Anger, Boredom, Loneliness and Burning Eyes...

I'm gonna use this post as a scratch notepad today. So if you're looking for something really awesome and interesting to read... Well, then this is probably not the place.. :)

I'm in that state where I'm tired and wish to sleep, but more than that I feel like speaking to a close friend. I can hear people enjoying and shouting around.. all over the hostel, but I'm lonely. I have work to do but my brain is just not motivated enough. You're thinking I've gone nuts. Come on... have you never experienced this? I'm sure you have....

It seems like someone has taken shelter in my eyes and has lit a chimney inside.. They're burning like hell. But I can't sleep.
If only people could understand my state of mind and not be so crazy about sleeping all the time, I'd have someone to talk to. But then again, we expect too much sometimes, and we are mad enough to think that we're entitled to that freedom.
It's strange how some people can speak for hours on the phone but the same can't happen face to face, apparently they wouldn't be able to sleep. I guess my speech is a lullaby to them... Well at least my wife will some day be glad that I put my kids to bed real fast.

Right now, I miss my 2 dogs a lot.. Winny and Punnu (The names might sound timid, but they're ferocious German Shephards). Dogs.... They'll just lie by your side and listen to anything you want to say, even if they're dead tired and SLEEPY. All they need is a litle bit of love. Miss you fella's.

I could go on writing like this forever, but I'm bored of doing this also. Many avid bloggers will say that this post is a piece of trash and that blogs aren't supposed to be written like some Diary. But I don't really give a damn. So if you're planning to comment anything like that... think twice!
Yes, I'm in a foul mood.

Wolfram|Alpha - Making all the World's Systematic Knowledge Computable

Google today has become synonymous with "Search". Don't many of us use the phrase - "Google it"? Market shares of Google Search in most countries has been seen to be 80% and more , with few exceptions such as China - 26% (market leader-baidu), South Korea - 3% (market leader-Naver). Thus, one thing's clear - most of us don't go beyond Google when it comes to searching for data over the internet. Is it because Google is the best, or is it because human beings are used to comfort zones and don't always like change? Haven't we seen it in many other cases (Mobile Tele. - Nokia; OS - Windows)? Anyway, I'm not here to study human psychology or evaluate Google's competence, though that might be an interesting area of research in strategy or marketing :). I'm scribbling today to speak about a new search engine I came across recently - Wolfram Alpha.

Named after it's creator Mr. Stephen Wolfram, Wolfram|Alpha (That name may not go too well with Indians! WolfRam??) was launched in May 2009. Wolfram Alpha, unlike google calls itself an "Answer Engine". What's that supposed to mean?? Well essentially, a user would key in a computational query like "San Francisco to Tokyo" and Wolfram's responses would give you data such as distance, flight time, path, city details, etc. It computes and infers these answers using a core knowledge base of curated, structured data. In a way, Wolfram resembles Cyc, an artificial intelligence project that began in 1984 and aimed at assembling common sense knowledge to perform human-like reasoning. Wolfram|Alpha is built on Wolfram's flagship product, Mathematica, a computational software program used in scientific, engineering, mathematical and other areas of technical computing.

Boring? Too technical? Well I'll tell you something interesting about Wolfram... It responds like a human being! So you can ask Wolfram a natural, fact-based question like "How old is Manmohan Singh?" and you'll be given the answer accurate to the day. To have fun, you can try out some of these questions with Wolfram:
1. Who are you?
2. Who is your father?
3. Who am I?
4. Where am I?

Though it's only been 2 months since it's birth and Wolfram has loads to learn, this infant is a fast learner. The data it presently possesses is by no means small. Try keying in "India" or "Microsoft Apple" and see the response! Wolfram also provides you an option to convert and store your query's answer as a pdf. If you still think Wolfram isn't the cool new kid on the block, then check out his very own blog and see what else he can do!

About the Creator - Stephen Wolfram:
Born in London in 1959, Stephen Wolfram is a distinguished scientist, inventor, author and business leader. Wolfram's early scientific work was mainly in the areas of high-energy physics, quantum field theory and cosmology. A PhD holder at the age of 20, Wolfram has devoted his life to Research & Education. It was in late 1986 that he began his research on Mathematica , which has been hailed as a major advance in Computing. Currently, Wolfram is the President & CEO of his company Wolfram Research.

When computers were initially launched, it was imagined that they would eventually have the capability to answer questions the way Wolfram|Alpha does today. Hopefully, this "Answer Engine" is a giant leap towards the quest of making all knowledge computational!


Other related links:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_Alpha
2. http://blog.wolfram.com/2009/03/05/wolframalpha-is-coming/
3. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-06/ts_levy

And the Seasons Go On........

People get addicted to alcohol...to cigarettes...and drugs.... I'm addicted to something totally different - "English TV Series". I'm sure those of you who've seen the likes of Prison Break, Friends, How I Met Your Mother,"24" or Heroes would understand why.

They remind me of the tag line of Lays Chips - "No one can eat Just One". Of course here there's a different sense involved - the eyes and mind to be more specific. I remember nights spent watching some of these serials when I've gone from midnight to dawn and at times even till the sun is right above the head. That's the advantage (or disadvantage, if you wana call it that) of watching the downloaded series on laptop and not on TV. No advertisements (though I really love watching ads most of the times) and no one-week breaks after each episode. I feel like a 4 year old with a truck-load of chocolate ice cream.

Once you start watching these series, you fall in love with some of the characters like Barney Stinson and Chandler Bing. And then there are others by whom you're awed... like Michael Scofield. They've become such huge personalities that I'm pretty sure, 90% people who know these actors, don't know their real name. You can say they've been Christened once again.... :) They're all over the net... Blogs (like this one), Wiki, Websites, etc.

But you know, nothing stays great forever, not even "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" (please note the sarcasm). God knows how people watch that bull ****. I pity our Indian public sometimes; have they nothing better to do?? Hey, I don't loathe all Indian series. I have a few of my Hindi favorites also.. "Rishtey" from Zee TV, "Office Office" from SAB TV and a few others.
OK, where was I??? Yeah, I was saying.. "Nothing Stays Great Forever" - and I'm starting to see some of my favorite TV series become draaaaaaaaaaaags........... It's like, these people want to squeeze every last bit from their show's TRP. Commercialism at it's best!!

Prison Break went from "Fox River" to "The Chase" to "Sona" to "Scylla" across 4 seasons and it still hasn't ended. I'd probably kill myself if I had to run for so long!! The show has started getting on my nerves. I feel as if after every few episodes these guys cook up a new story and air a few more shows. After sometime, they themselves probably won't have a clue where the show is heading. They've taken some inspiration I guess from Ekta Kapoor. Honestly speaking, I was mesmerized by Seasons 1 and to an extent 2, but after that it's been just downhill. To the relief of many souls like me, sources say that the show will probably close after another six episodes, starting in mid-April this year.

I guess Prison Break was such a big hit that even "Heroes", a series on NBC, has recently picked up its style. I'm not kidding... the most recent episodes of season 3 (3x14,3x15,3x16) have become a crash course of Season 1 and 2 of Prison Break with some variations of course. If you watch it, you'll know what I mean. I wish Tim Kring would just put those super humans out of their misery. The show's concept was great but then the producers began to get greedy and they ruined everything.

Of course there are always shows such as "Friends" which I could watch a dozen more times and I wouldn't mind that many seasons more either. The same goes for "How I Met Your Mother" and Barney Stinson too (However, to be honest, I do get irritated and anxious sometimes over the suspense being built around who the mother's gonna be...)

I guess you now realise how addicted I am to all of these, that I get worked up over their murder by their own creators. What should I say.... I'm just one of a million out there.

Mercedes - World Class Stuff in every Area...

I'm too busy to write a blog post right now. Actually, if my colleagues were to know that I'm even writing this, they'd call me crazy.
So why am I here?? Well, I just came across this really awesome website made by Mercedes and had to tell you about it... No time to get into the details, so I'll just leave you with the link, and you can thank me later. For all those web-designing freaks, do not miss this!! And yeah, have some patience, it takes some time to load, but I promise you, it's worth it. It's like, Women.... They take hours to get dressed for that important day... You get pissed, but in the end, you know it was worth it. :-)
http://www.a-to-s.co.uk/home.php
See ya fellas.... Let me know if you enjoy the site... Look at every link and see the beauty behind the website.

p.s. Thank You Praveen... I picked up the link from your google status message.

"OK" - The Holy Grail of Etymology

How are you? I'm ok. (fine)
How was your exam? Oh, it was okay. (not excellent but not poor either)
Did you hurt your leg? No, its o.k. (uninjured)
Are all the above uses for the word "OK" , okay?? (correct)

So, let me ask you now, is ok/OK/o.k./okay a word? or is it an acronym or an abbreviation for some words? And whatever it is, where did it originate? Never really thought about it, did you? Neither did I. But a few days back, I learnt that hardly anyone knew what it meant or where it came from... Let me enlighten those of you who're interested.
Over the past couple of days, I went through quite a few documents online, and learnt that "okay" was surrounded by numerous controversial explanations. Some of them were quite funny too. But b4 I enlist some of those, I want to ask u - What do u think ok means? Keep that in mind and read on....

Lets keep the true, or should i say "most accepted" explanation for the end. First, some aberrations...

Most words of modern English are believed to have come from some other language. Thus, came many of the explanations below:
1. Greek "olla kalla" - all right/satisfactory
2. Red Indians' Choctaw "okeh" - it is so
3. Finnish "oikea" - proper/correct
4. Latin "omnis korecta" - all right
5. Scottish "och aye" - "all is well"

Boring?? Let me tell you a few of the better ones then:
1. OK stands for "Old Kinderhook", which is the nickname of Martin Van Buren, the 8th American president(1837-1841) who was from Kinderhook, NY. During his campaigns "OK" was used as a branding agent.
2. They are the initials of "Old Keokuk", a native american tribal chief who used to sign treaties with his initials.
3. They come from the signature of a railroad shipping clerk, "Obadiah Kelly" who put his initials on bills of lading after checking them.
4. It's short for "Orrin Kendall", a cracker (biscuits) supplier to the Union Army during the Civil War. Their crackers were considered to be of very good quality.
5. Short for "Aux Cayes", a Haitian port famous for its rum.
6. Greek usage - "Omega khi" - incantation used to drive away fleas

I guess that's enough of suspense. Let's come to the most accepted one now, and probably the funniest too.
In 1963-64, Allen Walker Read of Columbia University uncovered the truth behind "ok" in a series of articles published in the journal "American Speech". According to these articles, OK's origin dates back to 1838. In the summer of that year, Boston newspaper editors started creating abbreviations for various phrases, ex. GTDHD - "Give the Devil his due", OFM - "Our first men", etc. This practice is very similar to what we do today on the internet. Often, these editors would deliberately misspell (as a joke) some of these abbreviations. It was in this fashion that OK was born. On March 23, 1839, one of the editors at Boston Post wrote this "....perhaps if he should return to Boston, via Providence, he of the [Providence] Journal, and his train-band, would have the "contribution box",etc. - o.k. - all correct - and cause the corks to fly....". The o.k. represents a misspelt "all correct" as "orl korrekt". This abbreviation was repeated in various news articles and became quite common jargon.
OK would've become a ghost, just like GTDHD and OFM, if it were not for various other occurences of the same term. You can say it was popularized and marketed by incidents such as "Old Kinderhook" and many others.

I'm sure there are still many other explanations cited by various scholars for "ok". You're free to believe any of them (you can even share them with us), but one thing's for sure. "OK" is here to stay.....

P.S. To read about other interesting facts on the origin of words/phrases, you can check out "Word Myths" by David Wilton and Ivan Brunetti.

In search of a lost friend.... "William (Billy) Spanos"

One of the things I've always cherished in life is childhood friendship (Something which many of us in India call "Langotiye yaar"). And by childhood, I mean the days when you were learning to read, write, spell and ride a bicycle. I consider those people very special who have been able to maintain that bond throughout their life. Sometimes we meet people in this world, whom we wish we had known since childhood. But unfortunately, we only have one shot at those diaper-days and some of us make the best of it...

Why am I writing about this today? Well, for quite some time now I've been trying to get in touch with a really good friend of mine, whom I know since the days which my mind can remember. You'd wonder that in this era of the "www", tracking down anyone would be easy. But, my searches have ended in a tall wall every time. I've had a go at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Rediff and so many more but in vain. I have even gone to the extent of messaging every single profile with the name "Billy/William Spanos" on various social networking sites such as orkut, facebook, hi5, etc. Now before you start calling me crazy, let me tell you the complexities of my case.
Billy and I grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut during the late 80s and early 90s. He is a few years younger than me but I guess that never really mattered. Our houses were right opposite each other and out of 24 hrs in a day, if you were to remove the 14 hrs of sleep and school, the remaining 10 were always spent playing together. Billy is basically Greek but I think he was born in US only. We fought like all other friends but it never lasted long. Our parents always had to search both houses before declaring us lost. Oh..... we never really got lost. We'd just be hanging around. I miss every moment of those days; fooling around with sand & mud, jumping on the trampoline, playing video games, racing on our bicycles (with 3 wheels), playing basketball. But what I miss the most are the Swings, where we tried our best to go real high and touch the sky, as if that were possible!! I recall Billy trying hard to teach me how to ride a bicycle, but I was a horrible learner. Poor Billy!
I remember how glad I was when Billy shifted to my school (Read Elementary) from his previous one. It was like the cherry on top of dessert. After that, on many occassions Anna or Taso (Billy's parents) used to drop us to school together. I've had many other friends at School and I've made many more over the years, but I can never forget that little fellow who taught me what friendship is.
I left the U.S. in 1995 and that was the last time I saw Billy (except for a picture of his which he sent me a few years later). Little did I know that I would never be returning to USA (atleast not in the near future) and may never see him again. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to recognize him today, that's why even the pictures on net don't really help. During the initial years after 95', we used to write to each other (email wasn't really prominent during that time) but then the letters just got lost in the haze. It kinda reminds me of "Kumbh ka Mela" which Indian cinematogrophers use so conveniently in many movies.
Today, when I try his VERY OLD number which I have, it's useless. I guess he's changed his home and as I said, the net hasn't helped me much. In a way, this blog-post is like a last-pitch effort in my search for that long-lost buddy; In the hope that maybe he or someone else who knows him will read it. Miss you brother.....
The collage below contains a few pics from those good old days.


P.S. If any of you out there want to mention some of their childhood memories of friends, feel free to do so. You have my Ears, or I should say Eyes.... :-)

It's a Shark...It's a Submarine... No, It's sQuba!!

In the 1977 movie, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, Roger Moore (James Bond from 1973-1985), a secret agent, impressively dove below the waves in a sleek vehicle that moments before seemed to be an ordinary car. Of course the scene never actually took place; it was just an animation.

No Fins, but this one still Swims:
The movie fake became a reality for visitors at the Geneva Motor Show (March 2008) in the form of “sQuba”, the world’s first real submersible car from Rinspeed. Though military vehicles have been known to travel under water in the past, they are restricted to driving slowly over submerged ground.

With sQuba, you can now drive straight into water and the car will float. To go on a diving experience, you just have to crack open the doors. While under water, you can breathe from an integrated tank of compressed air. When you’re ready to retreat to land, just crawl your way back to any nearby ramp/beach. The sQuba would even give turtles a complex.
For sQuba, the true challenge was to make it swim like a fish under water, in addition to making it water-tight and pressure-resistant. The car’s open cockpit solves buoyancy issues and also serves the purpose of higher safety. In the absence of any occupants, the car surfaces automatically. The sQuba is even capable of autonomous driving on land thanks to a sophisticated laser sensor system from the Hamburg Company Ibeo - without any help from the driver or passenger. The sQuba is an environment-friendly vehicle with zero-emissions, powered by Lithium ion batteries. Even the Motorex lubricants used in the ‘sQuba’ are biodegradable. The car has been given a sporty look which was converted into a diver’s dream by Swiss specialist “Esoro”.
Starting with initial concepts, it took the highly skilled development team at Esoro, just six months to realize the entire project. Rinspeed Founder-CEO, Frank M. Rinderknecht (52) has always been known for his extraordinary automotive creations. But with sQuba, he says he has fulfilled a 3 decade dream.

Some other technical facts on sQuba:
Empty Weight: approx. 920 kg. (Approximately equal to the weight of a Maruti Suzuki 800)
Top Speed: >120 km/hr.
Water Speed: > 6 km/hr.
Under water speed: > 3 km/hr.
Dive depth: 10 metres
Seating capacity: 2
Cost to build prototype: 1.5 million USD (Rinderknecht claims that when produced commercially, the car will cost less than a Rolls Royce, even then, that’s about $400,000 minimum)

I agree that the sQuba is a true novelty; a child’s fantasy and every diver’s dream, but let’s be realistic. How many people would be interested to go diving with their car? And what happens if the car breaks down under water? How many mechanics can actually fix this really COOL car? But I guess I’m just trying to find faults. The truth is that such an innovation deserves a round of applause. Keep it up Rinspeed…

Before I end, I just want to quote these words of John Lennon (Beatles), which were displayed on the home page of Rinspeed:
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one"

Michael Crichton: The Literary World loses a great Author

Jurassic Park...Timeline...Andromeda Strain...Coma...Congo

The mastermind behind all those big names has passed on to another world, leaving behind him a trail of stories which questioned and defied the laws of common nature.

Michael Crichton, died at the age of 66 after battling with cancer, on November 5th in Los Angeles. The author has left behind his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family, friends and many patron readers. Michael was a student of Harvard Medical School, where he had started writing. Some of his initial work as an author was under two different pseudonyms, John Lange and Jeffery Hudson. There was also a collaboration with his younger brother Douglas under the shared nom de plume Michael Douglas. He dropped his profession in medicine in 1970, when the pen began to dominate the stethoscope.
Crichton has to his credit more than a dozen best selling books, some of which I mentioned at the top, mostly under the category of science-fiction. But at times, he has swung to completely alienated genres and produced best-selling books such as "The Great Train Robbery" and "Disclosure". His work has sold over 150 million copies. Some of his novels have been captured as movies, for example Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Timeline, etc. and have broken box office records.

He is also the creator of "ER" , one of America's biggest Emmy award-winning medical drama TV series. The series is now into its 15th season(which started in Sep. 2008). Being aired on NBC, this show is set primarily in the emergency room of a fictional county hospital.
Crichton's work was an inspiration to many. Though "State of Fear" landed into some amount of controversy for challenging global warming, he was never afraid to challenge scientists from any field. He leaves behind his imprints on our minds and the zeal to ask "WHY" for any natural phenomenon.

For free downloads of some of Crichton's most famous books, click on the collage below:

Orkut - A new feature

I consider Orkut as the GOD of all social-networking sites in India. Though I'm not a strong promoter of such sites, I agree that they do have great benefits.
One thing I've always appreciated about Orkut and certain other similar websites has been the way they have developed themselves to become more user-friendly. They have also provided many applications which support their core functions. Tracking what your friends have been doing has become far simpler today then what it was in 2004, when orkut was launched.
I don't want to bore you with core features which all of you know about. The objective of this post is to praise one of their new features:
"View this conversation", provided in scrapbooks
This feature helps you track the complete discussion which you've had with a particular individual. Of course, your discussion will only be tracked if it has been posted as "Reply" by your friend.
Sometimes people forget in what context someone has replied to them, especially when the reply comes after 15 days. :-) This new feature makes your life easier. Since most people use the "Reply" function, you don't have to go to their scrapbooks to view your recent scraps anymore.

Google in 2001... Travel back in Time!!

Some call it the "Virtual Time Machine" while others call it Rembrandt's of the past. Google has become nostalgic and in celebration of it's 10th anniversary they've put their 2001 search index online for about 1 month(till end of October). This index gives you a feel of how the world has changed in the past 7 years. And it also helps us realize that the future is so unpredictable.
If you're wondering why, on its 10th anniversary, it isn't a 1998 index, well, Google has quoted that the 98 archives weren't readily accessible and hence they came up with the Jan 2001 search index instead. Google has given you the option to view the current link for any search as well as the cached link from 2001, to give you a good way to compare. However, don't be upset if you can't find a few sites, which you're sure existed in 2001, because Google has also stated that some links have been removed on request while some other sites have blocked google.com.
Now, I'll leave it up to you to go experience the fun(click on the picture above) or you can read about some of my own interesting searches below:

1. Search item: "Wikipedia"
First result: link to "Nupedia". For those of you who've never heard that name b4, it was an English web-based encyclopedia whose articles were written by experts and licensed as free content. The idea did not last too long(Mar 2000-Sep 2003). In June 2008, CNET hailed Nupedia as one of the greatest defunct websites in history. Today it is known as the predecessor of Wikipedia.

2. Search item: "orkut"
Results: No link to our present community site which probably every teenager knows. But instead it sites links to the OWNER of orkut.com, ie. Orkut Buyukkokten, an employee of Google and a student of Stanford University in 2001.

3. Search item: "Youtube"
Result: This entry which gives you 1,070,000,000 hits today, gave me the following message: Your search - Youtube - did not match any documents. :-)

4. Search item: "ipod"
This word has done fortunes for Apple today. But the 2001 archives knew nothing about it. Instead it returned entries such as Image Proof of Deposit Document Processing System (IPOD), IPO disorder(A post-traumatic stress syndrome from the 90s), International Program of Ocean Drilling(IPOD), and the list goes on...

5. Search item: "blog"
Result: Though blogs in 2001 also referred to the same "blogs" of today, but the number of search entries in 2001 were 76,400 as compared to 3.32 billion today.

6. Search item: "Gmail"
Result: Gmail in 2001 was not the brainchild of Google. Instead, it reffered to a Gnome email client which used Mysql database as the datastore.

7. Search item: "9/11"
Result: This date is one which humankind shall never forget. The day when more than 3000 people were killed and many others were left lifeless by the 4 suicide attacks which rocked the whole world. In Jan 2001, 9 months b4 the attack, this same search led to various events such as meetings scheduled for September 11 in addition to a site called www.9-11.com(A complete search research tool for the emergency professional). This link however has been removed from the archive and it gives just one line -" Our Hearts go out to the victims of 9-11".

8. Search item: "BitTorrent"
Results: This entry which gives approx. 58 million hits today, asked me to check if all words were spelled correctly. :-)

9. Search item: "Barack Obama"
Result: This was a real shocker. It shows how famous a guy can become in a short span of time. 2001 - 771 results : 2008 - 75,400,000 results

I guess that's enough to get you interested if you already weren't. Don't miss this opportunity guys. And yeah, if you come up with any other very interesting searches, do post them as comments. Happy Googling!!

"The Man from Earth", Released Nov. 2007

On recommendation by a friend at college, I watched this movie a while back. And I must say, it's one of the most simply made films I've seen in a long time. But don't let simplicity cloud the ingenuity behind the plot. I mean, how often have you seen a movie in which 6-7 people sit in a room, chat and create a blockbuster. The beauty of the movie is accentuated by the soundtrack "Forever" by Chantelle Duncan, featured at the end.(Click on the link to download the song and see what I mean)
The story is Jerome Bixby's last work, which he completed on his deathbed in April 1998, after starting it in the early 1960s. Bixby dictated the last of his screenplay to his son, screenwriter Emerson Bixby. After Jerome Bixby's death the script was given to Richard Schenkman to direct on a $200,000 budget, which is pretty low by all standards. That's understandable by the fact that the whole movie was shot in 1 room.
The lead role,Professor John Oldman, is played by David Lee Smith, who claims to be 14,000 years old from the Upper Paleolithic era. No, it's not a case of incarnation; John has walked across ages exploring religions and nature across the globe. To avoid being discovered, he moves on every 10 years leaving his past to become history.
I shall not reveal any more of the suspense... For movie lovers, I'll just say one thing-"You can thank me once you've seen it". And for those of you who just want to know the full story, proceed to the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_From_Earth
For more details on the cast and the men behind the movie, you can visit the movie's official website, http://www.manfromearth.com/index.html

"Earth from Above" and Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Aiming to inspire people to think globally about sustainable living, photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand has been capturing unique views of our planet, seen from the sky, since 1994. He has produced an exhibit of over 150 4-ft. by 6-ft. prints which will be on display in New York City from May 1, 2009 to June 28, 2009. When completed in New York City, the "Earth from Above" exhibit will also move on to California in 2010.

I have displayed a bit of his magic below, but to view his complete work, you may visit some of the links I have given at the end of this post.

Waste from the copper mine at Chuquicamata, Chile. This giant scallop shell is made of earth. A crane deposits the earth in successive, slightly curved lines giving the appearance of sheets of sand lined up side by side. This earth is extracted with the copper, but it is separated from the ore by sieving. The metal is refined in the Chuquicamata foundry that, thanks to newly installed equipment, can now filter out 95 percent of the sulfur dioxide (SO2 ) and 97 percent of the arsenic that the process releases. (© Yann Arthus-Bertrand)

Mountainous countryside near Maelifellssandur, Myrdalsjökull Region, Iceland. Once the young lava fields of Iceland cool down, life begins anew little by little. Ice, wind and water flatten and carve out shapes to begin with, then, during the summer, bacteria, lichen and fungi prepare the soil for plants, in particular mosses which adapt to an environment which remains difficult. These plants colonise the most favourable sites and terrain little by little, forming a new ecosystem.
(© Yann Arthus-Bertrand)

Worker resting on bales of cotton, Thonakaha, Korhogo, Ivory Coast.

Cotton crops occupy approximately 335,000 square klilometers worldwide, and use nearly one quarter of all pesticides sold.
(© Yann Arthus-Bertrand)

About Yann Arthus-Bertrand:
Photographer, Filmmaker, Activist, Environmentalist

Born in 1946, Yann Arthus-Bertrand has been interested in the wilderness and animal world throughout his lifetime. Using a camera, he started to create a record of his observations and eventually discovered his gift: testifying through images.

In 1991, Yann became a photojournalist and founded "Altitude", the leading aerial photography agency in the world. Inspired by the link between humankind, wildlife and nature, he collaborated with the UNESCO to focus his vocation on a long-term documentary photography series: The Earth From Above, Wild Animals, Horses, and 365 Days.

As an activist convinced of the importance of sustainable development, his aerial photographs and accompanying texts request every individual to take note that we are all personally responsible for the future of our planet. To this end, with the Earth From Above series book release, Arthus-Bertrand saw the need to broadcast this call-to-action through a large-scale public art exhibition of this testimony. Premiering in Paris in 2000 to unprecedented success, the exhibition soon travelled to cities around the world to reach over 130 million visitors across every populated continent by 2008. The book would eventually sell millions of copies in over 21 languages.

By 2005, Arthus-Bertrand created the association GoodPlanet. This international NGO develops numerous projects whose shared objective is to educate about sustainable development and request individuals across every background, culture and border to think beyond the development of our planet and, instead, toward the future of all of its inhabitants.

Earth From Above, a 4-episode, 8-hour TV series then launched in 2007 and renewed for 2008, prompting Arthus-Bertrand to begin filming of Home (http://www.home-2009.com/us/index.html), a documentary-style feature film about the state of our planet and challenges facing us to protect it. Its simultaneous worldwide release is scheduled for June 5th, 2009 – World Environment Day.

Arthus-Bertrand was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institute of France in 2006. He is a knight of the Legion of Honour, an Officer of the Order of Agricultural Merit, and an Officer of the National Order of Merit. In 2007, Arthus-Bertrand helped Al Gore present his Academy Award-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, to the French Parliament.

Yann's personal website: ›› www.yannarthusbertrand.org
Note: There is an English version for the website once you enter one of the links on the home page.
You may also view a collection of 38 photographs at
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/10/earth_from_above_comes_to_nyc.html

Photographs and captions all courtesy of Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Phobias galore...

One word or rather suffix which many people would've come across in life on many occasions is phobia...The term phobia is derived from the Greek word "phobos" meaning 'fear'. Clinical phobia is defined as an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject.
Phobias are more often than not linked to the amygdala, an area of the brain located behind the pituitary gland. The amygdala secretes hormones that control fear and aggression. When the fear or aggression response is initiated, it releases hormones into the body to put the human body into an "alert" state, in which they are ready to move, run, fight, etc.
It is possible for an individual to develop a phobia over virtually anything. The name of a phobia generally contains a Greek word for what the patient fears plus the suffix -phobia. Creating these terms is something of a word game. Few of these terms are found in medical literature. However, this does not necessarily make it a non-psychological condition. To elaborate on this idea, I surveyed a few friends to discover their worst phobias. Some of them were realistic while others were pure fun; they did run their creative minds. I’ll share a few of them with you here...Though some of the words created may sound funny, you'll find that many of us do face similar fears...
1. Episodophobia: Fear of addiction to serials/soap operas
2. Escalator-phobia: Fear of escalators (I have an aunt as a practical ex. of this)
3. Studyophobia: I don't think I need to elaborate this one 
4. Ghostophobia: Yup, people do believe in ghosts....
5. Projectophobia, Schedule-phobia: Both related to fear of tight schedules on projects,etc.I'd just call it deadline-phobia (something I'm facing at IIM right now)
6. Identity-phobia: I coined this one for a friend who identifies it as "Fear of knowing who u are but wishing not to be that
7. Another friend said she was grandfather-phobic... I thought they were supposed to be God's gift to children... NOT FOR HER!!
8. Doll-o-phobia: Fear of dolls- Those of you thinking how's that possible, watch Child's Play.
9. Venusophobia: Fear of speaking to stunning women
10. Fightophobia: A very common fear; the fear of getting into a brawl
11. Speedophobia: Fear of speed; I guess most parents have this fear when giving their kids a vehicle; recently my dad has been facing the same.
12. Fatophobia: The biggest fear for all those sexy babes out there; I swear, as soon as a girl puts on 3 extra kgs. she starts hyperventilating.
13. Home alone-phobia: Ring any bells??
14. Cattle-phobia: I think people are more scared of the horns, but hornophobia sounded a bit porno...
15. Now this one came as a shock to me,but I must say, it was the best- “RAVIOPHOBIA”: How can people be scared of a sweet person like me?

Some of the most common methods of treating phobias, used by psychologists are Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Hypnotherapy coupled with Neuro-linguistic programming, Anti-anxiety or anti-depression medications, Emotional Freedom Technique, etc.

For other comprehensive lists on phobias, I'd suggest:
http://phobialist.com/
http://psychology.about.com/od/phobias/a/phobialist.htm

P.S. I’d like to thank my friends (Shobi, Goks, Borve, Raj, Swathi, Bhashni, Sonali, Rohit, Rudhra, Mridu, Madhu, etc.) for their valuable inputs and creative ideas.

Two Engineers....

Here’s an online conversation between 2 of my friends, which I’d like to share with some of u out there. I’ve used some amount of discretion and edited it slightly (All quotes in < > have been added by me.) I’ve only excluded the boring parts…and I’ve kept the lingo intact…
I’ve edited names of all people and some places and replaced them with letters in CAP.. And for ur information, FF and GB are 2 engineers just out of college.. yeah, in simple words- JOBLESS. That’ll be clear from the dialogue… So here they go. Enjoy…

FF: dude, wen u cumin to Chennai ?? < GB is presently abroad >
GB: I was planning to come on 22nd, but G just told me ur leaving by then, so I'll make it on 20th.
FF: 20th?? 19th not possible??
GB: well, possible, but 19th only I am landing, around 10 am, my parents won’t approve of me leaving immediately.
FF: dude, how’s S???????
GB: is Ravi online? < Yeah.. I’m the “Ravi” being spoken of >
FF: ppl keep tellin me to ask u about her..chakkar kya hai?? Ravi’s not online, don’t worry
GB: ya ya, ppl will keep telling and u also keep asking. anyway, no chakkar and bullshit, she's fine.
FF: but u never reply to questions.. y?????????????????????????????????????? And who asked about bullshit?? keep it for urself..shove it up ur ass..
GB: ya of course. hahaha
FF: great.. let’s talk about S...2 b more precise, UR S
GB: ya fine, my S.
FF: forever urs??
GB: that u should ask her.
FF: y?? u have no voice?? slave or wat??
GB: i am planning to go to PY when I come.
FF: wat? wen?? S is from PY rite??
GB: maybe 22nd or 21st if u guys wanna come.. ya ya, going to meet her only idiot
FF: m definitely cumin.. coz have to confirm a lot..u need not cum.. give her address..
GB: I myself don’t know.
FF: she's ur friend only rite??
GB: ya ya friend only.
FF: good..then give her number..I’ll take care of her..she good enough for me?? < Any1’s gud enuf 4u FF >
GB: a bit taller than u..hmmm, slightly faster than u in math...
FF: not a problem... seen sachin n wife?? perfect pair.. I’ll learn math from her then.,,. either ways good for me..
GB: she's a black belt
FF: and I’m a red belt..comes after 10 black belts.. < New karate guys.. >
GB: ya rite FF. with all that, u didn’t kick the shit off B. shame on u.
FF: not just muscle dude, u should have some common sense also not to fight with 2 on 1 side n 100 on the other,, < What was it, Mahabharata ?? > ..and first rule of karate.. never use it with a person who doesn’t know it.. poor B n frenz.. I was being loyal to karate.. < I'm sure u were FF >
GB: oh, I almost forgot, she has two dogs at home. u can have a nice time running around the house. they r really big dogs u know. < Reminds me of an incident in the past FF >
FF: I’ll take GC along. he’ll make it 5 dogs by the time we return.< What is he? Superman? >
GB: u guys game to go to PY? < What the hell have u guys been discussing all this time u dimwit.. >
FF: so, u have any prob if me n ur S go along?? sorry..MY S!!!!!
GB: I can see that ur too lonely these days
FF: I don’t feel lonely at all.. S's there in my mind all the time...
GB: when did Ravi have that much time to tell u about S? < Yeah guys, this editing itself is eating into my sleep time >
FF: He dint tell me anything bout her dude..
GB: Then they told about me being her friend in the news? < Maybe AajTak or IndiaTV. That’s their standard these days  lol >
FF: no.. u told me b4 I returned to Calicut..tambaram outing.. forgot?? n during chatting.. bout ur marriage n all.. PY church n stuff. n night at Ravi’s place..4got?? < Seems like GB hit his head and forgot everything >
GB: I like her man, she's a nice person < Isn’t every female… > , and PY church is coz she's supposed to find a person for me..actually, her younger sis is very pretty. but she already has someone. < don’t they all > too bad… < Sounds like a bollywood story >
FF: now I want to c her.. but S's gonna b mine.. n m damn possessive of others talking to her..I’ll kill him..else u take him to US.. GAY marriage is legal there rite?? n I’ll gift our first child to u.. adopt him or her.. < You’ll be lucky FF if u HAVE a child >
GB: dude, her current boy friend is a bit taller than D man.. < D’s probably 6’2” plus >
FF: very good.. I can easily go under his legs then.. poor fellow will develop a backache by the time he catches me.. < now it really sounds like a hindi blockbuster >... I’ll call G to damage his future.. n trust me, she's the best in it.. ask GC for proof..
GB: what happened? what did she do?
FF: damaged his future..2 tight waks n the damage is done..she shouted in public that he has a very small lollipop.. < I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm guys.. ;-) >
GB: she shouted at GC?
FF: forget it dude.. out of Americans reach..let’s talk about my S.. < Oh ya, 4got to tell u, GB’s a student-exchange product >
GB: ok, let’s talk.
FF: u say something na.. how do I approach her??what do I tell her??how do I win her faith n luv??
GB: win her faith..PY has a nice beach, dive into it and get a pearl. < Everyone’s a producer out here >
FF: fine..u dive n get me a pearl ok.. I’ll give it on my behalf..
GB: typical Mallu..
FF: how do u know about typical mallu?? DG a mallu??I dint know that..< neither did I >
GB: I just have an allergy towards mallu gals man, dunno y.
FF: so, how many mallu girls do u know other than SL??
GB: hmmm, just her. < That sounds like a nice judgement >
FF: looking at the past, I guess I’m the one who should b allergic to mallu girls.. not u..
GB: ok ,tell me, seriously when do u think we can go to PY, where will we stay?
FF: u ppl find a stay.. mine is almost pakka now itself.. I’ve made up my mind..
I can stay at my S's place.. < In ur dreams maybe > n probably u can sleep with the dogs.. < Then he won't be staying.. he'll be straying. >
GB: ok, tell me ,where r u staying now?
FF: yesterday at V's place.. 2day at I’s place.. 2moro again V's place.. then may be in Tambaram at cousin’s place.. < No guys, he’s not gay >
GB: when I come on 19th nite, that’s if I am planning to come on 19th nite, where will u be?
FF: probably cousin’s place..not sure.. y??
GB: coz I need a place to stay asshole, where will I shit and take bath < He’s just pissed >
FF: I’ll see if u can cum there..what else dude??
D: Nothing much..
FF: ok..I’ll catch u later then,, have n xam 2moro morning regarding sum crap placement.. < !!! Typical engineers. I hope TCS, Infy, CTS, etc are reading… >
GB: ok, good luck man. tc
FF: thanks man.

PS. I thank FF and GB. Without them this would've never been possible. Special thanks to V also. Comments from all of u are welcome. Till next time, see ya....

IIM Indore...

I want to dedicate this post to IIM Indore (Planet I, Prabandh Shikhar)
Incidentally, I started writing this blog after my first association with IIM Indore (GD-PI). Today I'm in the hallowed portals of the very same institute and I feel very privileged to be here.
The past 3 weeks have been a journey into a new world; a world full of opportunities,hard work,dedication and loads of fun. The sleepless nights are honestly worth it guys... Planet-I rocks!!
To know more about life at IIM Indore, visit my other blog by clicking on the picture above.