Creative commons
thescian | January 24, 2007 I don't know classical music and it didn't matter. Music made of sublime and uplifting sadness. [via NPR - you can listen to the complete song here]
thescian | January 22, 2007
Lord hanuman needs your help. Here's the list of pleas that I received from his tailiness.
1. Ganesha is a fat bugger. Send the damned milk my way.
2. Anyone without a tail must wear one.
3. Don't eat the banana in front of me, you insensitive clod!
4. Send all your money to the blogger called Selvakumar Ganesan.
5. When you are inside my shrine, plug it. I have had enough from farting devotees. My nose hurts.
Dear Hanuman is crying for god's sake! Won't someone help console him... if not the others, atleast the fourth plea... May his tailiness be with you all.
(thanks Sunil)
thescian | January 17, 2007Yes. You read that right. A really big bother. It's all over the BBC here. People in the UK and India have suddenly discovered reality shows. Racist slur on Shilpa! The Indian movie star has found herself on a show that is insulting! And, there are women who insult other women! Surprise, surprise.
Reality shows are not new. It is a great format to present certain shows. Say, the life of a marginal farmer in India or Africa. It can enlighten us, move us to tears and spur us into action. It can change lives. But, in the hands of monkeys, as they would say in tamil, it is like a garland whose…
thescian | January 16, 2007Over here. There are some hilarious hate mails there for your amusement.
If you want some serious stuff about google, our future and whatever would become of it all, go here.
thescian | January 16, 2007A million dollars has been donated! Ain't this cool! Send some money the Wikipedia way.
thescian | January 10, 2007Check this out. Apostle of Hustle's "My Sword Hands Anger". Dark and delicious. (Use good speakers to appreciate the song properly. Laptop speakers may make the music suck.)
thescian | January 3, 2007Yesterday I was bothering the wife with some philosoapy (no, not a spelling error this. I can't say the word with a straight face) about existence, perception, spinoza's god and the like. Dear Mr Berkeley was at our side urging us to consider the irrefutable dictum of his that "to be is to perceive" and that ultimate existence is in the mind. In short, Berkeley said that If no one is looking at a tree, the tree does not exist. The tree, the rock, the moon and all else certainly exist even when we don't see it. How so? Berkeley's Philosoapy has the most astonishing answer I've ever heard. It…
thescian | December 30, 2006If you see little boxes or some such things instead of sensible characters below, it is because of the reasons outlined in the comments. To view the tamil text you can temporarily switch the charset to utf-8 in your browser. More help is here.
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thescian | December 29, 2006Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who ask what happened. -From a book on Entrepreneurship.
Going out to make coffee happen for me now. Have a good weekend and try to stay sane the coming year.
thescian | December 29, 2006Apparently Churches have lightning conductors in their towers.
Muhaha...
Source: Ascribed to Asimov in the footnotes of The Science of Discworld III
thescian | December 18, 2006Lookie! Yours truly is amongst august company. Now, now, you would order a special subscription for Seed Magazine that has this fine portrait, wouldn't you (7 issues for 15 bucks. W00t!). While there, how can you resist a few gift subscriptions...
thescian | December 15, 2006Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Glis Glis of Amersham!"The Glis Glis is one of Britain's rarest introduced mammals living in the wild and resembles a small grey squirrel. For some reason it has established itself in the Chilterns (most densely around Chesham Bois) and nowhere else in the country.
Their nickname is the Seven Sleepers as they hibernate for seven months of the year. Walter Rothschild, who later became the second Baron Rothschild, brought the first six Glis Glis to England in 1902. No-one knows exactly why, but he turned them loose in Tring Park and they spread…
thescian | December 13, 2006Warning. Rant ahead. As Christmas approaches the advertisements on TV, radio, roadside banners, underarms and butts get more violent and desperate. I saw an ad for a big catalogue ordering company in the UK. It ends with a cheerful and very welcoming sales-counter girl servicing a very satisfied customer. Happiness all over the place. A sight to behold. Like the phone that rings in the cinema hall, a thought occurs to me at this evidently wonderful moment of christmas cheer. It is this: "I have never met a cheerful salesperson in that company's sales counter. What the heck! This is bullshit…
thescian | December 11, 2006Took a Myers-Briggs Personality Type Test [via reddit.com]. I am a Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging (INTJ) type of personality it seems (that title you read was a bit of a creative excess. Sorry.) Vaguely feels like I've read the astrology column in a newspaper...
Whether these profiling methods work or not (I have my doubts), they provide a handy framework to impress others with wonderful and pithy quotes about oneself."INTJs are very analytical individuals. Like INTPs, they are more comfortable working alone than with other people, and are not usually very sociable, although they are…
thescian | December 8, 2006Indian men have their work cut-out for them. And what's that you ask. It is this: To increase the penis size. Apparently, the international condom size is far too big for Indian men. What isn't apparent is that this gap in size may not be desirable for very valid medical reasons. Larger unfit condoms will not offer the necessary protection. The problem would be compounded by timid men who may not ask for a fix. If more men in India could be persuaded to use condoms regularly, wouldn't the sales figures drive condom makers to rethink the size of their product?
thescian | December 8, 2006"First think of the tiny fart that your intestines make. Then consider the heavens: their infinite farting is thunder. For thunder and farting are, in principle, one and the same."
Such obscene words! Who would have dared to utter these, you wonder. Well, surprise, surprise! The exalted farter was Socrates. Socrates!? S O C R A T E S??? I've always thought of Socrates as the wise old man who screwed himself in the end. He can say this? Well, what do you know. I learn something new everyday. Fart Literature is so vast.
Now, if I come off those pretensions, there remains a useful question to…
thescian | December 6, 2006A reader contributed list at Creating Passionate Users blog. Wonderful.
When I sit at my bedroom these days I face a rack of books. This visual delight has been a long dream of mine. Moving around all these years made book collection almost impossible. During the recent move from US to UK I had to drop off loads of books at friends places and the local library. Having finally decided to stay for a few years in the UK, I can now start the home library. On those days of peace, wonder and quiet contemplation I'll grab a good book, put my legs up the desk and dream on with the author.