One of the best resources for carnatic music

http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/

My experiments with a canon a95

These photos were taken with aru's camera (actually his friend's ;) ) canon A95 during our team trip at yercaud...Think it is a good camera. LOve the swivel screen..I think i will go with the A640 (for the swivel screen and 4 batteries) instead of the a710IS. Here are a few pics...Few of em are underexposed. I think the auto mode would have been better, but my figity brain would not heed and went on to change everything - the ISO ,exposure,shutter speed....everything....So here are the results...

The Lone survivor


The god and the benefactor


Shadow games



















Teamwork




















After a long unsuccessful trek



And the Boss had the last laugh :)

My experiments with...Well my webcam

12 o clock... Brain has stalled but onfortunately not ready to sleep... Some misfiring neurons gave me a good idea for killin time bfore sleeepin..... I wanted to capture all the emotions that can be conveyed with half my face..These are the results...I had a hard time goin beyond 3, am impressed by the results though :) Lemme see ..Will try more tomorrow...

Hotel Keral fonia - awesome :)

On the road to Trivandrum
Coconut oil in my hair
Warm smell of avial
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a bright pink tube-light
My tummy rumbled, I felt weak and thin
I had to stop for a bite
There he stood in the doorway
Flicked his mundu in style
And I was thinking to myself
I don’t like the look of his sinister smile
Then he lit up a petromax
Muttering “No power today”
More Mallus down the corridor
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace,
Plenty of bugs at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
It’s infested here
It’s infested here

His finger’s stuck up his nostril
He’s got a big, thick mustache
He makes an ugly, ugly noise
But that’s just his laugh
Buxom girls clad in pavada
Eating banana chips
Some roll their eyes, and
Some roll their hips
I said to the manager
My room’s full of mice
He said,
Don’t worry, saar,I sending you
meen karri, brandy and ice
And still those voices were crying from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them pray

Save us from the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace
Trying to live at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
It is no surprise
It is no surprise (background)
That it swarms with flies

The blind man was pouring
Stale sambar on rice
And he said
We are all just actors here
In Silk Smitha-disguise
And in the dining chamber
We gathered for the feast
We stab it with our steely knives
But we just can’t cut that beef
Last thing I remember
I was writhing on the floor
That cockroach in my appam-stew was the culprit,
I am sure
Relax, said the watchman
This enema will make you well
And his friends laughed as they held me down
God’s Own Country? Oh, Hell!

Engines -royal enfield vs avenger

Was looking at the specs of the RE thunderbird and avenger when something struck me -
The TB manages a 18 bhp at 5000 rpm with its 350cc engine whereas the avenger with its 180 cc engine manages 16.7 bhp at 8000 rpm.

I agree,comparing these two engines is a lil stupid as the avenger is a short stroke engine whereas the RE is a long strokeone
bore x stroke :
Avenger : 63.5mm x 56.4mm
RE Thunderbird : 70mmx90mm

Aint it odd that the RE manages only a measly 1.3 bhp more with an engine about twice the size of the avenger ??? (at a lower rpm though) ...Looks like big daddy is getting old

BTW there are rumours about a new RE engine.....Smaller and more efficient...

The 2003 Reith lectures
The 2003 reith lectures about the emerging mind was a revelation. I believe all people on this earth shoul;d read it. Thanks to rajan for this great find .Check it out at :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2003/lectures.shtml

Even if you dont plan to read it , Check this out :

"Well now I'm going to show you that you're all synesthetes but you're in denial about it. So what I want you to do is I want you all to imagine two shapes in front of you. I wish I had a slide but of course this is radio. One of them imagine is a shattered piece of glass with jagged edges, the other is like an amoeba, it's got undulating curvy shapes. And one of them I'm going to call a bouba, and the other is kiki - which is which? Now the amazing thing is 98% of people will pick the shattered piece of glass with the jagged edges, and say oh that's a kiki, and the undulating amoeboid shape, oh that's a bouba, even though they have never seen the shape before."

This radio lecture was don by an indian (Tamilian ) called Vilayanur ramachandran
Check out his profile at
http://psy.ucsd.edu/chip/ramabio.html

Christianity + media == Bigbucks

Read this excerpt from the god tv website:

Every day, millions of homes across the globe receive the Good News of Jesus Christ through the ministry of GOD TV!

And every day we hear amazing testimonies of how lives are being changed, people healed and families restored… all because of the urgent evangelistic outreach our partners enable us to accomplish. Time is running out and we have a mandate to win one billion souls. This is why GOD TV exists and why we ask you to partner with us. With your continuing help, we can take the Gospel to the nations of the earth. Together we can reach the lost and equip the Church through the media. Help us take the Good News around the globe from Jerusalem.

Mandate to win 1 billion souls ? Is this their q4 target or something ?

The lion sleeps tonight (full verson)

It all started with this....A lovely animation video..Makes you wanna dancew...Looks like the song is one of the all time hits...Wimoveh !!