Still, it probably has the best brand name as far as film awards go. I haven't had a chance to see any of the movies (except Eternal Sunshine - Kate Winslet got a Best Actress nod) that got nominated - so can't really comment.

Something I have much more faith in: The Razzies.

Interestingly, Farenheit 9/11 got shut-out from the Oscars (here is the right-wing take on it !)- but has as many as 5 nominations for the Razzies !!

What NASA will not show you about Mars.....

From a really funny series of photoshopped Mars pix. at Fark.

No signs please - we are Dutch.

Found this interesting NYT article via the Althouse blog, about a traffic engineer from Netherlands who has supposedly revolutionalized road designs in some Dutch towns by stripping intersections of all road signs, markings, traffic lightts etc.

To make communities safer and more appealing, Mr. Monderman argues, you should first remove the traditional paraphernalia of their roads - the traffic lights and speed signs; the signs exhorting drivers to stop, slow down and merge; the center lines separating lanes from one another; even the speed bumps, speed-limit signs, bicycle lanes and pedestrian crossings. In his view, it is only when the road is made more dangerous, when drivers stop looking at signs and start looking at other people, that driving becomes safer.

Huh ! As Samrat and I often used to discuss, people in the west keep stealing our ideas and presenting it as their own. You see Kolkata Municipal Corp. were far ahead of their time:

They even included open construction sites to keep things interesting.

On an somewhat related note, while writing this blog, I was reminded of the episode from Sienfeld - Jerry and George are at Monk's, both sporting moustaches:

George: What is Holland?

Jerry: What do you mean, 'what is it?' It's a

country right next to Belgium.

George: No, that's the Netherlands.

Jerry: Holland *is* the Netherlands.

George: Then who are the Dutch?

Probably not as funny in writing - but worth a chuckle when you actually see the episode.

The 'Inch of snow' strikes again....

....this time affecting the nation's security.

Raleigh closed down by an inch of snow.....

Coming from Rochester, NY, where an inch of snow during winter is considered a great day weather-wise, I cannot help but be amused at the what happened in the Raleigh-Chapel Hill area, the day before. Before I came here, I had heard about people in this area panicking at the mere mention of a forecast for an inch or two of snow or even a few flurries. Now I have seen it.

The problem was that metereologists forecasted snow for late evening on Wednesday- the winds and the snow-band did not comply and it started snowing from late morning itself. Consequently, everyone panicked and started returning home before the roads could be salted. Plunging temperatures had iced the roads meanwhile - add to that some shaky drivers who have no clue how to handle their cars on snow and ice, you have >1000 fender-bender + skidding off the road accidents.

Sounds like we in for some more snow and sleet tommorrow - better do my groceries before everything closes down.

Life still goes on.....

A long absence from blogging. So many things have changed since the last time I made an entry - a new title, new car (see last post), new job, new place......but same old procrastinating habits.

Anyway, Tom Friedman's op-ed from last weekend's NYT is, as usual, a balanced, nicely written article about anti-Americanism in the Islamic world. Interestingly, he contrasts the sentiments in other developing non-Muslim countires:

I am sure that young Taiwanese, young Koreans, young Japanese, young Poles and young Indians have their views on America, but they are not an obsession. They want our jobs, not our lives. They live in societies that empower their young people to realize their full potential and to express any opinion - pro-American, anti-American or neutral.

I first read Thomas Friedman more than 12 years ago - while I was still in school and for some reason, most probably due to the coverage by Prannoy Roy and co on the 'World this Week' (see below), passionately interested in the history of the creation of Israel and contemporary politics in the Middle-East. His book 'From Beirut to Jerusalem' (purchased at the 1992 Calcutta Book Fair) , though perhaps a little dated today, should still provide a compelling reading about the psyche of the different nations in the middle-east and the genesis of the Arab-Israeli conflicts. In my opinion, the book was written in a fairly objective manner - although in today's world it may be construed as somewhat left-leaning.


Update: It turns out that the WTW program was restarted back in late 2003 when NDTV launched its 24/7 news channel. Not suprising that I missed it when I was in India last January - number of channels during WTW's first run: 2 ; number of channels now: >100 maybe - with at least 5-6 completel;y news channels.