A man of few words

Jishnu is my little-over-two-year-old nephew who has recently started talking. He talks in very few words. May be a word or two for the whole sentence. So Boudi and I were planning to go out and Jishnu was having his diaper changed. Clearly he was not wearing any pants. The following conversation happened (translated to English for blogging purposes).

Boudi: Eat soon Jishnu, and then we will all go out.
Jishnu: Pant?
Boudi: Yes you will wear pants.
Jishnu: Ma?
Boudi: Ma will wear pants too.
Jishnu: Shirt?
Boudi: Yes, Ma will wear a shirt.
Jishnu: Kaku?
Boudi: Yes, Kaku will wear a shirt too.
Jishnu: Pant?
Boudi: Yes he will wear pants as well.
Jishnu: Hmmm.

Boudi is what I call my sister-in-law. Kaku is me, Jishnu's uncle.

Wizard of Id

Ha ha ha!

Whatsisname - II

New Zealand is a fine country. I have always wanted to visit it because of it's scenic splendor. And now I have an additional reason to visit this country.
Names.
Really wonderful and creative ones, some being outright hilarious. The following are some of them - yes, they are fully official names, on paper.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii (who recently was allowed to change her name)
Benson (and his twin) Hedges
Violence
Number 16 Bus Shelter
Variable (whose plea to change name to 'F*ck Censorship' was rejected)
In God We Trust

Among the names that were not accepted by the Registrar General: Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion and Sex Fruit.

I mean, who calls their son/daughter Sex Fruit? That poor thing will not make it through pre-school. What will he/she say when asked the meaning of the name? And I wonder how many people will turn around to look when someone hollers the name across the street!
Similarly, poor Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii... I wonder which is the first, the middle and the last name for this girl...

A New Zealand judge has made a 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name can be changed from Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii, the country's national news agency reported Thursday.
Family Court Judge Rob Murfitt listed a series of unusual names that New Zealand parents had given their children, and said he was concerned that such strange monikers would create hurdles for them as they grew up.
"It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap," the New Zealand Press Association quoted the judge as saying.
Among the names Murfitt cited: twins named Benson and Hedges -- after a brand of cigarettes; Violence; and Number 16 Bus Shelter.
Some parents had named children after six-cylinder Ford cars, the news agency reported.
The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages said in a statement that it had rejected names including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi -- a staple food in Polynesian cuisine -- and Sex Fruit.
A lawyer for Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii said the girl is so embarrassed by her name that friends know her as "K."
Last month, an judge in the U.S. state of Illinois allowed a school bus driver to legally change his first name to "In God" and his last name to "We Trust."
But an appeals court in the state of New Mexico ruled against a man -- named Variable -- who wanted to change his name to a two-word phrase that contains a four-letter expletive and expresses opposition to censorship.

Source: CNN

Weird wild wacky world indeed.

Related post:
Whatsisname - I

"Ledgendary"

I wish Heath Ledger lived to see his brilliance in The Dark Knight.

And the fact that the whole world is watching him enthrall the movie-goers.

It is currently rated as the #1 movie in IMDB.
Here's some trivia that will keep you thinking.
**
I have seen it twice in the theaters this weekend.
**
Also, The Prestige, directed by same director - Christopher Nolen is a movie worth watching!

Movies and laughs

(Which movie to rent? - Idea contributions from Gaurav)

All images © Kokonad Sinha

Where's that remote?

My second post in the series of "Thoughts in 2D".

All images © Kokonad Sinha

Thoughts in 2D

Most bloggers and blog-surfers are familiar with and fans of (the laugh-out-loud-hilarious) Indexed, by Jessica Hagy. Here are my ideas too... they will in no way match up to her style, and she probably already came up with these ideas... (I didn't check her archives).

Nevertheless, hope you like these ones, that I made!


All images © Kokonad Sinha
Here's the latest from Jessica. And it's F.U.N.N.Y!
Hopefully I will continue this feature. Coming up with one is fairly challenging!

4th of July Fireworks - 2008

I had decided way back at the start of my PhD that I am going to see 4th of July fireworks in a different city every year. While the first year was in State College, the second happened to be here too. I have been traveling like crazy over the last 7 weeks, and I REALLY needed to rest. While my friends went camping and white-water rafting for this weekend, I decided to stay back. Sigh. Not the best of my decisions.
Thanks to having owned a (digital) SLR for the past year, I have been trying my best to take shots that are more and more difficult to capture... I must confess, with all lack of modesty, that I have been lucky a few times. But yesterday, there was large black cloud so low that it was obstructing the top right quarter of all the fireworks - :( Bummer. Most of the climactic show was missed, because of where I was standing.
Nevertheless, State College fireworks rank among the top few in the entire nation. The WOW feeling gets somewhat "goosebumpy" with the climax setting off over 40 shells a second. Anyway, here are a few of the shots. Hope you like them!

July4th Fireworks © Kokonad Sinha, 2008

Back then in 2007, I had no fancy camera. But I did happen to record the last 1:25 min using a friend's camera.

Senator Obama's iPod

There are some articles I read here and there, which I have no connection to whatsoever. But I still get a feel-good rush in my body. For no reason.

CNN.com had this article - What's on Barack Obama's iPod? - a few days back, and it listed most artists he listens to. Get ready for this, because Senator Obama has a genuinely eclectic taste.
Bob Dylan.
Bruce Springsteen.
Rolling Stones.
Elton John.
Earth, Wind & Fire.
Stevie Wonder.
Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker from the jazz front.

"Actually, one of my favorites during the political season is 'Maggie's Farm,' " Obama said of one of Dylan's tracks. "It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric." In the song, Dylan sings about trying be himself, "but everybody wants you to be just like them."
[snip]
Several musicians on Obama's iPod support his bid for the White House, including Bruce Springsteen. Earlier this month, Dylan told a British newspaper that he believes Obama is redefining politics in the United States and could deliver change to a nation in upheaval.
"I've got to say, having both Dylan and Bruce Springsteen say kind words about you is pretty remarkable," Obama said. "Those guys are icons."
Obama said he hasn't met Springsteen, but the two have talked over the phone.
"Not only do I love Bruce's music, but I just love him as a person," Obama said. "He is a guy who has never lost track of his roots, who knows who he is, who has never put on a front."
And did he address him as the Boss?
"You've got to," the candidate said.

[Source]

Turns out Senator Obama does not think highly of the rap of today's generation. Though he correctly says that this music has removed segregation in the music culture, he quoted that there was way too much materialism and misogyny in the lyrics. He is concerned about that fact that his daughters listen to it. While he says that hip hop and rap moguls Russell Simmons, Jay-Z and Ludacris are "great talents and great businessmen", he feels that it would be nice if he could have his daughters listen to this music without him worrything that they are getting bad images of themselves.

Senator Obama at Penn State, 2008

Why I had that feel-good rush when I read all this? Probably because I listen to a lot of stuff he listens to too. And I really admire him and agree with his taste.

Jump!

MY! FIRST! SKY! DIVE!

Free fall.
The ecstasy of free fall.

On a wonderful day of 15th June, after a lovely night of camping in Hickory Run State Park (PA)...

Our camping site, Hickory Run State Park, PA

...I jumped off a perfectly good plane from a height of 10,000 feet. And flared a parachute 6000 feet later. Like I was already not livin' on the edge doing my doctoral studies.

Hazleton, PA. Above the Poconos skydivers. Taking along 13 other people, it was an exhilarating experience for everyone. Falling at speeds of over 120 mph (close to 200 kmph) makes your ears go deaf. Really deaf.

Words cannot describe it. You have to be there. Trust me.

It started with a basic training exercise as to what do do when we are airborne. After a slew of papers to sign and places to write our initials, the legal stuff (which basically relieves them of liabilities in case of accidents). Next thing, we are being sorted into flight numbers. Gaurav went first, and quite the ride of his life, making complete flips at 10,000 feet. Beautiful landing. He then talks of possibly undone zippers at 10,000 feet. Saumya has some real nice tips for skydiving, that involve flying kisses and flying boeings. Soon, lots of people were flying up and falling down 25 minutes later... all happy and smiling and extremely excited. Some said they were doing it again. Some said, never again. By the time it was my turn, I had no clue how it is going to be.

The plane was crammed with 7 of us, one of who was the pilot (and the owner of the place). Who needs a comfortable plane anyway? Why the other six? Two of us, me and my friend. Two tandem jumpers, guys "harnessed" onto our backs. Two photographers, who jumped with us.

After 30 seconds of deafening falling and flipping stomachs, there was a sudden jerk and absolute silence. The parachute opened. The contrast in sound was astounding. Five minutes of peaceful sailing in the serene quietness watching over the Poconos mountains.

A day before my jump-off, I informed my sister-in-law. (And thereby my brother). After the jump, I told my parents. Guess what my dad's fist question was...
"Was it cold up there?"
"That's the last of my worries up there, Dad!"

The Free Fall. Soundtrack: Bruce Springsteen - Long Walk Home

Was I terrified? Yes. When you are at 10,000 feet, and the door of the plane opens the same deafening sound with a spectacular view of the earth below. That's terrifying. My smile vanished for a second. Then it was back.
Free fall.
The ecstasy of free fall.

Cell phones make popcorn. Hah!

That's what three videos doing the rounds in Youtube showed.
Don't believe it? I didn't either.
But there was video proof!
Hah!

How it works:
1. Use three or more cellphones, with their antennae towards corn kernel on the table.
2. Make calls to all cellphones simultaneously.
3. Pop goes the corn!
See? See.

YouTube Video (0:40)

The two other videos are here and here.

What's with everyone on a table? Why could they not do it um.. let's say, on the floor?
Turns out that it is a hoax. Obviously, first because cell phones do not have enough power to do it. Second, the creators confessed. Actually they gave a disclaimer.

The contents of these videos are fictitious and humorous optical illusions, designed for entertainment. Nothing in these videos is meant to imply that mobile phones can make popcorn and Cardo Systems specifically disclaims that these videos contain any portrayal of facts or comments about safety. Cardo disclaims any liability for the information in these videos.

Source: PC World Blog

Cardo manufactures bluetooth headsets. This is their viral marketing strategy.
And this is going to sell more headsets.
Sure.

O( )ama

I wish the #1 Most Wanted in the world - Osama, and US Presidential Candidate Obama didn't have names that are so similar to each other.

It causes confusion.
Like today, when I was browsing IBNLive, I saw this piece -


and I thought that it was an Osama doll outdoing Barbie. I went click-happy over it, but turns out it was Obama. And not Osama.
Not that I was gravely disappointed... but some part of me still wants to see an Osama doll.

New Folder (11)

Every time I go home to my parents' place, my Dad tells me to have a look at his files on the computer. Because he feels that there could be several duplicates, and I should delete the files that are no longer relevant or have been superseded. My Dad is very methodical about keeping up to date with his finances and all sorts of transactions in a huge number of files on his computer, in soft copy. He often creates backups and stores copies on several media. While my Dad is very meticulous (admirably) in maintaining all this, he is not very innovative in giving names to files. And that's where all the trouble starts.

I need to sift through several gigabytes of data to try to figure out which is the latest file - sometimes the files are modified on a different computer and copied on later to the home computer... and otherwise - and ultimately it's a huge melee of "latest updates" which I need to sort out.
Considering that each time I go home, I just sleep, eat, sleep, watch TV, eat roadside good, sleep, eat... understandably I have lots of time on my hands and I am more than willing to help.

But only at first.

Folders that go by the following names:
"New Folder" (8 or more)
"New"
"Personal files"
"New Personal"
"Personal Final"
"Personal Latest"
"Final Personal"
"Old files (to del)" [Hah!]
"Files (check and del)" [Double Hah!]

The same is repeated with segments like Backup, Data, PPT, Report etc.

Several files that go by the following names:
Sinha final.doc
Sinha latest.doc
Sinha old.doc
Sinha to-delete.doc
Oh, and these files exist in all those unambiguous folders I have named above. Gigabytes of word documents, scanned images and excel sheets. Ow.

But then, when it is all done, I feel like I have actually accomplished something. :-) It feels good.

As a side note, it's not just my Dad who has this organized mess. Lots of people do! Some of them might be readers of this blog as well.

Image Courtesy: Ads of the World - Lecithin

Wall*E: Beyond the Ordinar*E

In the summer of 1994, there was a lunch. Me, John Lasseter, Pete Doctor, Joe Ranft, all sat down... Toy Story was almost complete... and we thought - Well, jeez, if we were gonna make another movie we gotta get started now! So at that lunch we knocked around a bunch of ideas that eventually became A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo... the last one we talked about that day was the story of a robot. Named Wall*E.

Andrew Stanton
Director of Finding Nemo

I have missed very few of animation movies on the big screen. And I have watched each of them at least three times. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Cars, Monsters Inc. etc were works of staggering geniuses. Even the not so famous ones like Robots. And I am really really really looking forward to Wall*E.

Coming to a theater near me.
On June the 27th.

What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL*E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL*E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL*E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen. Joining WALL*E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

(Source)

There are two major trailers to the movie as embedded here (courtesy YouTube).

Wall*E: Trailer 1

Wall*E: Trailer 2

The PR and advertising of this in the US is great - they have shown it in several places including the superbowl this year as well! Disney has also released this other promotional clip on Wall-E, as if it were available in a store (Buy-n-Large, heh).

Disney Promotional Video (Wall*E)

I know I am not going to be disappointed when I watch the movie. And I love the way it says "Wall*E'.

The beauty of argument

That's the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you are never wrong.

One of my all time favorite movie has been and will remain "Thank you for smoking". I had seen it way back in 2006 and that movie is a big load of many-things-to-learn.
Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for a big tobacco firm has a tough job fronting an organization that kills 1200 people a day. But that does not make him a bad person - it's his job. To talk.
And in fact, this movie throws light on all those people who take the fall in place of others. While the world hates such people, there is something else in their lives which the mediocre brained do not see.
He fights for and teaches how to fight for one's dignity. He brings perspective to several things in life that are blindly taken as to be wrong. Here is the trailer - you must watch the movie if you have not seen it. For those who admire strong satire and good quality comedy, you will not be disappointed.

Trailer: Thank you for smoking

Here's my favorite scene from the movie - where Nick is describing the nuances of his job to his son. About how to be right, even if you are not necessarily right. All it takes to prove you are right, is to prove the other person is wrong. Even if it is on a different aspect. And you need to prove it to people watching, not to the person himself. Not the right thing to do, but unfortunately, that is how it works in the world.

Joey: So, what happens when you're wrong?
Nick: Well, Joey, I'm never wrong.
Joey: But you can't always be right.
Nick: Well, if it's your job to be right, then you're never wrong.
Joey: But what if you are wrong?
Nick: Okay, let's say that you're defending chocolate and I'm defending vanilla. Now, if I were to say to you, "Vanilla's the best flavor ice cream", you'd say …?
Joey: "No, chocolate is."
Nick: Exactly. But you can't win that argument. So, I'll ask you: So you think chocolate is the end-all and be-all of ice cream, do you?
Joey: It's the best ice cream; I wouldn't order any other.
Nick: Oh. So it's all chocolate for you, is it?
Joey: Yes, chocolate is all I need.
Nick: Well, I need more than chocolate. And for that matter, I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom and choice when it comes to our ice cream, and that, Joey Naylor, that is the definition of liberty.
Joey: But that's not what we're talking about.
Nick: Ah, but that's what I'm talking about.
Joey: But … you didn't prove that vanilla's the best.
Nick: I didn't have to. I proved that you're wrong, and if you're wrong, I'm right.
Joey: But you still didn't convince me.
Nick: Because I'm not after you. I'm after them. (points to a crowd of people)

Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent.

**
Aside, I am trying to come up with a good voicemail message for my phone. I am not being very successful.

And that will be $220,000,000,000

So, as of 16th May, the Zimbabwe annual inflation rate hit 355,000%.

Wow.
Stop printing money. Seriously. There's way too much of it in the market. Again, stop printing money. Seriously. There's way too much of it in the market.
A close second is Burma at 39.5%. No more zeros. Just 39.5%.

The inflation rate was 165000% in February, and it rose to this whopping figure now. To give you an idea as to what this number means - 355,000% annual rate means prices are doubling every week. Something, let's say - toothpaste - that costs $10 today is going to cost $20 next week, and $160 by the end of the month. And $4500 billion next year.
Ouch.
Even if my math is wrong, $4500 billion for toothpaste is slightly over the edge, by most standards.
But then, as you might think, nothing costs ZW$10 in Zimbabwe. The country needs major rebooting with a current unemployment fraction of 85%. Understandably, a HUGE section lies below the poverty line.
A brief history: A few disastrous decisions were made in the past few years. Currently, Zimbabwean people have $100 million, $250 million and $500 million currency notes. By May 20th, the $5 billion, $25 billion and $50 billion notes are hitting the market.
When it started in 1980, the Zimbabwean dollar was valued at USD 1.00 = ZWD 0.68. As of
May 2008, USD 1.00 is valued at ZWD 315,000,000.

Huh.
Going to Zimbabwe? Carry lots of money. Like $50.

Sources:
BBC News
The Zimbabwe Independent
Wikipedia - Economy of Zimbabwe
Wikipedia - Zimbabwean dollar
Image courtesy