I'm Baaack!!

It's been 4 years since I last posted- dont ask. Shall be her once a week - its my New Year Resolution...beware bitches....

Google Rocks!!!!!

These guys are the best!
The Google Pack just came out- and I use it- it's invaluable- the updates, the interface- forgive the geekspeak but help it I can not....

Top Tech News - Tech Trends - Internet Explorer Flaw Exposes Google Desktop Users to Attack

This is so wrong- I'm a Googlefreak- I admit that- but for someone to exploit this stuff is rank nastiness...what I don't get is HOW Google didnt either anticipate or find it out. Microsoft we know is not a nice corp but if Google wants to be known as the company that does and sees and is still nice, it aint just right.
Did you know that XP users are finding it difficult AFTER having downloaded the latest Firefox version, to actually use the browser? Me, My dad and God knows how many others are being subjected to Firefox windows hanging, not responding and myriad other problems...wake the eff up Microsoft- this is so not good.

Corporate sponsors dont want Darwin

The American Museum of Natural History is in some amount of pain- of the fiscal variety. Corpo sponsors are shying away from Darwin and Evolution coz they are scared of those Intelligent Design idiots!
Frikkin jackasses....

There's a panel in todays Denver Post that shows just how ludicrous this is getting...more poignant than funny in my opinion..... This is a strip called Rhymes with Orange.

Space out here with Hubble

The revamped Hubble site is pretty spiffy- allows you to surf to your hearts content and has a nifty game section too where you are quizzed on all things cosmology on 3 levels.....hubble.org on the other hand is a site that seems to have been bought by some dating company...
Back to Hubblesite tho'...lots of high res pics of deep space objects, articles and features make it really interesting to surf when you are overloaded with work- it's a nice, relaxing way to taake a quick break.

Pet Peeves on Microsoft

http://annoyances.org/
There's this lovely, very welcome, highly lauded, most beneficial and totally rad site ....
who'da thunk there would be more like me who seriously loathe Microsoft? Huh? huhh?
Just goes to show aye?!!!!
It's brilliant- nope, they arent paying me to sing their praises- it's the work they do...there are admittedly many many sites that help you with Microsoft related crap n bugs n all those irritations...this site tho' is soooo comprehensive it blows your mind!
Go check it out- and you are welcome to show me or yell about how many other sites I've missed- believe me, I havent!

PC World's Techlog - Arriving on Tuesday: Firefox's 1.5 Browser

Soooeeeattt- improving on perfection - how noice!

Explorer vs. Firefox

No doubts here- one is fraught with issues- this blog viewed on IE sucks- I can't see contributors, archives- hell the entire sidebar. Firefox on the other hand seems to have no such bloody formatting issues- why is Microsoft such a bleedin' pain?
Popup blockers, ease of use, no frikkin spy/mal/anyotherkind of ware...I've finally turned the IS and Desktop security in my company to switching to Firefox- those guys owe me!
The themes are sweet as are the extensions- it's a bit like Linux on steroids (I wonder if Linus was, indeed, on steriods when he cranked that one out in ... what? 6 weeks?)
I've been using this browser for more than 2 years but never had an issue- now that I'm forced to work again with IE , I realize just how spoilt I've become....Microbloodysoft is a pain in the nether regions!

The Dalai Lama on PBS

I happened to chance upon this interview last night...fuzzy as I was from sleep, I still managed to hear some of the best utterances on religion- EVER!
Upon being asked why and how he reconciles Buddhism with other differing religions and viewpoints, he quoted a scientist who once told him that while he is a believer in religion, he is not defined by it.
If only more people subscribed to it- here are some excerpts from another interview:
Q:Can we say that awareness of your emotions helps in dealing with them?
A: If you are able to recognize the moment when anger arises, you will be able to distinguish the part of your mind that is feeling anger. This will divide your mind in two parts-one part will be feeling anger while the other will be trying to observe. Therefore anger cannot dominate the entire mind. You are able to recognize that anger is harmful and maybe develop an antidote to it. View your anger objectively. Try to see the positive side of the anger-causing person or event. All these ideas are not Tibetan inventions, they are Nalanda inventions, your inventions! We Tibetans are the chelas (students) and India is the guru. But today, our guru is getting too materialistic, perhaps becoming too orthodox on one hand and too westernized on the other. I think it is time that Indians get Indianized!
Q: Do you see any common ground between Buddhism and Hinduism?
A: Historically, Buddha Sakyamuni was a Hindu. So I would like to call Hinduism and Buddhism twin brothers. Then there are common practices like samadhi and vipassana. The demarcation comes in the concept of shunyata. Whereas Hindus believe in atma, Buddhists believe in anatma. In practicing ahimsa, Jains are more thorough than either Buddhists or Hindus.
Q: You travel all over the world. Do you think that by and large, the world is moving towards being more positive?
A:I would like to quote Britain's Queen Mother on this. On her 96th birthday, I asked her the same question. She said that it was becoming better because when she was young, for instance, nobody was concerned about the environment, human rights or the right to self-determination. Today, these have become universal values. When Gandhiji implemented ahimsa, I think everyone took it as a sign of weakness. Now the entire world, except perhaps China, accepts nonviolence and practices it, like Nelson Mandela. India has not only given birth to great religious tradition like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism but has also sheltered many, like Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity. The religious tolerance we see around the world is also an Indian tradition.

Intelligent Design- Redux

WTF?
I've just been informed by my daughter that " human beings are God's robots"
Excuse bloody me? Upon further clarification I was asked why we have vestigeal organs- y'know, the appendix, the tonsils et al- 4th grade education not only teaches these kids GPS and GIS within maths- an entirely laudable concept methinks but also that humans and general earthly lifeforms are a creationist concept!Not blooody likely dudes-
AAAARRRRGGGHHH
I could kill these asses who are busy modifying my childs brain and intellectual quotient- I am definitely going to challenge this.
Hell, when the Natural History and Science Museum here allows dipshits to bring schoolgoing kids and then loudly berate ' Science" as an ongoing ' undocumented and therefore unreliable" concept , I have issues.
Colorado is a Red State with a capital that's Blue- having said that, I assure you this stupid inverted Creationism crap is permeating thru not only Middle but Mainstream America- there are tens of thousands of kids just as confused, just as wrongly led.
Watch this space- I am definitely going to come up with something that will force these ignorant idiots to revise their plans of rewriting Science and Evolution.
Morons!!!!!

Intelligent Design and the US of A

The fiercely split Kansas Board of Education voted 6 to 4 on Tuesday to adopt new science standards that are the most far-reaching in the nation in challenging Darwin's theory of evolution in the classroom.
Are they bloody nuts? What's the matter with these morons in the Govt. as well as Boards of Ed across this country?
Personally,the very fact that idiots like this exist is proof that there is NO SUCH THING as Intelligent Design- only Evolution with its quest for success could come up with jackasses like this. If there's any design involved, it's not intelligent at all.
This is supposed to be a nation at the forefront of technology and science- not anymore tho'- can you imagine the coming generations? Fed as they will be on intelligent design, it's not too far a leap to imagine the state of Science 20 years hence. Think about it-R & D as we know it will cease- instead scientific exploration will be attempts to prove that Biblical events really did occur.
God is there- but to say that the complexity of the universe or life on this planet is proof that a Higher power exists is sheer blindness.
For a President to ratify it, an entire nation to vote on it and a political clime that insists on the integration of Church and State, one has to live in a country that's going stark raving bonkers. Check out the controversy here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/nyregion/07darwin.html
Where are the talking and thinking heads that made this country?
Do they exist or has God phased them out?

Microsoft scared of Google- or how the mighty are quaking!

http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=173601151

nyahaa!
Who would have thought that Bill Gates would quake and rail at the domination of Google over Microsoft? I have many friends in the company who tell me that the 'disquiet' is indeed true- the corridors of power are quietly reverberating to rumbles of fear- maybe tis the winter of Microsoft's discontent after all.
It's fun to see- after almost 3 decades of virtual monopoly and price gouging and myriad other not so ethical stuff, a giant finds that the beanstalk has grown to mammoth proportions...yup, am mixing metaphors n literary allusions here but who cares?
Google's smart- and smart and very smart...their philosophy of keeping people, their ideas and their egos happy has resulted in some amazing tools and extensions onto what was nothing but a little search engine...hey! 'tis the (search) engine that could!!!
Sometimes I slay me with my cracklin wit..:)
MS Office products are unfortunately a necessary evil- wish it wasnt true but it is..personally , I prefer Apple products but when 3/4 of the worksphere uses Microsoft , what can ya do?
Google on the other hand never fails to amaze me with their farsightedness- have you compared the desktop search tool? Google's is far superior- MSN is not...that is the trouble with playing the catch up game- many little details fall by the wayside.
Same thing with MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger- why cant the 2 be integrated? You have XP on your pc- it comes with one form of Messenger- the moment you open it tho', you get a message asking you to upgrade- like a fool you do so- now you have 2 versions of the same thing- exclusive files on your hard drive- and then!- there's a new message from one of those pesky little MS bots- would you like MSN Messenger with its blah blah....Seriously, why do I want or need 3 versions of an IM application on my machine?
Try Google talk - the VOIP is beautiful- crystal clear- no stupid doodads cluttering it up- none of these Whiteboard, NetMeeting crap that you see on MSN Messenger- it's clean, functional and I love it- exactly like everything else touched by Google.
Go Google- and since I'm shamelessly plugging you, why oh why dontcha boost my page rank?! Think of it as a sweet thank you ....

Google Print- what a concept!

Aspiring authors, frustrated scholars, info junkies like me and kids can now rejoice- as a concept Google Print is brilliant- a step up from Google Scholar- to have Shakespeare on your desktop is a pretty cool thing...I'm looking forward to checking out the writings of Galileo, Da
Vinci, Ramanujan, and reading tomes on History/Geography/etc.
Just rereread Timothy Ferris' " Coming of Age in the Milky Way" on my desktop- sweeeetttt!!!!!
For authors it's invaluable as an advertising tool- how sweet is it to know that you have a presence, however minute on the web - from there to a jump in public perception is but a few thousand clicks per day....
To be sure there are kinks- digitization is an ongoing process, there's the Authors Guild suit against Google, bugs in the scans ...knowing Google tho' they'll get sorted out eventually.In the meanwhile lemme get back to searching for Lyall Watson- between G Print and my local library I shall die happy....
I loikes...take a bow Google...great job done.

Discovery of 2 more moons brightens Pluto supporters

So Pluto is finally getting out of the shadows....here's a question tho'...where in the name of all things galactic is Sedna?
10th planet they said...yet, me hears precious little about it.
Now that Pluto is the smallest planet to have moons larger than itself, thereby replicating certain well known terraforms and bipeds (as in certain bigwigs who are asses but surround themselves with bright minds...wink wink) maybe it's time to re-re-repair Hubble so that it can continue doing its yeoman service to cosmology.This whole business of finding new moons and planets is confusing to say the least- astrologers talk about the 13th sign of the zodiac- some fella called Ophiuchus, that is more invisible than anything the stars might dream up for us...read about it here: http://aquarianmysteries.com/ophiuchus2.html
Then there is Sedna, the 10th planet who previously had a name only an astronomer would love...the same Sedna tho' is now obscured by well, obscurity...
Looks like the universe is expanding- atleast our boundaries of the solar system are...
Here's a suggestion tho' for the 2 new moons- If Charon is the moon of Pluto, maybe the new guys could be named using the same mythological character from a different culture...how's that for making it all one?

Getting Better at the Blogging Game...or How I won the War

This blogging isnt as easy peasy lemon squeezy as its made out to be- pardon the gooey kablooeey stuff - sometimes 9 yr olds leave their imprint on ones vocabulary....
Any hooo, first you blog- then u get obsessed with maintaining a page rank and then you get into the Aliceworld of sitemeters, tags, identity- all in this effort to have YOUR name leap out of the search box on Google- as tho' people have nothing better to do than Google you.
The ego she hath wrought many many such delusions....
I'm sorta getting there tho'- I signed up for Adsense which having gotten approval from Google thus doth languish- Google sends me frantic emails all with one base query- WHY have you not optimized this lovely thing we have designed for you? Is it that you have not the time/ knowledge/interest/fillinblankshere..?
If it isnt lack of time or knowledge, we are hurt that you have no interest...please please pleeease embed the code in the template- pleeease!
So...having done zat, I am now waiting for Google to magically populate my page with ads based on the content I write- hmmmm, here's a thought- maybe I should write reams on Google and how it should hire me.....!!!
Or maybe I should write about the virtues of vacuuming the futon so that dustmites do not flourish- wonder how many scans the Googlebot will do of this article in its effort to position Ads ....shall watch this space- it makes me actually watch every word I type now....

Michigonia Borealis

Happened after coronal mass ejection in Nov of 2001 … 19th to be precise …
The sky opened up like this huge orange that spread radially from the nub above … Actually, it was more like being in a super-large planetarium with a hemispherical dome … somehow you got the feeling that THIS dome was as large as the sky.
Perhaps it was?
Streaks of green, plasma green that streaked out of the root of the sky that was pink, orange, mauve & other colours that one could only begin to imagine the possibility of.
Saw another one, even more intense, even further south … April 07th 2001 from the Lick Observatory situated atop Mt. Hamilton (I think), looking westward over the hills that ring the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir after having driven up thru’ the back-country wineland roads that take you out of the steel, rust and industry of Oakland into the cooler climes of the Diablo range.
‘Twas magical, the ride, that is.

And then, to find an aurora at the end of it!

See more progress on: see the aurora borealis

The Rockies and Rollins Pass

Brilliant Drive- even better since it used to be the railroad that they then madeover into an unpaved road- the Vistas are wonderful and when you hit the penultimate- u see Needles Pass- its eponymous and very impassable by road- we hiked over the pass and it was ever so worth it!

See more progress on: Rollins Pass

Arches to Arches...

It could be anythin- I could have shot this on a stereogram and digitized it to make it look like this...I say unto you tho'- verily this be's the arches....I wish I could do a mosaic of all those sights but sensory overload will happen... the NPS here is too good- if only we in India could do something about making our lovely and historical places as accessible- we wouldn't have a deficit...there's a thought- so all you Wall Street types reading this- go forth n get investors who believe in India's delights the way Teddy and his ilk carved out the NPS.....

Arches and Canyonlands UT

It took me 4 hours to traverse 7 miles here- by car....the place leaps out at you- it's magical, mindboggling and altogether so breathtaking that you cant help humming the Indy Jones theme in your head- Canyonlands borders Arches- and the road- UT 28 is a small single lane fella- on one side you have the red red vermillion red rocks...then a green river- the Colorado- and then the road and then....as much as you crane your neck to see, your side of the road has these milehigh precipices flanking you....adjectives fly out the window...all that you know of the language is not enough....how do you describe the indescribable?
I felt this way last when I saw an aurora above my house in Michigan...words fail you, your throat seizes and all that remains is the sound of childlike laughter bubbling up your mouth.....
This vista changes you- perceptibly and otherwise...nothing feels the same after this...except this fever in your system to go back and steep the red of the rocks into your own blood.....

Arches NP , UT

This is Landscape Arch- all 306 feet of it. See the sliver on the far right side as tho someone cleaved it off?
Well, a couple of years ago, that bit crashed onto the ground below- 60 tons was the weight....now, they have cordoned off the area, so unlike the other arches in this place, you have to see it from about 500 meters away...see the clouds? that impossibly cerulean sky?
you see that all across the place- the clouds, the blue, the rocks in their bleedin magnificence- all puns intended....absolutely, what's that word? yeah, AWESOME. 

Indy on my mind....

Rainstorm over a Desert- one moment the sky is all clear- the next, you see this deluge pouring down over what was just moments ago, an arid expanse of gorsebrush and thermals wafting off parched rocks....
Arches National Park in Utah is Indiana Jones country- so seamless is the transition from here to Petra , Jordan in the movie that even knowing otherwise, I still kept my eyes peeled for the City of Petrified Stone. 

The plight of New Orleans- Katrina's Aftermath

How is it that such a large nation, one that sends aid all over the place can allow hapless citizens to go thru this hell? What happened?
How do you adequately cover this agony? I look at the sights on TV and I'm aghast at this- never again can America blame the rest of the world for inadequate disaster management- New Orleans' agony is proof that it doesnt work wherever there are more poor than rich.
All those people left behind, devastated, dying in wheelchairs, crying out in desperation - these are the sights one sees in American Media of Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia, Asia....for it to happen in its own backyard is puzzling and very odd, not to mention sad.
Wither thou George Bush?

It's a federal disaster of major proportions say people here in Denver. Yet, life goes on.
The great thing about this country is the way citizens open their hearts and wallets during national calamities- usually it's matched more or less in equal measure by the government. This time, there are only the humane citizens of America- Governmental aid is rather spotty. Bus and Train services were shut down-3 days before Katrina struck. How do you expect the poor or infirm to move out and evacuate?
They'll rebuild- America does that well. The world tho' has seen that the land of milk, honey, technology and a hitherto formidable reputation in Crisis Management has dropped the ball on this one. You can never be a hundred percent prepared for a Hurricane like this- levees and dams notwithstanding. It's not the administrative and architectural preparedness- it's the preemptive actions that are absent in this case.
Hurricane fatigue might have befallen citizens...this time around, it seems to have hit the Government as well.
To see CNN reporters cry at the news of a newborn boy who was lost and now found, to see Brian Williams stand dumbstruck at the sight of a body on a freeway, a governor fighting tears, Google Earth showing tracts of devastated land, flooded neighborhoods and diabetics going into shock right in front of the camera leaves you shaken. Usually America is hermetically sealed from scenes of such widespread devastation....natural disasters come and go but never does one get the sense of control having gotten away, of preparedness giving way to chaos. Those sights are associated with third world nations or those that are looked upon as banana republics and the like.
It hits harder here because the US has turned Crisis Management into an art form. Looting and anarchy never quite really happen here as they do in scenes we see of Iraq or elsewhere. The closest one has come to this is during the LA riots in '92 but that too was clamped down on swiftly. I know because I visited LA on May 7 '92, barely a week later.
Biloxi looks like Bandar Aceh- totally wiped out and leveled. New Orleans looks like a child's rendering of floods- complete with scenes of complete surrealism. Unfortunately this is all too real as are those poor souls stranded on freeways, flooded roads, women lashing out in frustration and children looking wan and emaciated due to lack of fluids.
If we didnt know this was the US, we would think we were seeing a disaster zone in Africa.
So what happened? And why is it still going on? Judging by norm, 4 days after such a hurricane, the process of rebuilding would already have started...here one sees National Guardsmen, cops, firefighters and EMS personnel absolutely overwhelmed and underhelmed.
Doomsday prophets have been crying hoarse of a cataclysm like Katrina destroying New Orleans since long. The Gulf Coast gives with one hand and takes away with the other. Sunny skies, balmy weather and turquoise blue seas on one hand and a tendency for hurricanes on the other- Nature is all about balance.
The hazards of a turbulent climate could never outweigh the sheer assets that the Southern part of America affords. New Orleans knew this- it was always a city with one eye on the water and one on commerce and the joy of life. Would anyone have relocated to a safer place? I think not- our species has been able to carve out good lifestyles in every sort of hostile terrain. For every person who is now pointing fingers at others, let me say that there are those who live in the shadows of death and destruction knowingly- not because of thrill issues or desperation or whatever....we do it because we can. Vesuvius today, Pinatubo, Montserrat, Tornado Alley, HurricaneAlley- we find our kind everywhere- there will always be settlements regardless.
In the meanwhile, the 21st Century has proven that all of us who live on this planet go thru the same travails and triumphs regardless of money, power or technology.
Nature indeed has proven to be the great leveler- when it all boils down to the 3 things we all need, who cares which land is governed by whom in which religious garb? Food, shelter and clothing- nothing matters beyond these 3. We live for them, we die trying to save them for ourselves.
A mother's wail, a husband's cry, a child's tears, and the agony of acid churning in a hungry stomach....none of us is exempt, none of us is above it....
The media cameras churn on....from time to time they try to wrench themselves away from the horror...it's so close to home, they are unable to.
This story won't end- you have to see New Orleans under water to know that this will continue awhile. Hopefully the tribulations of the people will stop sooner .

A Poem- on the lines of Ogden Nash

Was idly surfing blogs when i chanced upon this poem:

whose toads these are i think i knew
his frogs are in the viscous stew
he will not see me stooping here
to launch his toads to frog fondue

the little puss would think it queer
to stop with no frogs to toss near.
between the toads and froggy fling
the farthest frog tossed over the peer.

he gives the slimy newts a swing
as if they are some green plaything
the only other sounds the cheep
of peepers pinned and sent flying

the toads are best found asleep
but i have prodigious frogs to reap
reptiles to throw before i sleep
reptiles to throw before i sleep.

- copyright darby conley, 2004

The J-Walk Experiment

Lets see how this one works as opposed to Technorati, Popdex and the rest.
I think it's laudable and who knows? Maybe more people will read me....

Happy 58th India!

Today is August 15, 2005. India regained independence from England 58 years ago.She was 21 years old when I was born - a country trying to reassert her identity in a world that had changed in myriad ways since she was last a name to be reckoned with.
It's been a long and torturous climb and while she slips and regresses from time to time, she has proved herself fairly doughty and with a never say die attitude.
Yes, there are many issues still remaining to be ironed out, not the least of which is corruption and apathy. There's the ever present specter of a larger than life population explosion. Of fratricide, infanticide,misogyny and a host of other ills.
Yet, I prefer to look at the glass as half full- we have a ways to go...but I have full faith in the fact that we will one day, sooner than we think, become the best of what we can be.The very fact that we have a President who is not a career politician is beautiful. The man is a symbol of the times and for all you non Indians who talk about this being a purely Hindu nation, I say to you- bugger off. We have a Sikh Prime Minister and a Muslim President. The 3 biggest movie stars are Muslim. The reigning heads of Corporate India comprise Jains, Parsis,Christians and Hindus. Yes, there are dipshits who attempt to subvert it all- aided ably by those morons in politics...yet, we persevere.
Yes, we are a nuclear state- so is Pakistan. That doesn't make this a hotspot for tourists and visitors- we happen to live the same lives as millions and billions of others on this planet.We go to work, play, laugh, procreate ( and how!) and manage to do it all without being awakened every morning to color coded alert levels. Life is a mix of the volatile and serene- give me one place on this planet that is not.
We are not perfect- far from it- but we are not the hellhole of poverty, miasma, and religious fundamentalism we are made out to be. If there is one thing I'd like to change about my country, it's the wish that all of us- all Indians, everywhere, need to feel proprietary about our land- not in terms of fighting or warmongering but as Proud Indians.That feeling of pride despite our many faults is what we lack....at the end of the day, we look at what we dont have and not what we do.
Where else would you find so many diverse peoples, cultures and languages- each with a fully rounded script, well documented historicity and it's own grammar and literary wealth?
Where else would you find a marriage between religions that differ in everything but the fundamental truths? This is a land of assimilation, adaptability and absolute regeneration.
Go visit my land- look at it the way you would New York or London or Beijing- not with the veil of bias but as a denizen of a world that breathes the same air. Accept that every place is but a mirror of the human state- it's a mix of the good , the ill, the sublime and the ridiculous.
Say it with pride- I'm an Indian and I'm bloody proud of it.
We are the worlds largest democracy- atleast we know how to count our votes and ballots- and it's a democracy that routinely appears to fail but at the end of the day will pass muster. 5000 years of civilization dont go down just like that.
If Columbus the idiot hadn't made the error of going right where he should have gone left, we wouldnt have to type in EastIndian on every job/ credit/home/school/ application- what the hell is East Indian anyway? Yet, we as the programmers who actually type in that code, are unable to change perceptions.
Maybe it's time we did. Maybe today, as I walk down New York's canyons, I'll finally meet another Indian and we'll hail each other with a "Happy 15th August!" and listen to some Desh being played by Amjad Ali Khan.
Happy Birthday India- may your 59th be the beginning of another glorious 60 years of freedom and democracy.

The HitchHiker Game

Sooeeaaattt...
as wacked out as the tri in penta parts
kya dimaag hai....

Ajmer on my mind

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti- a person I never met- but someone I aspired to. His dargah is at Ajmer- kya banda tha- I used to visit it every month and do my little bit.. Sufism now has become a very New Age concept but for those who actually practice and/or preach it, it's like Hinduism- a way of life, not a religion.
He's on my mind all the time not for my aspirations into spirituality, as it is an intense curiosity into how it works....where do we, as a species rise above the mundanities of life?
A friend of mine y'day told me how he wants to elevate his existence beyond the mundane- the only answer I could give him was that when he seeks a Guru, it will happen. The long answer would have taken too much time which I was unable to get into.
To me , the Gita and Sufism are one and the same..to whit, do what you need to do, the rest takes care of itself.
I met new people y'day and somehow we had the same conversation with my one stop answer to it- do what you have to do- do it well- everything else will sorta sort itself out.
Back to Khwaja- Amir Khusrau composed so many qawwalis for the saint - 600 years later, each stands the test of time. This was the era of Bhakti- an epoch totally Indian- for all you media people out there decrying the so called fundamentalism of Hinduism and Islam- get yourselves one translator/interpreter and you'll see how well the 2 religions are assimilated in the Qawwali. The Bhakti period comprised Hindu, Muslim and Jain poets/philosophers. Amir Khusrau, the man responsible for the evolution of the Sitar, was also a Bhakti guy- not that he would said so. It's apparent in his compositions where for the first time Islamic elements are married to the concept of God as the Male and everyone else, as the Female. Only in India folks, only in India.
We are not just a nation of 7 Eleven aspirees -we are slightly more than that.

Of New Friends

Met some people y'day- spoke to an old friend who called me n my daughter over to a bar downtown.
Didnt realize it would be a gathering of people- thought it was just a smallish group...anyhoo, met new people, remet old friends- all in all a good time.
Problem is...I feel out of step- these are folks who have even lesser to say than I do- yet, they are more tuned into the vicissitudes of life-as-a-single-type-in-NYC than I am. So what's wrong with me?

I-pod drops the ball...

Who would have ever thought that Apple would drop the ball on Ipod patents? Who would have even imagined that Microsoft might now need to be paid by Apple for every Ipod they sell....Gates must be hooting with laughter.... twists of fate seem to always be on his side. Good Karma I guess or someone in God City truly does love him.
Here's my thought tho'- we all know - We as in the so many millions who've bought i-pods in the last 3 years- we know that it wasnt a Microsoft technology to begin with, since Microsoft anyway has this rather sweet reputation of standing on the shoulders of giants blah blah- what I cant digest is how a company as (blank) as Apple fell down on the job- insert adjective in blank space- HOW?

God Speed Peter Jennings

Peter Jennings is no more.
I felt like I had been dealt a body blow...and can only imagine how his family must feel at this moment.
Rarely do we come across someone who embodies our notions of grace, honesty and integrity. In these world weary, cynical and Mammon driven times, this was one media professional who actually came across as the very opposite of what we loathe about the media.
The urbane demeanor, the measured cadence and the richness of detail in his newscasts and reporting always served to underscore the professionalism and sense of integrity.
Being so easy on the eyes too was definitely an asset!
I just saw CNN's reporting on his death- with ex-colleagues who killed him (no pun intended) with that sweetly nasty praise that comes so easily to them. The guy just died for Heavens sake- lay the bitterness at the door and shut up.
Of course he was a hard task master- that is a given if you are a reporter especially one who has credentials up the wazoo. What distinguished him from the Grettas and the Larry Kings was that sense of self and a well presented perception that this man meant what he said. It wasn't the voice of God like Dan Rather or the voice of Doom like Tom Brokaw- it was the voice of a man who had actually undergone what he reported. That sense of truth came across strongly.
My biggest regret is I never met him- I would have liked to- I was actually gearing upto it this summer- it would have been wonderful to have met him and worked under him. In this I let myself down.
So... God Speed Mr. Jennings- your smile, your voice and you will be missed- as you have been since April. I only hope you left this body with some semblance of peace.
As for us, the world is a smaller place without you.

Water under the Bridge- Dumbo in New York

A series of shots in the NYC area called Dumbo- Down Under the Manhattan Bridge-O
The last I was there was about 4 years ago...during a time God seemed to smile. Revisiting brought back the good and the bad- like everything else tho', the sheer timelessness of the bridges makes personal memories seem so much more ephemeral.
Enjoy....

The Princes of Ireland- Edward Rutherfurd- Lit Crit III

Who isn't fascinated by Ireland? It's the land of romantics, lush greenery, leprechauns and booze, punctuated by the whole Protestant vs. Catholic saga, the sheer feyness of the land and of course, those happy go lucky Irish characters in many a novel.
So, when I chanced upon Edward Rutherfurd writing about Ireland,I pounced on it. The author himself, is a Michener-esque type- having written opuses on Sarum, London, Russia etc.
Each of these is a tome, a broad sweep of 3 families (usually) delineated thru the ages. Sarum was spectacular-it was based on the construction of the Salisbury Cathedral and of course Ken Follet liberally helped himself not only to the storyline but the plot process as well in his novel about the making of the Canterbury Cathedral, called The Pillars of The Earth.Burnt me up that did...
Any Hoo....
I started Princes Of Ireland knowing ( and the dust jacket helped) that this as in all others would also be about 3 main familes in Ireland thru the ages.
'twas thus and verily so...sorry 'bout the turn of phrase :)
I expected passages about the lay of the land, what makes it so, the sheer magicalness of it, verdant greenery , the tumultous history of a blood soaked country, and plenty of absolutely devilish and irrestible characters...the book, in its initial chapters delivered this beautifully but then tapered off to this rather soulless and dare I say, tepid fictional historicisation.
What happened? Where did the fey and absolutely charming character of Con become a spiritless retelling of his descendants and bloodlines? Why did Rutherfurd suddenly seem to care less about developing characters and more about retelling the passage of times?
If I wanted to read about that, I'd major in History.
Fiction, especially of the Rutherfurd kind, is characterized by skillfully weaving it with fact. Here, it is replaced by a pallid pen and an an increasingly casual use of words. It's almost like he lost his motivation or his muse midway.
London- the book- was vibrant- I can still recall passages and memories and emotions although I read it eons ago. Every book he has ever written is redolent with the sounds, sights and smells of the times he evokes. This is the one book that does not.
I dont want to read the sequel to this- its supposed to be a 3 book endeavor...hopefully, Rutherfurd will get his joy of storytelling and the skill with it back. I shall ( for the first time) check out the reviews before I read it.
If not, I shall just get back to his earlier books, failing which there's always Neal Stephenson and his novels!

An I for an Eye?

Funnee- Was reading a suggested reading list on someone's website- where it talked about how " Martial Discord" is not one of the top 10 reasons for a divorce....
Occured to me that the I in Marital and Martial is paramount and wholly responsible for the shift in status from one to the other!!!
This of course, is completely apropos of nothing....

Lit Crit II- Blink or be Damned

Blink- or the power of instant judgments ratified by psychology...
Was given the book by my erudite sibling with this statement: " It reminded me of you and the decisions you have (not) taken in life..." The parenthesis is mine- he actually meant it on face value.
Quite a teaser and of course, the ego immediately insists on reading and then systematically refuting every single commonality, if only to prove to myself and him and the rest of the world that I'm not quite the screw up I'm seen as.
Blasted book! It led me down the path of highly painful soul searching and mental affirmations of " Oh God- I did do that, didnt I?" Very humbling...and downright scary.
We all go thru life insisting that we are perceived wrongly by those we love or respect or otherwise want to emulate. How horrible is it to see it shown up so strongly in print?
The book gets it down pat...rapid cognition indeed is less intuition, even less gender based and it does serve to either enhance or educate us depending on how well one interprets it.
Snap judgments- what we always do and what we almost always deny doing. The hottie around the corner, the grocer who's a rude so n so, the kid who spears you with a fork in a crowded restaurant, the parents that allow said kid to run amok in a public place, the 'vibe' you get from a new apartment, person, employer, date.... we'd like to think we are evaluating people on place rather than face value- over analyzing as it were, but somehow it always gets back to that initial meeting...if your gut says something, you either discount it or if you are the kneejerk type, you go with it and then you either get in more trouble or sail away happily.
The book strikes a sweet balance between the dichotomies inherent in each of us. We dont like being judged- yet we do it to others- and then we backtrack... coz we would hate to have it done to us.
The balance lies in learning to trust your instinct , turn a harsh light upon yourself and then make your move.The smart person is the one who doesnt override instinctual reactions under the light of a so called well thought out analysis, but one who has recognized that the trait has a reason- get into the reason and sift thru layers of why and how and why not- your individual likes and dislikes as it were- and then go with the flow.
All of us do it and keep doing it. This is the first book I've read that gives you the roadmap to understanding yourself and your reactions or actions in a much more meaningful manner.
I finally understood that everytime I went against gut instinct, I crashed and burned. The balance lies in figuring out why it happens and what you can do to navigate thru life using rapid cognition and yet, not reacting on a primal level.
I'm reviewing the darn thing and I cant seem to find the words- Malcom Gladwell did find the words- which is why he is the published author and I'm the anonymous blogger drifting in a sargasso sea of squiggles....!
The language of the book is such that even a relative doofus like me would understand- reminds me of another writer- Lyall Watson. He has the same ability to parse thru jargon and serve up his ideas in a language you understand.
Read Blink- and believe me, you would be glad(well) you did.

Literary Criticisms- Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

I have decided- this next series will be devoted entirely to literary reviews, criticisms and my uptake on all things bookish.
As an intro, here's a list of what I've been reading: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- J K Rowling
The Princes of Ireland- Edward Rutherfurd
Blink- Malcolm Gladwell
Onwards to HP Part 6- went to B & N yesterday and decided to read it all in one sitting- interspersed as it was with about 2 hours of accumulated chatter from the daughter and assorted demands for movies, hot dogs and a brief conversation with a self publishing author, I took about 5 hours to read it. Not a personal best but then what can you do?
The book is well crafted and much more from the heart thanThe Order of the Phoenix which could easily have done with judicious editing...this one though sits well on Rowlings shoulders. Less onerous, more complex and very humorous- the gags were little jewels, set amidst a fog of words. Thus endeth my pathetic attempt at literature....
Dumbledore is fleshed out beautifully, as is Lord Voldemort- the Pensieve is a remarkable instrument and well named-I believe it's not what you write but how you write it...I do have issues with all those reviews where they have panned Rowlings for subverting and leading good Christians astray- it's fantasy- stop taking everything so seriously just because the author makes money off it. Go write your own Jenkins and LaHaye oriented novels if it bugs you so much. See if you get Left Behind... :)
Anyway, the Dumbledore sequence of retrieving one of the Horcruxes was spectacular. The imagery, the suspense and the emotion were perfect.
I think kids would like this one far more than the previous book- 800 odd pages of adolescent angst is a bit much for anyone...this book has first loves,snogging, passages of putrid prose and still manages to tell the tale of a coming of age story.
I like the way she weaves mythology, fantasy and modern day politics in this book- all soliloquys aside- and there are 3 in this one,it fits well.
All in all, full marks to Rowlings for managing to write a beautiful book amidst all the hype and expectations.
Shall now settle down for Goblet of Fire in the screen version- judging by the 3 previous films in the series, this one should pull out all the stops

New York in the summer

What an absolute wonder of a city! Sun drenched canyons, glimmering buildings, silhouetted spires...this city comes alive in the summer....wherever you turn, you see the joy of finally welcoming heat after the long dreary winter.
Sundays at the park- a cliche but like all of them, its true!
Joggers with 6 pack abs, those with beer guts, old mamas in sweaty vests- hotties both male n female on rollerblades and bikes...couples smooching, fighting, grandparents with kids in the fountains, desi hot dog vendors who tell you about how they are bringing up their kids( when u r a fellow brownie, they talk - rather loquaciously!), meandering lines of people waiting ever so patiently for that free ticket to Shakespeare in the Park, bearded oldies strumming a guitar and singing tunelessly at John Lennon's grave, kids dipping their feet in the green murky algae of the Great Pond, ducks drunkenly wobbling on mounds of rock- pre-Cambrian I believe...it's a smorgasbord of images and visuals.
If Times Square is the neon lit center of the universe, then Central Park is it's sylvan twin.
The entire city is like that- who needs LSD or PCP when just a stroll down the block gives you an infinite collage of visual and aural imagery? They say India can be cultural overload- so is it here- no wonder us brownies love this city so much.

Long time, no see

It's been awhile since I posted...had a lot to say but somehow the words dried up just as I'd begin to write....Dunno how long the block will last or how i can get this blasted underline off!
Hey! I did it!!!!
Anyhoo, life in NYC moves on- it's been fun vegging out at Central Park with a book, a kid and lots of sunshine...the fallout is that I do the single mom routine and hence conversations not peppered with questions from the daughter are glaring in their absence.
Dotage, she is upon me..and I find that I'm writing the way I speak- with dots aplenty and pauses in train of thought.
Batman Begins- good good movie- and eye candy of the Baleful sort is good for the single persons soul. Am waiting to see War of the Worlds but dunno if the toothsome aging hunk is worth the price.
Did the 43 things.com thing- go see the site and you'll know what I mean. For all things cool in the realm of blogging, I go to RandomFractals- somehow, my bro finds the time to keep abreast of all things cyberian.
I used to think I was the inveterate surfer- that guy has me beat. So it's a pretty nifty one stop shop for the sublime and the mundane- to think he has an exacting day job as well!
My mom won a Best Teacher of NYC award- amazing woman that one...
Life at this point is all about trying to network so I can bring home the bacon- the skill specific world of IT consultancy and trying to get a foothold therein is more yapping and less typing.
That dear reader is where I stop- the words are dry again and this post aint winning any awards for felicity....Later dudes.

Me- as taken by Vanya 

What Woodwards Felt

One sentence does stand out in the column- engrossing as it is...If Felt had been found out in the early stages of Watergate, he would have been vilified...funny how one mans hero is anothers snitch...makes you wonder if anything we see, hear, believe, undergo is really true. Everything is colored by perspective- reminds me of Clouseau's statement: " I believe everything, and I believe nothing".....
I find myself fascinated by the schism tho': Clinton says Felt did good, Buchanan says not, the Wash Post comes off looking ethical because they didnt reveal it all these years- as Ben Bradlee put it- " We had to be out scooped on this" , CNN n the others stridently cover the story while being very subtly chastised by newspaper reporters under the guise of op ed columns- it's a melee that shows no signs of subsiding for the time being.
I liked the Woodward story- Felt is shown as a man who was a mentor more than just an informant. It humanizes him and literally makes you feel the burgeoning bond between the two.
Also makes you look at The Wash Post with new eyes- Kathy Graham would be pleased .

Sith Happens...

Loved the commercial- havent seen the movie yet....shall go soon tho' once the hordes of unjaded jedi types leave .
From all accounts tho' I blv Mr. THX has done a fairly good job. Saw a site today about spoilers for the film- here's my thought on that- spoilers on a movie where u know how it goes down? We've known for 28 years that III wd be this way.
Anyhow, the spoilers were on essential plot points like how Ani became Lord Vader- r.i.i.i.g.g.h.t...
I geddit now.
Forgive me if i gave the ending away....
But full marks to Lucas' PR guy- that guy has sure earned his salary !

Disclaimer- Fragmented Minds

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Topics of no consequence

Just saw a post on Sulekha.com- the place where desis hang out n vent about life in gora land. The topic was- Some Indian Women are charlatans- do you agree?
Get real guys- (it has to have been posted by a guy with a polysyllabic name who just got dumped) ...I was sorely tempted to post my feedback on the topic du jour with a stinging line- yep dude, some women are charlatans but then baby, so are men...in fact most men are more than charlatans- most men are umbilically challenged, totally clueless, think that a couple of dabs of cologne make them attractive and that the world is dying to know what happens in the space between their ears....
So I went on the discussion- and posted the following response to the topic header of : The self righteous attitude of some Indian women is disgusting and bizarre to say the least!
Yes Mr Whoever you are- We are all that you say n more- but, here's the thing...atleast we dont have umbilical cords pulsing between our mothers and us , unlike desi men....
(a) So why do most Indian women hate men who like sex?
We dont hate men who like sex- we hate desis who think they know enough about sex and then prove to be damp squibs in bed...give us a break too.
(b) Why do some Indian women find drinking alcohol so disgusting?
The operative word here is some- besides, its better to hang out n drink with someone who doesnt spear you with his eyes when he sees you having a bloody mary or a beer.Maybe you are one of those? and maybe thats why your dates demur at the sight of booze? hmm?
(c) What about most Indian women resisting eating meat and staying a vegan? :
Uncleji- it aint vegan but vegetarian...vegan is very californian n new age. Vegetarian on the other hand is a matter of choice- a bit like choosing not to date desi men.... :)
Men aren’t all that bad! Neither are most women but then some……(this is not my line but his footer on the topic)
Hey- 6 billion people in this world- so yeah some lemons exist. Here's my advice- dont be crushed at whichever woman broke your heart- go out n meet some other girl. Life's too short to vent on the net - party kar n go read some Oprahs book of the Day- you'll be even more clueless about women....

I can bet that the guy who started the topic will now get his own brigade of bringing down women who respond to that absurd topic, peppered as it was with quotes from every scripture there is- Why do desi men only respond with religion during a debate?
Maybe I'll start a new one like that...

Destiny's Garden

I did an exercise the other day. I listed the top 10 events in history I would like to be a part of, as well as a list of the 10 things in my life I wanted to revisit and more importantly, redo. Hindsight and a time machine would be my only allies.
The idea came to me from this very turgid novel on time travel. As an exercise however, it turned out to be peculiarly…well peculiar.
The list of historical events of course, was very interesting (That’s coz I AM! ) It was the personal one that was a surprise.
All of us have some aches about the past. The ‘If Only’ syndrome is fairly inevitable. Thinking and reflecting over years gone by, moments that shape our present lives & selves, are within reason, not at all a bad thing to do. My own regrets I felt were fairly numerous – from past hurts & decisions, to lies told, opportunities missed and paths taken. Writing these down was more difficult than I ever imagined.
I’d enumerate...reflect, ruminate and then cross them out. Soon the page looked about as lucid as an infant’s scribbles.
Each regret turned out to have either shaped or been shaped by previous acts. Each one set down in black n white appeared frivolous and without any credibility. Each event was colored by the past- do we remember events or our memories of them? Dunno’ where one ends and the other begins…
Many hours of furious scribbling & crossing out later, I found that 9 out of 10 so called life-changing events had disappeared. The only one that passed the test of reflection, recrimination and bone crunching regret was the one that determined my entire life.
It also taught me a very valuable lesson, albeit after many wasted years- never do anything in anger. Bad times always pass- bad moods even faster. The pall cast tho’, lasts forever.
Nothing you do, have ever done, ever achieved, attained or otherwise lived will be rid of that shadow.
One act, out of so many others.
It was pretty jolting to realize that life, at the end of the day is a bloody tradeoff. It’s that compromise between what you KNOW you are and what you are now. Most of us straddle it with ease…some lucky ones never have the dichotomy, some never even feel it.
Some of us make a list and realize that destiny forces you to choose time and time again- each choice influences different paths; some reconnect, some diverge….labyrinthine twists & turns…and yet, when you look back you see just one path behind you.
I know not what lies ahead but of this I’m sure- if only one act of regret remains, my choice is clear. Utilize what I am now to become what I know I could have been.
Therein lies my journey and who knows? By the time I record this again, I would have met myself, wandering purposefully down Destiny’s Garden.

JLT

Funny thing about third party validations. Tolkein would never have been published were it not for Rayner Unwin- his first critic and reviewer. See, Unwin's dad was a publisher who frequently paid his 10 year old to review books written for children.
The idea was only a kid could get what had purportedly been written for them. Rayner Unwin wrote a 20 line synopsis of the novel- with phrases like- " so Frodo the Hobbit, had fun and adventures with various creatures..."
To synopsise a work like "The Hobbit" in 20 sentences requires the mind of either a genius or a kid. He was possibly both.
I have a little girl called Vanya. She's fun, sweet and as I often state, eminently user friendly. Never has been much of a reader- a state I am in the process of changing... but has the uncanny ability to zero in on the crux of a matter and like Rayner Unwin, distill things down to their essence.
Taking my cue from the senior Unwin, I am planning to ask her opinion on a book I'm writing. It's about children in their 'tweens- y'know, that time where a kid is between the ages of sweetness n adolescent angst and where the parents are torn between future stress and present serenity!
Hopefully, she'll like it and if not, then Unwin some lose some....
:)
watch this space.....

The Sweetness of Revenge

Todays news declares how pleasurable the act of revenge or comeuppance really is. Scientific research has now sanctioned the art of sanctions- apparently, we get off on the sheer anticipation of joy when we chastise, reprimand or punish others. Kinda like knowing its gonna be sweet without actually going thru with it yet.
Very auto- somethingortheother methinks.
In other news octopii- yes, it is the plural- all u msnbc columnists, please take note....octopii mimic coconuts and algae to escape predators. Gives a new twist to the chacha slide...the tentacles are very muscular and strong enuf to turn cephalopods into bipeds. Sorta like a marine ape- arms dangling as it shuffles along the sand.
Apropos of nothing, I love the net- it's so much fun to find a page on everything- no matter how inane or nutty. I only have issues with the self important morons who insist on editing open source directories like Wikipedia- the section on Delhi and its history wasn't only riddled with misinformation- the language itself was a bit like reading thru those desi coffeehouse forums with their BTM lingo.
I'm going to get nasty feedback from all desis who find the last statement snobbish, racist and outrageous. Shall get back to you later.
Back to Wikipedia- go to the section on Delhi- it's a city pockmarked with History- and yet, there's a dearth of info on it. Why cant some erudite Delhiite (yes, the species does exist) just fill in the blanks? And not with misinfo either- maybe I should start a discussion group of likeminded Delhiites who are tired of people trashing their city and want to sort these nauseekhas out. There's the anticipation of joy in my head at telling people where to get off- revenge, she doth sweet indeed.

Of this n that

The funny thing about blogs is that they sneak up on you in the middle of the night or some equally inconvenient time. I'm drowning in words now... one moment its a dream- with all its accompanying disjointedness...the next moment, I am typing what I'm dreaming...very disquieting I tell ya.
I look at other blogs and it seems to me that I really shouldnt be having one.
I'm all out of words at this point- probably because they are somewhere in dream country.
Reminds me of a story in the Sandman series- if you haven't read it, you must.
Neil Gaiman has perfectly captured the ephemera of dreams- the family of the Endless and their relationship with us flawed beings.
Now if only I could come up with something as meaningful in mine.
Oh well.... time to get back to the heart of the Dreaming....

Isees Osiris thru a distant glow

So now they've found 2 planets far far away in space eh? One they nicknamed Osiris- the other is still stuck in alphabetical nomenclature. Osiris is in the constellation of Pegasus and the other's in Lyra, called TR-es1 .
Isn't calling one Osiris a bit redundant? Orion is anyway Osiris, atleast according to the Egyptians...anyhow since these two have been called "hot Jupiters" by NASA, why not call the other one Zeus? or maybe Toutatis? or Brihaspati? naah- them thar NASA types wont do the third world thing by calling it some Sanskrit name...get Icelandic names or some equally kosher name linking it to Jupiter. By Jove has a nice ring to it...
" so daahlin', here I was , idling along Lyra, when By Jove! I saw By Jove.."
Yeah yeah u too- 'tis midday here..no coffee gets to one yknow? Stop gripin at my gripin...I have a right to be a wingywhiny....says so on my blogger manual!
And here's another one- calling space and paying for the pleasure...come on people, get a grip! Only here can we pay for what we have hitherto been doing free....calling the cosmos indeed. What do you call all those waves we send out as tv and radio junk? Barnum would be happy to know that we haven't yet run out of suckers.
Use SETI@home instead- faster, cheaper and so much more fun than calling the cosmos long distance. What will they think of next- a collect call with charges reversed to Sedna?

Fragmented Mindspiel

yeehah!
Here I yam- at long last...@ bloggers.com - the last refuge for those of us with creative impulses that no editor would ever publish!
Talk about self aggrandisement- wonder what those poor sods in the past few hundred years did if they wanted to be known for their wit n wisdom.
It's a high alright and greater pens than mine have commented on the phenom of blogging. Not trying that here...besides the wrath of a sibling shall descend upon me ...as it is the guy thinks I need to cut down on words. Why get chewed up aise hi?
Talk about a Ren man tho'- the sibling is one alright...the very brain that soaks up numbers, formulae n esoteric info that he converts to moolah is the one to write the most exquisite articles I have ever read. Wish I had half the felicity of words he does.
He's on blogspot too as Random Fractals- go check the guy out and you'll see what I mean.
Talking of felicity- I wonder how these analytical left brain types turn out to be the most creative- verily hemispheres be multifunctional.
There's another specimen I know. He's in the rarefied world of biz as an SME in SEM....hooda hada you say? Well, it stands for Subject Matter Expert in Strategic Enterprise Management. (Jesus! where do they think of these ?) Crack at the crack of dawn methinks....
His resume reads like an exercise in Jargon 101. Talk to the man or read some of his articles and you realise that this be's one helluvan artist. No one can paint pen pictures better than him- knows every line of every song in every single language- I kid you not. No reference, however obscure is new to him- the man can outsponge the Bob himself.
It's the left brain people- the same furrows that govern analytical thought turn out to be the most creative. Maybe we should stop ascribing these presumptions.
Fragmented minds like me however, cant hold a candle to all you corpo, fin, biz and scientific types. We are just a tangle of information overload. Look around you and you'll see people like us. Eclectic, scattered, intelligent but without any real focus. Sure, we can turn a phrase or two, but the gleanings of our minds are fairly convoluted and never quite stay in the same place for any length of time. Not enough to make a difference anyway.
The yodhas in my book- (look it up- its sanskrit- means warrior- this is for all the non brownies reading this blog) are the sorts who possess that mix of left n right brain- the well rounded ones. Just occured to me that Mr. THX certainly did get the concept allright when he made the little green man of the backward talking fame. He just took away the H and Einsteined him a bit. There's well rounded for you..

The funny thing is I'm going to get feedback on what I write here- and it almost always runs like this: " Wow! I liked what you wrote- didnt know you had that kind of depth in you!"
I never quite know what to say to that- either I project this amazingly bimbette image which precludes me from having any kind of thought deeper than my makeup or I have shortchanged myself and the world by not dropping these pearls of wisdom before.
Anyhow- shall post this now- the moving finger having writ findeth that arthritis waiteth not for no man nor woman.....
Later dudes....